Maroti 24. 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



176 



over everything. The lake lay perfectly calm. The 

 island seenie I an inky cloud resting on the water. The 

 sound cf the falls came up dull and solemn. The hooting 

 of an owl in the woods, the croaking of frogs in the lake, 

 the oiy of a wild animal far up the mountain side, all 

 added to the weird, peculiar effect. 



"Will," I said, "what do you know about this lake and 

 what do people say about it?" 



"I dont know anything but what I've heard." 



"And what have you heard?" 



"Why, I've often heard them talk of the Devil's Bowl 

 and the Haunted Island." 



"What do they say about it? Tell me the whole story." 



The story Will told was much after the style of all 

 Indian legends. In substance it was that in early days 

 this island was the home of a great Indian chief known 

 as Mulkassett. Here he had his wigwam and his council 

 house, and here he lived with his daughter, Laughing 

 Eyes. When Laughing Eyes grew up, she had numerous 

 suitors among the chiefs of the neighboring tribes, but to 

 all she turned a deaf ear, and lived contentedly on t he 

 island with her father until a white trapper appeared. 

 This trapper came in the fall and spent the winter with 

 the Indians, Hving among them as one of them. During 

 the winter, imknown to Mulkassett, an intimacy sprung 

 up between Laughing Eyes and the trapper, and in the 

 early summer both disappeared. Mulkassett's rage was 

 terrible when he heard that his daughter had gone away 

 with the trapper. He dispatched his braves in every 

 direction; he sent messages to all the different tribes, and 

 in a few days the pair were captured and brought back to 

 the island. Mulkassett called a council of all his tribe. 

 On an evening in June the meeting was held, and at the 

 council the trapper was condemned to death. No en- 

 treaties or prayers of Laughing Eyes availed to save him. 

 He was taken from the council house and burned at the 

 stake. The next morning the dead body of Laughing- 

 Eyes was found floating in the water at the foot of the 

 falls. "And people say," concluded Will, "that if you 

 are here in June you can see Laughing Eyes rising out of 

 the falls, and see the canoes of the Indians crossing over 

 the lake to the council house, and sometimes you can see 

 a fire burning on the island." 



"Why, Will, this is the month of June," I said. 



"That's so, 'tis June. I didn't think of that before, and 

 I'd just as leave be somewhere else to-night as here." 



However, notwithstanding his fears, Will lay down on 

 the spruce branches he had fixed for a bed, the fatigue 

 of the day's tramp soon made itself felt and he slept 

 soundly. 



I sat still smoking my pipe. There was something 

 Aveird and peculiar about my surroundings that made, it 

 facinating. I thought of Will's story, old Mulkasset, the 

 Indian maiden, the spectral council held in the old eoun- 

 cil house in June. I gazed out on the lake. I tried to 

 imagine those phantom boats flitting across to hold the 

 ghostly conference. I was sitting facing the island. 

 Suddenly I saw a black object leave the shore and glide 

 out toward the island. I certainly could not be mistaken. 

 I sat up and rubbed my eyes. Yes, there it was, plain 

 and distinct in the faint moonlight, a little boat with one 

 person in it gliding across the lake toward the island. I 

 felt a cold chill come over me. Was Will's story tine 

 and did old Mulkasset hold nightly meetings on that 

 island? 



"Will," I said in a low voice. 



In a moment I felt Will creep over and crouch at my 

 side. "What is it, Mr. Harry?" he whispered. 



"Look there, Will, what is that?" and I pointed to the 

 dark object making- its way across the lake. 



"It's a boat and a man in it as sure as I'm here," 

 answered Will. ' 'Look there! look there!" ejaculates Will, 

 "there's another." I looked in the direction Will pointed. 

 Yes, there was another boat shooting out from the 

 shadows and heading for the island. They were the old- 

 fashioned Indian canoes, and they seemed to glide over 

 rather than through the water. The figures in them sat 

 erect, motionless. There was no sweep of paddle. No 

 mortal hand gave the motion that urged them toward 

 the island. Soon another boat shot out from the shadow 

 of the trees at another part of the lakes, and another and 

 another, until more than a dozen were on the lake. 



"What does it mean, Will?" I said. 



"It means, Mr. Harry," and Will's voice was low and 

 solemn, "It means that them aint no real boats, nor real 

 men; them are the ghosts of dead Indians, and they're 

 going to hold one of their meetings on the haunted 

 island." 



