side, and
carried away all the personal property of individuals on the American
side. Thus ten or twenty days were lost. In the mean time, the Indians
had come to the defense of Fort Mackinac, and, on the second
appearance of Col. Croghan, they were prepared, and our troops
shamefully defeated.

"This island, although the bluffs present the appearance of sterility,
is covered with a strong soil, which is continually renovated by the
spontaneous decomposition of calcareous rock. The common growth of
trees on the island are the sugar-maple, beech, birch, white and
yellow pine, white and red spruce, balsam fir, white cedar, iron wood,
and the poplar; the trees now seen are the second and third growth. On
the northwestern part of Mr. Dousman's farm, a few of the old
patriarchs of the forest are still standing."

CHAPTER VI.

Lake Superior -- Scenery -- Transparency of its waters --
Climate -- Isle Royale -- Apostles' Islands -- La Point --
Thunder Cape -- Cariboo Point -- A wonderful lake -- Romantic
scenery -- Pictured Rocks -- Rock Castle -- The Grand Portal
-- The Chapel -- Fluctuations in the waters of Lake Superior
-- Curious phenomena -- Retrocession of the waters -- Mirage
-- Iron mountains and mines -- Description of -- Products --
Shipments -- Copper -- Immense boulders -- Produce of the
mines for 1857 -- Shipment of copper from the Lake for 1858
-- Centre of the mining country -- Iron Mountains -- Copper
mines of Great Britain -- Coal -- Mackinaw, a great
manufacturing point -- Key to the Upper Lakes -- Commerce of
Lakes -- Growth of cities.

Lake Superior, though it possesses not all the vastness of the ocean,
is yet equal in sublimity. In gazing upon its surface, whether spread
out like a vast mirror reflecting the varying tints of the sky, or
ruffled by gently curling waves, or lashed into fury by the tempest,
one is impressed with the idea of the Infinite. It is known to be the
largest body of fresh water on the globe, being nearly four hundred
miles long from east to west, and one hundred and thirty wide. It is
the grand reservoir from whence proceed the waters of Michigan, Huron,
and Erie. It gives birth to Niagara, the wonder of the world, fills
the basin of Ontario, and rolls a mighty flood down the St. Lawrence
to the Atlantic.

This lake lies in the bosom of a mountainous region, where the Indian
yet reigns and roams in his wonted freed