Page:Atlantis Arisen.djvu/49

Rh Another version is that one of their own number was slain, and his bones laid on top of the box when it was buried. This, were it true, would more effectually keep away the Indians than all the swords in Spain.

The story sounds very well, and is firmly believed by the Indians, who cannot be induced to go near the spot, because their ancestors were told by those who buried the box, that, should they ever go near it, they would provoke the wrath of the Great Spirit. The tale corresponds with that told by the Indians of the upper Columbia, who say that some shipwrecked men, one of whom was called Soto, lived two or three years with their tribe, and then left them to try to reach the Spanish countries overland. It is probable enough that a Spanish galleon may have gone ashore near the mouth of the Columbia, and it agrees with the character of the early explorers of that nation that they should undertake to reach Mexico by land. That they never did, we feel sure, and give a sigh to their memory.

If the tourist is so fortunate as to secure an old Astorian for a guide, he may, if he chooses, call up manifold "spirits from the vasty deep." One of the stories of wreck a century or so ago relates to our almond-eyed neighbors at the antipodes. The story-teller will most likely take from his pocket, where he must have placed it for this purpose, a thin cake of beeswax, well sanded over, which he avers was a portion of the cargo of a Japanese junk, cast ashore near the Columbia in some time out of mind. When we have wondered over this, to us, singular evidence of wrecking, he produces another, in the form of a waxen tube. At this we are more stultified than before, and then are told that this was a large wax candle, such as the Japanese priest, as well as the Eoman, uses to burn before altars. The wick is entirely rotted out, leaving the candle a hollow cylinder of wax.

By this self-evident explanation we are convinced. Certain it is that for years, whenever there has been an unusually violent storm, portions of this waxen cargo are washed ashore, ground full of sand. As beeswax is a common commodity in Japan, we see no reason to doubt that this, which the sea gives up from time to time, originally came from there. The suppo-