Page:History of the Ojibway Nation.djvu/165

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Lacs, the M'dé Wakan, or Spirit Lake of the Dakotas, and the Missi-sag-i-egan or "the lake that spreads all over" of the Ojibways, is one of the largest and most beautiful sheets of water in Minnesota Territory. It lies imbedded in deep forests, midway between the Mississippi and the head of Lake Superior. Its picturesque shores are skirted with immense groves of valuable sugar maple, and the soil on which they grow is not to be surpassed in richness by any section of country in the northwest

The lake is nearly circular in form, though indented with deep bays, and the view over its waters broken here and there by bold points or promontories. It is about twenty miles across from shore to shore, and a person standing on its pebbly beach on a clear, calm day, can but just discern the blue outlines of the opposite side, especially as the country surrounding it is comparatively low and level. Its waters are clear and pure as the waters of Lake Superior, and fish of the finest species are found to abound