The Lake Gun

(1851)

The Seneca is remarkable for its "Wandering Jew," and the
"Lake Gun." The first is a tree so balanced that when its
roots are clear of the bottom it floats with its broken and
pointed trunk a few feet above the surface of the water,
driving before the winds, or following in the course of the
currents. At times, the "Wandering Jew" is seen off
Jefferson, near the head of this beautiful sheet; and next it
will appear anchored, as it might be, in the shallow water
near the outlet.

{"Wandering Jew" = The medieval legend of Ahasueras,
who mocked Christ on his way to the cross and was
condemned to live until Judgment Day, is widespread
throughout Europe, though he was only identified as a
"Jew" in the 17th century--students at Geneva College
(now Hobart College) applied the name to a supposedly
unsinkable floating log in Lake Seneca, identified as the
legendary "Chief Agayentha"; Jefferson = I have been
unable to locate any "Jefferson" on Lake Seneca}

For more than half a century has this remnant of the forest
floated about, from point to point, its bald head whitening
with time, until its features have become familiar to all the
older inhabitants of that region of country. The great depth
of the Seneca prevents it from freezing; and summer and
winter, springtime and autumn, is this wanderer to be
observed; occasionally battling with the ice that makes a
short distance from the shore, now pursuing its quiet way
before a mild southern air in June, or, again, anchored, by
its roots touching the bottom, as it passes a point, or
comes in contact with the flats. It has been known to
remain a year or two at a time in view of the village of
Geneva, until, accustomed to its sight, the people began to
think that it was never to move from its berth any more;
but a fresh northerly breeze changes all this; the "Jew"
swings to the gale, and, like a ship unmooring, drags clear
of the bottom, and goes off to the southward, with its head
just high enough above water to be visible. It would seem
really that his wanderings are not to cease as long as wood
will float.

{village of Geneva = now the City of Geneva, at the
northern end of Lake Seneca}

No white man can give the history of this "Jew." He was
found laving his sides in the pure waters of the Seneca by
the earliest settlers, and it may have been ages since his
wanderings commenced. When they are to cease is a
secret in the womb of time.

The "Lake Gun" is a mystery. It is a sound resembling the
explosion of a heavy piece of artillery, that can be
accounted for by none of the known laws of