The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1879-11-29

49,.
s.,rgRDAy NOVEMBER 2s, 's 's'
Tsssare Lake.
IoxASTIc, wEIRDs DREAMY kEIksAIr-
MYsrgslous .EETfs or Bids oY a feEHls'
rome RACE. ssE s5 s
San francisco Bulietin1
rs. uha ,ase Is in Tuiare county, In the south
3 sr,, mart al California. 1t Is reached from
mis- city by ride Of nearly three nnnareu
,milcs on the Southern Pacific raliroao,
steppipg down at TUlare City. Tu'are ta .ss'
is one OF the most singular sheets OF Ws.es
in the State. tits a little inland sea, oeiss
forty miles in length and almost sutety ~
breadth. Its shores are low n at. a. y
maishy. You come from tine cry pi ss!. "
the water margin, as geue. a . ,rn,s,
ssar,e tn be higher than the iand.
Tsa drr land OF the plain becomes
mnist i'm another mile it Is decidedly
not and in another it Is only ankle-deep.
. W, there are some bluff banks OF five or
div feef, II you would take sail aud nave
not very light boat, you must select q
deep-water landing. AS o generai tning
YOU have your boat in wagon, ana put II
into the water wherever you please. DriYe
yonr wagon wen in; out with your boat !;
roll mn the legs OF your pants, ana WAGE
il, pushing the boat before you. In aWnne
she syims. and you may get in. JUST teke
a ,ooL around. North and south, bound
iess sea and sky; east and west IN the dls-
tance. forty miles or so, the Sierra Nevada
mountains, and the Coast Range. Arouua
Won. fine lake, without marx ano
without a bound. Screaming wafer
fowl overhead, on the water, near
and far of. The duck, goose, pen.
can. swan, gull, the whole range OF wafer
fowl are there. In the distance Inc mirage
makes them look like stately snips WIN
living sails. 1t is q magic lake. The wafer
warm. SO warm that In or ont you are
equally comfortable. The air niue suilry.
The breeze, generally light, or not orea.n
though rarely Old Boreas BLOWS everything
to ruin. r,oo o,oso
oro,,n0 Won. but on every side the outlines
are lost in mist, and in that mist all things
arc exanperated. A swan is a ship, bunch
nj .nIe is an island, an island seems a vast
continent, Tulare lake is a world OF Itself
when YOU are three miles from shore.
The law sails must have help, or we Shall
die right here. But In this warm wafer
this close, still air, this misty enchantment,
we are as lazy as the sails. ana SO we jusI
paddle along. But all places are alike. our
boat, the centre, the mist, the clrcunlet-
encp the birds, the life. The picture Is
u, one, Fishes are there, too. Great big
fsbes. And the whole bottom is paved
with CLANS, You can eat them il you are
very hungry: but you will never again
never. never! 1t should have been called
Clam lake. Takeup handful OF sand, from
the bottom, from the top, from the shore,
from an island beach, apply your micro
scope. and three fourths OF the grains
are clam.shells, broken, powdered clam
,he,ls. How long has this Work been
proceeding? On we go! AN island.
Yes tbrrc is no mistake, here is an island.
4 cinster! group! Like Columbus. we
have discovered a new land. Yes, indeed;
never before did the foot OF White man
mark these shores. We will land; we DO
so. on the largest 1t might be two miles IN
length. quarter wide; its highest hills
cinht feet above the lake. Bushes, coarse
eryss, thick brush, and few stunted trees
are all we find. There is not land-anlmai,
not O squirrel, mouse, notwithstanding
from the main shore. Two Indian nuts or
basket-work-yery neat, ten feet square,
eight feet high, walls erect, and door
way. But no one at home.
CIRCLE OF HUMAN SKULLS.
We look around. What is that? A circle
near the centre OF the island. 1t is just
raised enough TO be visible, eight feet IN.
diameter, aud little centre-piece. The
Sand has almost covered 1.-THE drifting
sad. We dig into it. The circle was OF
human skulls. apparently just laid on the
sand in that form. The centre one was
smaller, finer, and, to our poor Judgment,
that OF q white girl or woman, young and
wen formed. Several of the teeth were
wanting, while not one was missing IN the
other skulls. The remaining teeth were
white and pearly, unlike oil the rest. we
intended to bring it away, but the mosque
toes did 80 urge our sudden departure that
it was forgotten.
What history is here? These fourteen
skulls! This one in the centre, SO unlike.
How came they here? The nuts were
unique. Indians do not build like them ;
and no Indians had been known to visit
these islands. No canoes had ever been
found about the lake. PERHAPS tnls VIII
ever remain mystery.
we visited another island more to the
west. It was smaller, but had an air OF
great antiquity. Tt was just matted thick
With grass, ruSbes, brush, and few very
,ncicnt-looking twisted and gnarled trees
Of the cottonwood species. The highest
@hillock was not more than eight feet above
The water. The highest tree-top was not
more than twenty feet above that. But Sc
sramped and crooked, dwarfed and de-
formed were they, that they seemed the
pismies OF the vegetable kingdom. Their
there were bare spots under these OLD trees
.zandin patches all over the island. !,
MILLIONS OF BIRDS.
One half OF the space has been kept clea
by millions of birds, from the swan ant
the peIican down to the duck and the snipe
Their nests Just Uttered the ground l
was not the season Eor, eggs or very youp!
birds: but broken shells and dead yoEns
ones OF every species lay in thousands
Some OF the larger nests had been rebuilt
as it were, every year, a little more added
till they stood up rs large as barrel ant
four feet high. No battlefield was eYel
SO rich in dead carcasses, or so lively
with the wild screams Of the living
resenting our Intrusion. We walked
about on dead birds and nests, startling
at every turn great feather giants thai
scarcely deigned to get out OF our way. ant
growled as they wentreluctantly of. Every
step we took wasunder protest. The place
was sacred. One human skull rewarded oul
search. 1t was lying on the top OF th
ground, TO other bones about tot tha