om. Except an occasional
picketed fort or trading house, it is yet a perfect wilderness. The
entire country is rocky and covered with a stunted growth of
vegetation such as is usual in high latitudes. The waters of this lake
are marvelously clear, and, even at midsummer, are exceedingly cold.
Mr. Charles Lanman, who has written a most admirable book, entitled
"Summer in the Wilderness," says, "In passing along its rocky shores,
in my frail canoe, I have often been alarmed at the sight of a sunken
boulder, which I fancied must be near the top, and on further
investigation have found myself to be upward of twenty feet from the
danger of a concussion. I have frequently lowered a white rag to the
depth of one hundred feet and been able to discern its every fold or
stain. The color of the water near the shore is a deep green; but off
soundings it has all the dark blue of the ocean."

Speaking of the climate, he says: "In midsummer it is beyond compare,
the air is soft and bracing at the same time. A healthier region does
not exist on the earth, an assertion corroborated by the fact, that
the inhabitants usually live to an advanced age, notwithstanding the
many hardships. The common diseases of mankind are here comparatively
unknown, and I have never seen an individual whose breast did not
swell with a new emotion of delight as he inhaled the air of this
northern wilderness."

The largest island in Lake Superior is Isle Royale. It is forty miles
in length and from six to ten miles in width. Its hills reach an
altitude of four hundred feet. During the winter season it is entirely
uninhabited, but in the summer it is frequently visited, particularly
by copper speculators. Near the western extremity of the lake are the
Apostles' Islands, which are detachments of a peninsula running out in
the same direction with Keweenaw, which is known as La Point. The
group consist of three islands, which rise like gems from the water.
There is a dreamy summer about them which make them enticing as the
Hesperides of the ancients.

The two most prominent peninsulas are Thunder Cape and Cariboo Point.
Thunder Cape is about fourteen hundred feet high. It looms up against
the sky in grandeur, and is a most romantic spot. Cariboo Point is
less lofty and grand in its appearance, but is celebrated for its
unknown hieroglyphics painted upon its summits by a race which has
long since passed away. In the vicinity of the bluff are found the
most beau