The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-05-03
CAMPING ON LAKE SUPERIOR.


lows:
| have built many camps upon the
islands and shores of Lake Superior,
but / think my favorite one was beneath
the five pines. They grew on the Sac's
Head, small peninsula of rock which
juts into the water no great way from
the town of Pere Marquette. Il took its
name from some old Indian battle which
had been fought there, though of the
blood which the perishing braves left
upon its battlements no signs remained,
unless the ensanguined heraldry of the
scarlet creepers and gadding vines,
tufted with rose and purple, kept it in
commemoration. 1t was grim bastion
of rock, bare where the waves broke
against it, but higher up clad with pale
moss, with here and there more am
bilious investment of shrubs, dwarf cy-
press, and other growths sufficient to
tlothe with modest grace the gray
nakedness Of the crags, but lowly enough
for the hurricane to spare. Its north
ward front, defiant toward the eternal
menace of the waves, stood bold and
bare, but its middle space, not far from
the deep green wilderness out of which
it seemed to grow like a spur OF defense
against the onset of the waters, was
followed into dell, with terraces that
narrowed toward the beach, spreading
at its edge into broad table of rock,
and was overshadowed by the lofty and
solitary group of pines. In the bright
days their shadows wandered coyly
away from the sun, changing place with
the hours, sheltering the tent only for a
brief midday space; but their SUBMITS
were steadfast to the storm, and roared
overhead, between the solitudes of the
rock and the cloud, as if their roots
drew out of the iron earth in which
they were knotted something of the
burden of its woe and uttered it alof5 to
the thousand tongues of the tempest.
This sheltered place was my coign of
vantage. The heavens's breath smelled
wooingly there under the fragrant
pines. On three sides it was shelter
ed from the winds by girdling walls,
and the other had pleasant outlook
upon the lake. HereI pitched my tent
and built my camp fire, which by night
shot its red ray afar over the dusky
waters, and by day sent aloft its pale
and wagering thread of smoke. Wheth-
er it shone as a pillar of fire or traced
lis delicate gloom against the air as a
pillar of cloud, it equally allured the
Indians. These brown forests children
came frequently to see me. When ]
saw, in the morning, canoes rounding
the distant point which lay against the
horizon, knew that | should have Wis
itors in the afternoon. They woald
land upon the beach near by, haul their
canoes ashore, and while the squaws
hung their papooses upon the willows
and lit their own camp fire, the men
would ioiter toward my dominion and
engage my Indian servants in conyer-
sation. My retinue consisted of two,
and they seemed to think it enhanced
their own consequence to set me forth
to their wild brethren as person of
Importance. AS was compelled in a
manner to live up to the character
which they gave of me, my hospitali-
ties kept me on the verge of ruin. The
aboriginal appetites is gigantic and in
credible, and it inclines with a fixed
and obstinate inclination toward the
solder elements of food, such as in
camp it is perilous to spare. Too many
visitors enforced q premature retreat
upon our base of supplies. Still they
were not unwelcome. They were mild
of mien, wearing in most cases hum
bled, propitiatory aspect, not at all like
that of the strident braves whose pic
lures used to adorn the story books.
Their wants were simple-that is, they
wanted every thing they saw, but they
sion. In fact, they hardly ever asked
for any thing. II any thing was given
them, they were thankful; if not, they
expressed no disappointment, but fold
ed their tents and departed silently as
they had come.
But these shy, unappealing, and yet
somehow exacting visitors, did not
come out of their wilds empty handed.
Sometimes they brought birds, which
they protfered timdly, as if ashamed of
the slightness of the gift. One, with a
livelier air of confidence, laid before me
a raccoon, with gestures which bore his
testimony to his excellence as an article
OF food. | was obliged to decline a
muskrat which was recommended to
me in the same way, and one gaunt
warrior, who wanted some gunpowder,
disclosed to my astonished gaze the
prickly enormity of porcupine, which
he unrolled from blanket and pressed
upon me with generous ardor. Some
times they brought agates and
glittering fragments of ore. The
women had punches of sweet grass, of
which they weave fragrant baskets, and
occasionally their offerings were diver
sified by bushes bearing clusters of wild
fruit. am glad to remember that
treated the bearers OF these forest
tributes with unvarying hospitality. nor