The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-10-27
THE GIANT WONDER.
Further and Interesting Details.

The Northern papers are all agog concerning
the colossal statue recently discovered in
Onondaga County, New York. DR.. Boynton
has written letter on the subject in which
he says:
On careful examination, am convinced
that it is not a fossil, but was cut out from
piece Of stratifed sulphate of lime known as
the Onondaga gypsum. If it were pulveriZed
or ground, a farmer would call it plaster. It
was quarried probably somewhere in this
county from our gypsum beds. The layers are
of different colors-dark and light. The statue
was evidently designed to lie on its back, or
partially 80, and represents dead person in
position he would naturally assume when
dying. The body lies nearly upon the back,
the right side little lower; the head leaning
a little to the right.
The legs lie nearly one above the other.
The feet partially cross one another. The toes
of the right loot little lower, showing plain
ly that the statue was never designed to stand
erect upon its feet The left arm lies down by
the left side of the body, the fore arm and
hand being partially covered by the body.
The right hand rests short distance below
the umbilicus, the little finger spreading from
the others, reaching nearly to the pubes. The
whole statue evidently represents the position
that a body would naturally take at the de-
parture of life.
There is perfect harmony in the different
proportions of the different parts of the statue.
The features are strictly Caucasian, having not
the high cheek bones Of the Indian type, nei-
ther the outlines of the negro race, and being
entirely unlike any statuary yet discovered Of
Aztec or Indian origin. The chin is magnifi-
cent and generous; The eyebrow, or supercill-
airy ridge, Is we'll arched; the mouth Is pleas
ant; the brow and forehead are noble, and the
adams apple" has full development.
The statue, being colossal and massive,
strikes the beholder with feeling of awe.
Some portions ofthe features would remind
one of the features Of De Witt Clinton and
others of the Napoleonic type. My opinion Is,
that this piece Of statuary was made 70 repre-
sent ONE person Of Caucasian origin, and de-
slgne by the artist to perpetuate the memory
of great mind and noble deeds. 1t would
serve to impress inferior minds or races with
the great and noble, and for this purpose only
was sculptured of colossal dimensions.
The block Of gypsum iestratified, and dark
stratum passes Just below the outer portion
Of the left eyebrow, appears again on the left
breast, having been chiseled out between the
eyebrow and the chest, and makes its appear
ance again In q portion of the left hip. Some
portions of the strata are dissolved more than
others by the action Of the water, leaving a
bolder outcropping along the descent of the
breast towards the neck. The same may, less
distinctly, be seen on the side Of the face and
head. think that this piece Of reclining stat
uary is not three hundred years old, but Is the
work of the early Jesuit Fathers in this coun-
try, who are known to have frequented the
0nondaga Valley from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty years ago.