left dim records of themselves here and there--as near the dells of the

Wisconsin, where a chasm fifty feet wide is shown as the ravine leaped by

chief Black Hawk when flying from the whites. Devil's Lake was the home

of a manitou who does not seem to have been a particularly evil genius,

though he had unusual power. The lake fills what is locally regarded as

the crater of an extinct volcano, and the coldness and purity kept by the

water, in spite of its lacking visible inlets or outlets, was one cause

for thinking it uncanny.



This manitou piled the heavy blocks of Devil's Door-Way and set up Black

Monument and the Pedestalled Bowlder as thrones where he might sit and

view the landscape by day--for the Indians appreciated the beautiful in

nature and supposed their gods did, too--while at night he could watch

the dance of the frost spirits, the aurora borealis. Cleft Rock was

sundered by one of his darts aimed at an offending Indian, who owed his

life to the manitou's bad aim. The Sacrifice Stone is shown where, at

another time, a girl was immolated to appease his anger. Cleopatra's

Needle, as it is now called, is the body of an ancient chief, who was

turned into stone as a punishment for prying into the mysteries of the

lake, a stone on East Mountain being the remains of a squaw who had

similarly offended. On the St. Croix the Devil's Chair is pointed out

where he sat in state. He had his play spells, too, as you may guess when

you see his toboggan slide in Weber Canon, Utah, while Cinnabar Mountain,

in the Yellowstone country, he scorched red as he coasted down.



The hunter wandering through this Wisconsin wilderness paused when he

came within sight of the lake, for all game within its precincts was in

the manitou's protection; not a fish might be taken, and not even a drop

of water could be dipped to cool the lips of the traveller. So strong was

this fear of giving offence to the manitou that Indians who were dying of

wounds or illness, and were longing for a swallow of water, would refuse

to profane the lake by touching their lips to it.