POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



709 



POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



Exploration of Mount St. Elias. The 



Mount St. Elias expedition organized by the 

 National Geographic Society, under the lead- 

 ership of Mr. I. C. Russell, with Mr. Mark B. 

 Kerr as topographer, left Seattle, Washing- 

 ton, in June, 1890, and after spending more 

 than two months on the mountain-sides, one 

 half of that time above the snow-line, re- 

 turned with notes, specimens, and data of 

 the greatest interest. The topography was 

 sketched over an area of about one thousand 

 square miles, and includes the determination 

 of the geographical position and elevation of 

 Mount St. Elias and many neighboring peaks. 

 Mount St. Elias is indicated to be not so 

 high by some four thousand feet as the here- 

 tofore accepted elevation, nineteen thousand 

 five hundred feet. The difficulties attending 

 the determination of the height of this mount- 

 ain are so great that the range between the 

 extreme elevations that have been given by 

 different explorers is nearly six thousand feet. 

 Vice-President Ogden, of the National Geo- 

 graphic Society, suggests that as this is be- 

 lieved to be the first height for the mountain 

 that has been derived from a carefully meas- 

 ured base, it is entitled to much weight. 

 But the difficulties in suitably placing the tri- 

 angles of measurement were so great that 

 even the new elevation must be accepted with 

 caution till it is verified. Although the party 

 were prevented by storms from reaching the 

 summit of Mount St. Elias, Mr. Russell is 

 confident that he has found a practicable 

 route. 



A Glacial Monument. One of the most 

 interesting objects of the excursions of the 

 Cleveland meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion of 1888 was the group of wonderful gla- 

 cial grooves on the limestone of Kelley's Isl- 

 and, Lake Erie probably the most remark- 

 able specimen of the kind in the world. The 

 rock was being rapidly quarried away, and 

 the pleasure felt at the sight of so rare a 

 specimen of glacial action was marred by the 

 apprehension that it would soon all disap- 

 pear, a sacrifice to the commercial spirit of 

 the age. A pledge was given at the time 

 by the President of the Kelley's Island Lime 

 and Transport Company, owning the quarry, 

 that the most interesting grooves should be 



preserved. This pledge has now been ful- 

 filled. The company at its last annual meet- 

 ing voted to deed to President M. C. Young- 

 blood a strip of land fifty feet wide and a 

 hundred feet long, as surveyed by Prof. G. 

 F. Wright and the Rev. Dr. Sprecher, con- 

 taining the groove, to be deeded by him to 

 some scientific or historical society, to be 

 preserved in perpetuity for the benefit of 

 science. It is to be presented to the West- 

 ern Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland. 

 The portion of the groove preserved is thirty- 

 three feet across, and is cut in the rock to the 

 depth of seventeen feet below the line ex- 

 tending from rim to rim. The groove is not 

 simple, but presents a series of corrugations 

 merging into one another by beautiful curves. 

 When exposed for a considerable length, it 

 will resemble nothing else so much as a col- 

 lection of prostrate Corinthian columns ly- 

 ing side by side on a concave surface. Quar- 

 rying has proceeded nearly all around the 

 specimen, "and soon the monument pre- 

 served will be a monument indeed," the 

 groove being left to cap a pedestal about 

 thirty feet high, and conspicuous from every 

 side. About one half of the surface will 

 be cleared of debris, so as to show fifty feet 

 of the length of the groove, while the other 

 half will remain as it is, beneath the pro- 

 tective covering of gravel, sand, and mud. 



Characteristics of Aboriginal American 

 Poetry. The characteristic feature of the 

 aboriginal poetry of America is defined by 

 Prof. Brinton, in his presidential address to 

 the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of 

 Philadelphia, as repetition. " The same verse 

 may be repeated over and over again ; or 

 the wording of the verses may be changed, 

 but each may be accompanied by a burden 

 of refrain which is repeated by the singer 

 or the chorus. These are the two funda- 

 mental characteristics of aboriginal poetry, 

 which are found everywhere on the Ameri- 

 can continent. The refrain is usually inter- 

 jectional and wholly meaningless; and the 

 verses are often repeated without alteration, 

 four or five times over. These were the 

 simple resources of the native bards. They 

 had one other. In every American language 

 which I have examined for this purpose I 

 have found the existence of a poetic dialect, 

 of a form of speech markedly distinct from 