We sat in silence watching them. The boats neared 

 the island; one by one they entered the shadows of its 

 trees and were lost to view. A deep, gloomy silence 

 reigned over the whole valley. The moon was sinking 

 until it approached the top of the mountains. There was 

 something oppressive in the stillness. Suddenly the 

 silence was broken by Will's voice close to my ear. 



"Good Heavens! Look there." 



I looked in the direction he pointed. There, rising from 

 the mist of the falls, appeared a white figure. Plain and 

 distinct it seemed to hover above the falls, its wild, black 

 eyes fixed upon us with a look of entreaty. Suddenly the 

 figure raised its right hand and pointed to the island. 

 Slowly it turned and floated out toward the island, twice 

 the head turned and the eyes looked back to see if we 

 were following. Dimmer and dimmer grew the figure 

 until it disappeared. 



"Laughing Eyes," whispered Will. "She's gone to the 

 council meeting on the island." 



"Let us go, too," I said. I know not what impelled me 

 to say it, an irresistible desire to go to the island seized 

 me. 



"Why, Mr. Harry, you don't mean to go over to the 

 island ! 



"Yes I do; let us go right away." 



"Well, if you go I'll go too, but I'd a good deal rather 

 not, and besides, how can we get there, we have no boat." 



I hadn't thought of that before. How could we get to 

 the island? I looked down at the edge of the pond; a 

 dark object was sticking out from the bushes. "Why, 

 Will, that looks like a boat," I said, pointing to it, "come 

 let us see." It was a boat, an ordinary punt, such as is 

 used by trappers or hunters. I didn't stop to think that 

 it was strange our finding a boat ready for us when 

 neither of us had seen it before. I was filled with the 

 one idea of getting to the island. We loosed the boat 

 and pushed out on the water. There was something 

 fascinating about thus following the vanishing form of 

 Laughing Eyes. Twice on the journey across the water I 



imagined I saw again that white figure beckoning us; 

 twice it faded into light mist. Just as we reached the 

 shore of the little island, a blight light burst up within a 

 few yards of us, illuminating the trees and surrounding 

 water. Crouching behind the bushes that lined the edge 

 of the island we looked on the strangest sight my eyes 

 had ever behold. Beyond the bushes was an open spot, 

 in the center of it stood a post around which the fire was 

 blazing; through the fire could be seen distinctly the 

 form of a man writhing and twisting in intense agony. 

 The entire open space was filled with dusky forms danc- 

 ing around with burning brands. But the most singular 

 part of the whole'scene was that not a sound came from 

 all the vast crowd; everywhere was deep dead silence. 

 Suddenly I felt an impulse to try and save the man. I 

 jumped up with the intention of running into the crowd, 

 when 1 felt Will's hand on my shoulder, and his voice 

 said, "Hello, Mr. Harry, are you going to sleep all night 

 sitting up against this hemlock?" 



"Why, what, where, where are we?" I said, rubbing 

 my eyes. 



"We're right here, where we've been all evening." 

 " And where are the Indians and Laughing Eyes?" 

 "There are no Indians here; guess you've been dream- 

 ing-" 



"Blast your Indian stories!" I said, now fully awake. 

 "You've had me going to the island and seeing Laughing 

 Eyes, and no end of Indians." 



Lighting my pipe I told Will of my dream. We then 

 stretched out on our beds, and when next we looked on 

 the haunted island the sun of a June morning was shining 

 over it, turning it into an ordinary common place scene. 



F. I. Sherman. 



Addrm all eommunieatiom to the Forest and Stream Pub. On. 



A LABORATORY FOR THE PARK. 



Editor Forest and Stream.: 



In the issue of Science which appeared on the 18th 

 ultimo, there was among the letters to the editor 

 one of especial interest from Dr. D. D. Slade, published 

 under the modest title of "Osteological Notes," wherein 

 its author points out even that at this late day he has 

 discovered a. very important difference to exist both in 

 t he arrangement and character of the metacarpals of the 

 buffalo and aurochs. Dr. Slade says that, "in passing- 

 through the exhibition rooms of the'Museum of Compara- 

 tive Zoology (at Cambridge, Mass.) not long since my at- 

 tention was called to the fact that the skeleton of the 

 Bison bonasns presented a rudimentary second metacar- 

 pal, while the Bison amerieanus at its side exhibited 

 the customary fifth metacarpal; in other words, that the 

 splint-bone which was present on each skeleton occupied 

 exactly opposite positions, that of the American bison 

 being on the outer, while that of the aurochs was on the 

 inner side of the limb." About a year ago Mr. F. W. 

