The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-06-25


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NO. 90
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IN every direction made walking d;i
: 6cult.
Suddenly all the natives began /.
cry Sep. Tepe.r and Henrick
i ropping short, said. .sT.ook!', tn,
sluggish. canal-like stream hen
wosnd slowly by, and in bare s,,o,
Ia its bend was the most singular 4,
trees. have called it Crinoids, be.
cause when It's leaves are in sctiot, |,
bears striking resemblance q tha,
weIl.known fossil, the crinold NV
stone, or st. Cuthtert's head. Y i,
was now at rest, however, and 7 viii
try TO describe it 10 yoa. II you can
imagine = pineapple eight feet high
and thick In proportion resting upon
It's base and tlenaded Of leaves. vos,
will have q good idea Of the trank ii
the tree, which, however, was NOT the
color Of an aflana, but Z dark, dinky
brown, and apparantly a hard 8
iron. From the apex of this truncat-
Ell cone (st least two feet IN diane
teri eight ie~ves hung sheer 10 the
ground, like doors swung back On
their hinges. Theses leaves, whi.h
we're Joined to the top Of the tree a&
regular intervals, were about eleves
or twelve feet long, and shaped vArv
much like the leaves of the Amer.
can agnave, or century plant. They
were two feet through in the thickest
part. and three feet vide, taperine 10
sharp point that looked like 1 cows
horn, very convex on the outer (but
now ander) surface, and on the inncr
now upper) surface slightly concave,
This concave face was thickly set
with very strong, thorny hooks, ike
those upon the head Of the tcsxie.-
These leaves. hanging thus limp and
litele~., dead green in color, had ia
appearance the massive strength Of
oak fiber,
The apex Of the oone was . round.
white, concave figure, like small
plate set within larger one. This
was not flower but receptacle,
and there exuded into Il ! clear, ,trcsc.
ly li4aid, honey-sweet. and possessed
Of violent intoxicating and sopori6c
properties From underneath the
rim ESQ TO speak, Of the undermoss
piste series Of long, hs;ry, a,con
tendrils stretched out in every direcI
tion toward the horizon. These wero
seven or eight feet long each. and
tapcrcd from from four inches 70 I
half inch in diameter, vet they
stretched out stifny as iron rods
Above these from between the upl
per and under cup) six white, almost
transparent, palpi reared thenselves
toward the sky, twirling and twisting
with marvellous, incessant motion. vet
constantly reaching upward. Thin
as reeds, and frsil as quilts, apparent
y, they were 40 cos.stsntly and viz
orously in motion, with such \ subtle.
sinuons, silent throhhing against the
air, that they make me shudlsr la
spite Of myself with their suggssGion
ai scrpe.its Aayed yo; dancing on
their tails.
Here were not corolla, pistils, sas-
mens, flower, mind you. NOR moth
ing like il. For GriDoids, unknOwn,
new species as it Is, Is Mig hest alxin
t. the cycaiacem, and psrhsps it's
exact prototype may be- found among
the fossil cycada, though ! confess [
do not remember any one that pre-
sents all It's peculiar GESTURES. The
description am giving you now is
partly made up from subsequent
careful inspection Of the plant. Nv
observations on this occasion we're
suddenly interrupted by the natives,
who had been shrieking around the
tree in their shrili voices, and chant.
ing what Henrick told me were pro-
pitiat"ry hymns to the great tree
devil.
With still wilder shrieks and
chants they now surrounded one Of
the women, and urged her with the
points of their javelins until slowly,
and with despairine face, she climbed
up the rough stalk of the tree, and
stood on the summit Of the cone, the
palpi twining all about her. "Tsik!
tsik!' (drink. drink. cried the men,
and, STOPPING, she drank Of the yiscid
fluid in the cup,rising instantly again
with with wild frenzy in her face and
convulsive cholera in her limbs. But
she did not jump down, as she seemed
to intend to do. Oh, no! The afro
cious cannibal tree that had been 80
inert and dead came to sudden say
age life. The slender, delicate palpi,
with The fury Of starved serpents,
qnivered moment over her head,
then, as If instinct with demoniac in
telligence, fastened upon her in sud-
den coils round her neck and arms
then while her awful screams and yet
more awful laughter rose wilder, TO
be instantly strangled down again in
to gurgiing moan, the teiidrills, ono
after another, like great green ssr-
pents.wi,h brutal energy aud internal
rapidity rose, retracted themselves.
and wrapped her about in fold after
fold, ever tightening, with the cruel
swiftness and savage tenacity of an
acondas fastening upon their prey
1t was the barbarity Of the LAGOON
without its beauty-this strange, hor-
rible murder. And now the great
leaves rose slowly and stifily ike the
arms of derrick, erected themselves
in the air, approached one another
and closed about the dead and ham
pered victim with the silent force oi
. hydraulic press and the ruthless
purpose Of . thumb-screw. A mo-
ment more and, while l could see the
bases Of these great levers pressing