A STRANGE LAND. 



(^Published in "The American Sportsman," January 15, 1891. > 



On December 6, 1891, there was found by a party of 

 oyster fishers near Norfolk, Va., a floating bottle-shaped 

 concern, corked and sealed, containing a strange story of 

 a strange land, the attention of which does not seem to 

 have been brought to scientists, or at all events, it has not 

 received the consideration its importance deserves. On 

 the bottle is blown some strange hieroglyphics, which 

 gi*es color to the strange story of its contents, which fol- 

 lows : 



"I've been here, I cannot say just how long, for as my 

 story, which follows, will explain, I have to a certain 

 extent lost the reckoning of time, but it must be some 

 three years. The date I last remember is August 16, 

 1883. The causes which led to this loss of reckoning has 

 also left my memory of names, my own among them, 

 blank. I cannot therefore name any of my friends, but 

 places and dates prior to my misfortune are vivid in my 

 memory. 



"I was born near the town of Ashland, State of Ohio, 

 United States of America, and while a student of nearly 

 sixteen years of age enlisted in the army, Company H, 

 Forty-second Ohio Regiment of Infantry. My Captain 

 was the principal of the school from which I enlisted ; my 

 Colonel was a renowned man, who was afterwards elected 

 President and was assassinated. As a boy I was 



