The Irish standard., 1890-01-04
WONDERFUL CAJAH POND.
1t Is Full of Floating Islands from Which
Fishermen Troll for Bickeral.


Fishermen Troll for Pickerel.
A dispatch in a New York paper from a
place in Minnesota, announclng as remark
able fact the discovery of floating island
in small lake in that State, inclines the
residents of Honesdale, Pa, to the belief
that if one floating island in a State SO
famous for natural curiosities as Minnesota
is considered a wonder, they have been liv-
ing all their lives with a still greater wonder
close by without attaching any great impor-
lance to it. They have a lake a mile from
Honesdale which is filled with hoatine
islands. This lake is known locally as
Cajah pond. It is two hundred feet above
the village. It is dotted with a dozen OF
more islands. These are covered with trees,
some of them twenty feet high, and a dense
growth of thick-follaged bushes.
The island bottoms are raarshY, bat the
soil is stiff enough to sustain easily the
weight of the fishermen who troll for pick
erel from the islands In the summer fishing
season. In the summer these little islands
are pleasing variations in the beauty OF the
scene the lake presents to the spectator as
he gazes upon it from the hills that encircle
it. If the wind happens to be strong and
variable, as it generally Is on the lake, the
visitor who looks upon the lake for the first
tiIae can hardly help being startled to see
these islands moving about from one point
Of the compass to another as the WIND
shifts. On one day these islands may be
seea huddled together in one spot, and on
another day, perhaps, they will be seen
scattered widely apart. An island from
which the fisherman casts his Line at one
end of the lake to-day lwil, In all probable
ity, invite him to it frem the other extremity
tomorrow.
The largest of these islands was some
years ago partial to the lower sad of the
lake, and Rugged the shore there with only
slight changes in position day in and day
out. During a stiff wind enc day this island
tackled first to one side and then to the other
side Of the lake, moving slowly the while to
the upper end, until it was aoated against
the shore at that end 1T remained there for
two Or three years through some OF the
hardest winds that blew off that shore. One
day while three piokerel fishermen were
fishing from the islands outer edge 1t sud
denly was seized with whina, induced or
prompted enly by gentle wind, and before
the fishermen knew it they found them
selves fifty feet from shore. The island
aoated slowly across the lake until it had
almost reached that shore, when counter
breeze struck it and sent It down the lake.
It finally landed near the spot where it
started from year ago, and it has remained
Ia that vicinity ever SINCE simply taking
short trip now and taen to and fro across
the lake, but always returning to Or near
lis cid mornings.
Although these fair islands are constantly
shifting their places in the lake, they an
nualy add perceptibly to their area. There
are six or eight Of them, and the scientific
theory is that in time the roots Of the trees
that cover them will extend down into the
water 50 far that they uiA anchor the
islands in the lake, and that by the slow but
certain processes Of nature they will be in
sreased in size Natl the surface of the lake
pv1a heoaune solid laaa