THE OUTDOOR WORLD 



209 



rifle bullets, here walk about as man's 

 companion and equal. For instance 

 one is surprised in rounding- a sharp 

 turn to almost stumble on half a dozen 

 superb specimens quietly resting. To 

 go on it was necessary to pick a way 

 between the prostrate bodies, as they 

 would not move nor even notice us, 

 and the Japanese runners refuse to dis- 

 turb or molest them. Scarcely any do- 

 mestic animals we know, except pos- 

 sibly a dog or cat, is so tame. Even 

 a cow or horse when free and untram- 

 meled is shy and wary ; but these Nara 

 deer seem absurdly free of fear. For 

 generations they have roamed freely 

 in this park until they have grown to 

 be the petted and spoiled favorites of 

 the public. A point of great interest is 

 where about a hundred of them hang 

 around waiting to be fed by the passer- 

 by. Cheap cakes are sold for a trifling 

 sum and these seem to be highly prized 

 delicacies. The deer watch the bar- 

 gaining and then in a moment moist 

 noses and beseeching eyes are thrust 

 forward begging for food. All sorts 

 of liberties of petting and patting are 

 permitted in return for the sweet mor- 

 sels, and so at last one's longing to 

 caress a real deer is fully gratified. 



At evening it was interesting to 

 watch the herds gravitate towards the 

 grove of cryptomerias and oaks where 

 they spend the night. Here in the 

 gloaming, although hundreds of them 

 were Iving about, the subtle merging 

 of their mottled coats into the sur- 

 rovmdings afiforded a most efifective and 

 unconscious protection from observa- 

 tion. 



Our entertainment at Nara did not 

 end with the deer. Another exhibition 

 of unusual life calls for special mention. 

 We were told that in a certain pond 

 there were goldfish three feet long. 

 This was such a good fish story we felt 

 impelled to test its veracity. The pond, 

 which was near-by, looked like a two 

 acre mill pond, but so muddy nothing 

 at all could be seen in it. On a small 

 stretch of muddy beach a woman was 

 selling a queer kind of bread for feed- 

 ing the fish, which we were invited to 

 purchase. As we saw no signs of fish 

 and doubted any decent fish could live 

 in such a mudhole, we naturally hesi- 

 tated, but were finally induced to buy 



two long rolls of this fish food. Then 

 the woman stepped to the edge of the 

 water and clapped her hands. Within 

 a radius of about one hundred feet the 

 water suddenly became alive with 

 goldfish and snapping turtles, plung- 

 ing and jumping towards us. As we 

 fed them the bread a battle royal be- 

 gan for the possession of the morsels, 

 and sure enough there were the giant 

 goldfish, really enormous — great, big, 

 fat, pink fellows with white bellies. 

 They snapped and thrashed right and 

 left. As the feeding progressed others 

 kept joining the fray, until the water 

 was boiling with the struggle. Be- 

 sides the extraordinary size of the fish 

 it was extremely interesting to note the 

 fact that they could live at all in such 

 a medium. This was indeed a revela- 

 tion and seems to indicate that gold- 

 fish are not so particular about the 

 water they swim in as we think they 

 are. 



Furthermore, this fish story would 

 be incomplete if it omitted the state- 

 ment that we did not actually measure 

 the fish ; but it seemed to us no one 

 could seriously question the accredited 

 dimensions. 



A Terminal Moraine. 



A terminal moraine of the Great Ice 

 Age that seems to have been completely 

 overlooked heretofore, is reported from 

 eastern New England. The moraine was 

 formed during the retreat of the ice sheet, 

 when the region was depressed and the ice 

 front stood in the sea. For this reason, 

 its appearance is by no means typical, a 

 circumstance which explains its being 

 overlooked. 



The formation has now been traced 

 from Saco, Maine, through Wells, South 

 Berwick, Dover and Newburyport to 

 Newbury, Massachusetts, a distance of 

 sixty miles. Parts of it rise from forty 

 to one hundred feet above the surround- 

 ing country. Whether it connects with 

 the long-known Cape Ann moraine, does 

 not yet transpire. A more complete re- 

 port is promised by the United States 

 Geographical Survey. 



" 'mid all this mighty sum 



Of things forever speaking." 



— Wordsworth. 



