Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/678

660 How the old rogue managed to duplicate the bonds so cleverly and place them in the tree before a knot had been placed in the original, is a problem I leave others to solve, though to my mind it is not so difficult as might be imagined. But how or where he obtained his dead wolf is entirely beyond my conjecture. There was no wolf beneath the blanket five minutes before it came to light, for I had but just given the sufferer a careful examination, and could not have failed to detect its presence. There was but one other occupant of the lodge besides the patient and ourselves—the husband—and he sat too far away for collusion. He had not moved for more than an hour, and no one had passed in or out for double that period of time. The violence of the conjurer's exertions had reduced his apparel until it rivaled that of the historic Georgia major; and a breech-clout and medicine-bag would scarce account for anything larger than a small rodent. There was no available place of concealment: then where did it come from?

Subsequently I questioned Wa-ah-poos upon the subject, but he would give me no other satisfaction than might be derived from a series of baboonish chuckles and grins, and a repetition of the words, "Medicine—big medicine!"



HE Antarctic Ocean occupies a position around the south pole similar to that of the Arctic Ocean at the opposite end of the earth. It fills all the space to the south of the Antarctic Circle. It differs vastly, however, from its northern homologue, for, instead of having land at its outer circumference, it has water. While the North American, the European, and the Asiatic coasts encircle the Northern Ocean, the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Indian Oceans mingle their waters with those of the frozen zone at the south.

As it differs in physical conditions, so also it differs in having received much less attention from the world at large. While the aim of innumerable expeditions for the past four hundred years has been to find a northwest passage to Asia, to plant a flag at latitude 90°, or to rescue some unfortunate commander and his crew from a horrible fate, and while thousands of dollars have been expended, and hundreds of lives have been lost, there is a strange contrast offered when we turn to the far south. The expeditions which have been sent out by the great nations of the world to explore the vast watery expanse about the southern pole are so few as to be counted on the fingers of one hand, and all the ships which have left records of any extensive explorations beyond the Antarctic Circle might be counted on the fingers of two. hands. And yet "within the periphery of the Antarctic 