 True, the Curator of the Department of Mammals in the 

 Smithsonian Institution, entered a plea in Science for a 

 more thorough study both of the habits, and especially 

 the structure, on the part of our zoologists andmorpholo- 

 gists, of our larger animals, and the writer in the same 

 journal, at a later date, did his best to urgently call at- 

 tention to the same important question in a letter to its 

 editor. The point thac I made is now amply illustrated 

 by the discovery of Dr. Slade, and that is, there are a 

 great many animals, once abundant and easily obtained, 

 now rare and rapidly becoming extinct under our very 

 eyes, to whose structure we are guilty of not having 

 given our full attention and study, while in many cases 

 we are absolutely ignorant of the commonest facts of 

 their natural history. Among some of our zoologists I 

 fear there exists a sort of a notion that now, since the 

 establishment of the law of organic evolution, the fields 

 of morphology are quite out of fashion, and the study of 

 the structure of our commonest animals rather an unprof- 

 itable expenditure of time, as it is but pretty sure to bring 

 little more, as a reward, than a sort of a " I told you so" 

 from the evolutionists. You are simply proving what 

 we already have abundant evidence of, and you bet- 

 ter turn your attention to psychics or astronomy. 

 To those who hold such opinions, I can but 

 reiterate my former words, and say that many of the 

 laws of physiology; of the fundamental laws of life 

 itself, and the accurate knowledge of the true relations of 

 many existing forms to each other, are as yet totally 

 and absolutely unknown to us. So far as zoology is con- 

 cerned, these will constitute the problems to be solved in 

 the immediate future, and let me assure you that unless 

 we more fully turn our attention to the structure of all 

 those animals of our own fauna, which are being so rap- 

 idly exterminated, and render exhaustive monographs 

 upon the same, we will fully merit the very worst de- 

 nunciations that the coming race of zoologists can heap 

 ripon our heads. For these very problems, in biology, to 

 which I have .just alluded, wilf demand all the accurate 

 knowledge ot the structure of animals that can be 

 brought to bear upon them. The buffalo are nearly ex- 

 tinct, when, only a few years ago, there were thousands 

 of them in this country— and now in these very last days 

 of their existence upon earth, it is discovered that differ- 

 ences of the most vital importance to science are found to 

 exist in the skeletal structure of the foot as compared 

 with the same parts in a related form. There must have 

 been some cause for this, and who can answer the cmes- 

 tion but that other important differences may exist in 

 other parts of the economy of these animals, which dif- 

 ferences might be the cause of shedding a powerful light, 

 were they known, upon some of the fundamental laws of 

 biology, incomprehensible to us, without such aid. 



Our elk are sure to go just exactly in the same manner 

 as the buffalo have, and the day is not far distant for the 

 fulfillment of such a prophecy in the history of onr mam- 

 mals, either; and where can we find an exhaustive 

 treatise upon their anatomy? Elk are not the only 

 animals, either, for our antelope are disappearing with 

 marvelous rapidity, and they are, if anything, a still 

 more important form, so far as morphology is concerned. 



I can easily imagine some anatomist in the dim future, 

 who perchance has exhaustively examined the structure 

 of some allied type, which has persisted for a much 

 longer time in existence, wringing his hands with despair, 



and exclaiming, "O! what would I give to know how 

 such and such a structure was found in Antilocaprar — 

 and a trea,tise upon such a subject non est. 



Now, I have a plan to propose, which, I must believe, 

 if put into execution, will act as a powerful aid to the 

 progress and encouragement of such studies and pur- 

 suits. 



This plan consists in establishing a national laboratory 

 in some suitable, location within the limits of the Yellow- 

 stone Park. Such a laboratory could be built for some- 

 thing like fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, which 

 moneys could either be appropriated outright by Con- 

 gress, or gotten up through private subscription. Mr. P. 

 T. Barnum, about a year ago, promised to give the city 

 of Washington $200,000 to start a zoological garden there, 

 but, so far as I know, the offer was never accepted. 

 Now, if Mr. Barnum still has it in mind to leave a monu- 

 ment behind him that will have as its aim the perpetual 

 care and study of our native animals, I can devise for 

 him no better scheme than to put one-half of that amount 

 into a national biological laboratory in the Yellowstone 

 Park. 



A building of this kind should be constructed so as to 

 offer complete accommodations for the prosecution of 

 biological work in all of its departments. There should 

 be dissecting-rooms properly fitted up, with apartments 

 for draughting work, and quiet nooks to write in. There 

 should be a commodious library, containing essentially 

 such books as have been found of particular service for 

 use in the field, in ev ery branch of biological research, 

 together with such periodicals as report regularly the 

 advances made from time to time of our knowledge of 

 the life-history of animals in their native haunts, and of 

 morphology. 



