Marie. On The Other Side Was The Sandy Isle Of Bois
Blanc, The Name Of Which Is Commonly Corrupted Into Bob Low Island,
Thickly Covered With Pines, And Showing A Tall Light-House On The Point
Nearest Us.
Beyond another point lay like a cloud the island of Mackinaw.
I had seen it once before, but now
The hazy atmosphere magnified it into a
lofty mountain; its limestone cliffs impending over the water seemed
larger; the white fort - white as snow - built from the quarries of the
island, looked more commanding, and the rocky crest above it seemed almost
to rise to the clouds. There was a good deal of illusion in all this, as
we were convinced as we came nearer, but Mackinaw with its rocks rising
from the most transparent waters that the earth pours out from her
springs, is a stately object in any condition of the atmosphere. The
captain of our steamer allowed us but a moment at Mackinaw; a moment to
gaze into the clear waters, and count the fish as they played about
without fear twenty or thirty feet below our steamer, as plainly seen as
if they lay in the air; a moment to look at the fort on the heights,
dazzling the eyes with its new whiteness; a moment to observe the
habitations of this ancient village, some of which show you roofs and
walls of red-cedar bark confined by horizontal strips of wood, a kind of
architecture between the wigwam and the settler's cabin. A few baskets of
fish were lifted on board, in which I saw trout of enormous size, trout a
yard in length, and white-fish smaller, but held perhaps in higher esteem,
and we turned our course to the straits which lead into Lake Michigan.
I remember hearing a lady say that she was tired of improvements, and only
wanted to find a place that was finished, where she might live in peace. I
think I shall recommend Mackinaw to her. I saw no change in the place
since my visit to it five years ago. It is so lucky as to have no
_back-country_, it offers no advantages to speculation of any sort; it
produces, it is true, the finest potatoes in the world, but none for
exportation. It may, however, on account of its very cool summer climate,
become a fashionable watering-place, in which case it must yield to the
common fate of American villages and improve, as the phrase is.
Letter XXXII.
Journey from Detroit to Princeton.
Princeton, Illinois, _July_ 31, 1846.
Soon after leaving the island of Mackinaw we entered the straits and
passed into Lake Michigan. The odor of burnt leaves continued to accompany
us, and from the western shore of the lake, thickly covered with wood, we
saw large columns of smoke, several miles apart, rising into the hazy sky.
The steamer turned towards the eastern shore, and about an hour before
sunset stopped to take in wood at the upper Maneto island, where we landed
and strolled into the forest.
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