The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-11-03

Il dSdluSI tilc tllu " ohS '"SS VI NEARLY
every scientific man who has thus far looked
at the statue.
And now to a view of the giant. Upon the
| payment of fifty cents you are admitted to a
tent which has been erected over the opened
grave of the statue and from the group al
ready gathered around a pit in the ground
some thirteen feet long, by five feet wide and
four to five and half feet deep-upon the
bottom of which, exactly as it was discovered
sc you are assu,red-rests a colossal figure
OF man. Notwithstanding the fact that YOU
have entered the tent prepared to discover
That you have been imposed upon by the i'm
aglnatlons of others, the ordinary observer
looks Tor the first time upon the object in the
grave, with somewhat of that feeling with
which one approaches a corpse-a feeling
which, as you gaze in this grave, gives way to
curiosity.
| The length of the statue is ten feet and
three inches; the legs being slightly drawn
up. Its breadth across the shoulders, is three
feet; and the body is in other respects pro-
portionally large. The body lies nearly on
its back, inclining slightly toward the right
the left leg being raised upon, and nearly
crossing the right. The left arm lays parallel
with the body, until at the elbow it passes
under, and the hand is nearly concealed from
view. The right arm is so placed that the
hand, with extended fingers, is upon and APP
pearing to press the abdomen. The face
which inclines little more to the RICH: than
the body, though somewhat marred by time
and the elements, is still expressive of a con-
sciousness Of superiority and strength. Ger
tain parts of the body appears to have been
water-worn: while in other parts, especially
about the right side of the neck and face,
there are indications that, if the object is
really a petriied body, the process of petri-
| faction arrested that of decomposition after it
had reached somewhat advanced stage. The
color of the body is that of blush gray lime
stone, and several biologists say, much to the
discomfort of the owners, that it was cut from
piece of stratified sulphate of lime, quarred
from the Gypsum beds of Onondaga county,
OF course, while experts disagree as to what
the object is, ali is matter of speculation as
| to its origin. Some insist on the theory of
| petrilaction. But beside the owner and the
Indians, very few are found who positively
maintain this position-though heard one
woman among the spectators, whose feathers
and finery were worn with that peculiar air
which, wherever seen, marks Enthusiastically
| the new-fedged arstocrat, assert that she
had no doubt at all of its being "petrifed
human body of man." Her opportunities
for investigating the subject, however, have
hardly been such as to silence controversy.
| Among the Onondago Indians, tribe
which for hundreds of years inhabited this
valley in strength, and which now, in reduced
| numbers and in affectation of civilization, oc-
cupy the reservation" the feeling is nearly
unanimous that the body is that of a prophet,
| of gigantic size and strength, whose life, les
| sons and deeds some hundreds of years ago,
| are preserved in their traditions. This proph-
ct. so the legend runs, was the only survivor
of race of giants, which, coming from dis
tant part of the country, for a number of
years lived in the vicinity of their tribe that
in CONFUSION of nature, all but one were
destroyed; and this one, alter living and ex-
ercising great influence among the Indians
for number of years, at length went out to
die, with the assurance that after many years
he would appear again. This tradition is in
part borne out 10y the discovery, some years
| ago, about twenty miles from Cardiff, of five
skeletons of gigantic human beings-one of
which was larger than the recent discovery,
measuring eleven feet in length; while there
| have been several undisputed instances of the
| Petrifaction of bodies inferred within the
memory of many now living, in their immedi-
| ate vicinity. But, whatever of credence this
tradition may be entitled to, these simple In
dams preserving it through the centuries,
| notwithstanding the influences of surrounding
civilization, look upon the giant with vene-
| ration scarcely less than that which good
Catholic would acknowledge for piece of the
true cross. Indeed, in conversing with them
upon the subject, you discover that it has re-
vived, Notwithstanding their assimilation in
habits and interest with the ruling race, some.
what of the old feeling of rightful domino
ton over the beautiful valley in which have
| so often gathered, in the years that are gone
for council or for carnival, the braves of the
"six nations;" and beneath the sods OF which
have reposed for so many centuries the bones
of their ancestors.
Turning from these traditions, we find per
haps more plausible, and scarcely less inter
esting theory, most generally accepted, that
the Giant is statue, the work of some Jesuit
Priest w two HIM drad uao,.c oos,> ,,,d ,,,aro
when that society had a station in this locali-
ty, sought to crafty his taste and to aid in his
mission at once, by the production of work
which should impress the children of nature
among him with sense of his superiority
and power. AS to whom the statue was in
tended to represent, there is great diversity of
opinion. Some maintaining that St. Paul
Others that Hiawatha-who originated the
plan of union of the six nations,-was the
original, in the mind of the artist. That the
object, if statue, evidences no ordinary GEN
ious and skill, critics not altogether incompe-
tent to judge, unite in asserting Nothing
less than the devotion or vows of Jesuit
could call man, capable of such an embod-
ment of the beautiful and grand in humanity,
from contemplation of the statuary of Ma
pies and of Rome, to the work of studying
and ninistering to the untamed natures of
the denizens of these western wids.
But like the traditions of the Indians, this
theory is also denied. There are those who
claim to be eminently practical, who see in
the whole affair only the tricks of a sharper
to raise the mortgage on his farm. This of
course is possible; but quite as improbable as
any other hypothesis as yet propounded
Surely, testimony should be of no doubtful
character to establish the existence, in one in
dividual, of the legerdermain of a Davenport,
the humbuggery of "a Barnum, and the un-
blushing audacity of an Admira! Fisk-not to
speak of artistic genius and taste of no mean
order.
Thus, hurri4dly, have attempted to relate
what L have seen and heard Of an object.
which whether viewed in the light of tradi-
ton, historical speculation or of the peculiar
"smartness' of this decade of the nineteenth
century, is still matter of interest and well
worth seeing. End.
Newspnporinl Bushwhnckcr.-Ogden
burg.
From the Ogdensburg Journal
In another column we republish a lengthy
communication written for the Portland Daily
Advertiser. The writer is understood to be
John A. Poor gentleman residing and doing