There should be rooms, and spare rooms, for the use 

 of students and the permanent staff. The proper 

 arrangements should be made whereby all maimer of 

 observations could be facilitated and recorded, as the 

 migration of birds; meteorological observations; the breed- 

 ing habits of mammals; the botanical data of the entire 

 region, and exhaustive investigations upon the geology 

 and invertebrates, etc., etc. 



Then, if such a laboratory were located near the center 

 of the Park, there could be erected near it suitable quar- 

 ters for the regular police of this valuable reservation, 

 and owing to the fact that the government held an insti- 

 tution of that kind there, in addition to the presence of a 

 good police, there would probably be far less effort made 

 to encroach upon the domain by ruthless speculators, or 

 by those who are poachers. It would be an excellent 

 center for both government and private scientific parties 

 in the field to have as a base of operations. Another ad- 

 vantage would be in having a good point to gather all 

 manner of material and have it properly packed, 

 arranged and assorted, before shipping to the museums. 

 By far its greatest advantage, however, would be in 

 having such a scientific center in the very midst of 

 material which now demands our most exhaustive study 

 lief ore it is swept off the face of the earth. Then we could 

 investigate, in the most satisfactory manner possible, the 

 life-histories of a great many animals that at thievery 

 moment are rapidly disappearing before the relentless 

 march of civilization in this country; there, too, could 

 the fresh bodies of our largest animals be placed directly 

 upon the dissecting tables, where with scalpel, crayon 

 and camera, their structure could be exhaustively investi- 

 gated, and, away from all annoyances, their describers 

 could make full record of such researches, 



R. W. Shufeldt. 



Fort Weygate, New Mexico, March 10. 



MY OLD JIM. 



DUPING the month of July past I wing-tipped a soli- 

 tary crow, whose dusky feathers glistening in the 

 morning sun made too tempting a mark for a lone and 

 disappointed woodcock hunter. 



My dog ran him into a bush where he made no little re- 

 sistance, but soon yielded to the darkening influence 

 which my handkerchief had over his eyes, and as I eagerly 

 folded him to my breast he succeeded in entwining his 

 claws into my flannel shirt front with a grip not easily 

 disengaged. 



Taking him with me to the farmhouse at which I was 

 stopping and examining his wounds, I found that ho had 

 been struck by only a single pellet, which took effect in 

 the third joint of the left wing and amounted only to an 

 ugly bruise which would probably cause thejinjuied mem- 

 ber to drop a little. 



This being the first live crow that I had ever seen at 

 close range (probably from the fact that I am a city-bred 

 boy) I decided to keep the bird and if possible make a 

 pet of him. 



By washing and dressing the wound daily and feeding 

 him out of my hand we scon became on very friendly 

 teims. I built a spacious cage for his accommodation, 

 but on the approach of autumn, as the nights grew cold 

 and long and the native birds began to migrate, my heart 

 softened as I thought of the possible happiness of which 

 I was depriving my crow, so one beautiful morning in 

 October I threw open the cage door with a "Good-bye, 

 old Jim!" and left him to his own inclinations. 



Imagine my surprise on arriving home at noon when I 

 was greeted with the familiar caw! caw! and glancing up 

 into the drooping branches of a willow I beheld, quietly 

 devouring an apple, my Jim, whom I supposed ruany 

 miles away by that time. 



Well, here it is the middle of February and still he 

 stays with me, diligently eluding all my efforts to keep 

 him housed, seeming to prefer taking odds with the spar- 

 rows with the thermometer at zero, to a comfortable 

 perch indoors. So much for natural instinct. 



Nor does he confine himself to the narrow limits of the 

 few trees in the yard, as I hear reports of his visiting 

 various places within a radius of a mile or more from 

 home, while on two or three occasions he has spent sev- 

 eral days away, but with these exceptions he never fails 

 to turn up and "ca w" for his beefsteak and buckwheat 

 cakes. Corn and "sich" having long since fallen beneath 

 his epicurean tastes, Even as I write he is perched among 

 the bare branches of a large birch, with a piece of meat 

 in one fist and apple in the other, suspiciously eyeing a 

 group of open-mouthed small boys, who are watching him 

 from the sidewalk. 



Such is my attachment for him, that if he stays with 

 me until spring I shall endeavor to secure a mate for him. 



Cleveland, Ohio. Watt. 



