470 MISCELLANEOUS RECOLLECTIONS-I 



that the man who had carved this figure must have re 

 ceived a hint from those. 



It was also clear that the figure was neither intended to 

 be considered as an idol nor as a monumental statue. 

 There was no pedestal of any sort on which it could stand, 

 and the disposition of the limbs and their contortions 

 were not such as any sculptor would dream of in a figure 

 to be set up for adoration. That it was intended to be 

 taken as a fossilized giant was indicated by the fact that 

 it was made as nearly like a human being as the limited 

 powers of the stone-carver permitted, and that it was 

 covered with minute imitations of pores. 



Therefore it was that, in spite of all scientific reasons 

 to the contrary, the work was yery generally accepted 

 as a petrified human being of colossal size, and became 

 known as &quot;the Cardiff Giant.&quot; 



One thing seemed to argue strongly in favor of its 

 antiquity, and I felt bound to confess, to those who asked 

 my opinion, that it puzzled me. This was the fact that 

 the surface water flowing beneath it in its grave seemed 

 to have deeply grooved and channeled it on the under 

 side. Now the Onondaga gray limestone is hard and 

 substantial, and on that very account used in the locks 

 upon the canals : for the running of surface water to wear 

 such channels in it would require centuries. 



Against the opinion that the figure was a hoax various 

 arguments were used. It was insisted, first, that the 

 farmer had not the ability to devise such a fraud; sec 

 ondly, that he had not the means to execute it ; third, that 

 his family had lived there steadily for many years, and 

 were ready to declare under oath that they had never 

 seen it, and had known nothing of it until it was acciden 

 tally discovered; fourth, that the, neighbors had never 

 seen or heard of it ; fifth, that it was preposterous to sup 

 pose that such a mass of stone could have been brought 

 and buried in the place without some one finding it out; 

 sixth, that the grooves and channels worn in it by the 

 surface water proved its vast antiquity. 



