General Scouting Outdoors 209 



and proved that he saw, seven. This is considered first- 

 class. The Indians as a rule see seven, because they call 

 them the Seven Stars. But, according to Flammarion, it is 

 possible to exceed this, for several persons have given 

 proof that they distinguished ten Pleiades. This is almost 

 the extreme of human eyesight. There is, however, 



The Pleiades as seen with the best of naked eyes 



according to the same authority, a record of thirteen 

 Pleiades having been actually seen by the unaided human 

 eye. 



The telescope reveals some 2 ,000 in the cluster. 



The Indians call them the "Seven Dancers," and tell a 

 legend that seems to explain their dancing about the small- 

 est one, as well as the origin of the constellation. 



Once there were seven little Indian boys, who used to 

 take their bowl of succotash each night and eat their 

 suppers together on a mound outside the village. Six 

 were about the same size, one was smaller than the rest, 

 but he had a sweet voice, and knew many songs, so after 

 supper the others would dance around the mound to his 

 singing, and he marked time on his drum. 



When the frosty days of autumn were ending, and winter 



