PETRIFIED GIANT, Lafayette, New York

Petrified Giant.

A few months since, in the town of Lafayette, New York, a farmer digging for water in a marshy spot on his farm came across, about four feet underground, a curious rock that attracted his attention and that of his neighbors. It was unearthed and was found, in appearance, to be so completely like a man that it was pronounced to be a petrified body and, under that announcement, has attracted considerable attention in that locality. The figure is so perfect that it is said to be impossible to avoid the conclusion either that it has been a living body or is an old piece of sculpture, though the latter supposition seems impossible as the stone bears no marks of the chisel and it is not of the kind that would be chosen for such work. The papers say that it is a great curiosity, and that thousands are going from the neighboring city of Syracuse to see it. Neither the scientific nor the unlearned are able to explain this curious relic. The following are the dimensions of the petrified giant:

Length from head to chin, 21 inches; length of nose from brow, 6 inches; length of mouth, 4 inches; width of shoulders from point to point, 3 feet; length of middle finger, 8 inches; from the point of hip to knee joint, 3 feet; diameter through the leg at the thigh, 13 inches; diameter through the calf of leg, 9 1/2 inches; height, 10 feet 3 inches; his foot measures 19 7/8 inches in width; across the palm of the hand, 7 inches; diameter through the wrist, 5 inches; diameter across the nostrils, 3 1/2 inches.

About The Hawaiian gazette. (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918