ds, including the Pacific Highway, crisscross the section and unite
the people with indestructible bonds of friendship and mutual
interests.

[Illustration: _Photo by Webster & Stevens_

A PUGET SOUND SUNSET

"_When Sol in joy is seen to leave
The earth with crimson beam._"]

A number of lakes beautify this region, as well as the other parts of
the Puget Sound country. The largest is Lake Washington, one of the
grandest in the west, twenty miles in length, forming the eastern
boundary to Seattle, providing sites for country homes and parks, and
embellishing its boulevard system. Near Bellingham is Lake Whatcom, of
similar importance to that city. Lake Stevens is handy to Everett, and a
number of smaller ones are tributary to Tacoma.

THE ISLANDS.

Puget Sound would not be nearly so interesting without the many
enchanting isles dotting its surface from Olympia to Blaine and within
easy reach of the cities located upon its shores. Some are hidden within
partially concealed bays and others appear like portions of the mainland
until circumnavigation has proved their seclusion. Although a few have
sufficient area and commercial importance to form entire counties, the
larger number are of rather small compass, and a few are tiny gems
suitable only for private resorts away from the busy cities. Nearly all
are clothed in evergreen trees, bespangled with flowers and ferns, and
girdled with gravelly beaches suggesting the real charms of camp life.

SAN JUAN GROUP.

Travelers agree that no islands anywhere are more beautiful than the San
Juan group, blocking the entrance to the Straits of Georgia, rivaling as
they do the Thousand Isles of the St. Lawrence or the classical Grecian
Archipelago. There are 172 of them, including 122 with names suggesting
their own peculiarities and others known chiefly by their location and
shown only on the mariner's chart. The largest are San Juan, Orcas and
Lopez. Apart from them but closer to the mainland are Lummi, Guemes, and
Cypress, similar in formation and of like attractiveness. They are
approachable with almost any kind of craft, no great distances separate
them, and often there is just passage for a steamer. They offer rare
opportunity for playing hide and seek on the water, a game which in days
gone by men played in earnest; for the smuggler stealing away from the
international boundary line found within their shady inlets havens of
safety from the unfr