n, like a ruined pillar.

The arched rock surprised me, much as I had heard of it, from, the
perfection of the arch. It is perfect, whether you look up through it
from the lake, or down through it to the transparent waters. We both
ascended and descended--no very easy matter--the steep and crumbling
path, and rested at the summit, beneath the trees, and at the foot,
upon the cool, mossy stones beside the lapsing wave. Nature has
carefully decorated all this architecture with shrubs that take root
within the crevices, and small creeping vines. These natural ruins may
vie for beautiful effect with the remains of European grandeur, and
have, beside, a charm as of a playful mood in Nature.

The sugar-loaf rock is a fragment in the same kind as the pine rock
we saw in Illinois. It has the same air of a helmet, as seen from an
eminence at the side, which you descend by a long and steep path. The
rock itself may be ascended by the bold and agile: half-way up is a
niche, to which those who are neither can climb by a ladder. A very
handsome young officer and lady who were with us did so, and then,
facing round, stood there side by side, looking in the niche, if
not like saints or angels wrought by pious hands in stone, as
romantically, if not as holily, worthy the gazer's eye.

The woods which adorn the central ridge of the island are very full
in foliage, and, in August, showed the tender green and pliant leaf
of June elsewhere. They are rich in beautiful mosses and the wild
raspberry.

From Fort Holmes, the old fort, we had the most commanding view of the
lake and straits, opposite shores, and fair islets. Mackinaw itself is
best seen from the water. Its peculiar shape is supposed to have been
the origin of its name, Michilimackinac, which means the Great Turtle.
One person whom I saw wished to establish another etymology, which he
fancied to be more refined; but, I doubt not, this is the true one,
both because the shape might suggest such a name, and the existence
of an island of such form in this commanding position would seem
a significant fact to the Indians. For Henry gives the details of
peculiar worship paid to the Great Turtle, and the oracles received
from this extraordinary Apollo of the Indian Delphos.

It is crowned, most picturesquely, by the white fort, with its gay
flag. From this, on one side, stretches the town. How pleasing a
sight, after the raw, crude, staring assemblage of houses everywhere
else to b