The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-29 00:00:00

OCTOBER 29, 1853. seventeen men. The weight of fuel was ninety-three tons ; and space was so carefully economised that " the engineers cabin anti " Mr. Abernethy's occupied positions on either " side of the engine-room hatch, so that when " the steam was up they enjoyed a tempera " lure of a hundred Fahrenheit." On the 14th steam was got up, but so deeply was the Isabel laden that, " during a stork calm," she only made three knots an hour. Divine service was duly performed On Sunday, whenever the weather permitted. On the 30th the morning " broke with a per " feet hurricane of wind the sea washing our decks fore anti aft," and doing mane damage. This warned them that they were near " Foul-weather Cape," as Cape Farewell is termed—vessels seldom passing it without encountering a gale : A stormy petrel flying on board Wati easily captured. The raw little creature Kati lost ono kg, and, though the %tiny was perfectly healed the want of it occasioned as; c apture, as these hints use their feet us a rudder to guide them in their flight. The same day ice was first seen, and through the floes the babe/ " rudely pushed and " elbowed " her way, going seven knots an hour, anti " trembling from stein to stern." The screw was not injured by the ice. The configuration of the northern ice Was " as if matte out of snow pressed into un " wieldy masses." off Cape Horn it is "much " more like ice." On the 31st two coronae were observed through the thick fog the outer one of purple, the inner of a brilliant " orange." At midnight on the 4th of Autaist an aurora borealis was seen lighting up " the "whole of the southern sky with its variegated " corruseations of brilliant light." On the sth Captain Inglefield kept the morning watch himself, and was rewarded by " the sight of " tis glorious a sunrise as ever gladdened the " face of nature the yellow tints of " the golden orb shedding their refulgence on " the rude and grotesque masses of icc seat " tem(' here and there, and the land just " tipped on its snow-capped heights." And now the noises that ht'eak the silence of the frozen realm were heard—"the hoarse " surge of the waters as they rolled iuto the " caverns of some mountain of ice," or " the " roar of some other berg rent in twain with " the noise of a park of artillery, and scat " tered over the water in showers of fragments " for miles around." At the Danish settlement of Fiskernocs Cap. Lain Inglefield anchored, and was hospitably received by the governor, with whom an inter change of courtesies occurred. An Es quimaux pilot steered them from Fisker noes, and when he was leaving he was re warded with " some biscuit, at piece of pork, " and an old pair of trousers." This is an in valuable fact for the Chancellor of the Exche quer when the pilot dues are next discussed. At the settlement of Lievely he again an chored, and applied for dogs, but Sir Edward Belcher had carried away all that could be spared. His next point is Upernivik, and, steering along the coast, he sketched the headlands, and "accompanied " the sketches with " angles and one true bearing." " Sauu " derson's Hope is a remarkable mountain, " 3,000 feet in height, and forming a good " landmark." At Upernivik he obtained two dogs, and called them Tom and Bella, but they did not like their new abode at first, anti " it was some days before they settled down " into domestic habits." Again he sails on, and soon gt•ts into the ice : we had not been long struggling with the loose ice when a great bear Came close down to the ship to inquire o u business. I saluted him with R Shot trims " the rifle " ( a mink ride), but, nut striking hint in a vital part, he made 14, and Our 'Abuts tii follow him in the whale-boat moved fruitless. I was '.eery to krill' the poor brute v.O hay wounded, and my dogs were in as much need of the flesh as I was of the skin, to fail some of the promises I made ti my friends on leaving England. Having succeeded in passing through the pack, and in reaching the open water, we pushed cm„ oily on ; while the tom, bursting forth, dispdled the mist, and gladdening our hearts amidst the solitude of ice and snow, rapidly thawed the latter thr.t lay on our decks and yards atter a morning shower, which, tliontdi slight, had covered them. Itirty.one days only have elapsed since we tripp 1 anchor from Peterhead, and here we are in Melville Bay, three days later only (as regards the period of the season) than the Penny Expedb !ton of last year. with apparently a far better season. and in a vessel uneuetuubered with a consort or with any orders. THE PRESS. Captain lugletleld is happy in being uuem einnbered by a consort, hut * Captain Lyon. in the Griper, when in fearful peril, wished for one, "if not to rescue or to help, at least to ' " break the death-like silence of the sea." Wherever Esquimaux are met they invariably laugh at the Europeans. " A handkerchief " with a portrait of our gracious Queen in the " centre attracted murk attention I observed them with it spread out on the " snow, examining it in all positions with ap parent awe." lie searched some graves and cairns at the place where Adam Beck reported that Sir John Franklin was murdered, but nothing was found to corroborate Beek's tale. Captain Ingletield opened a but the door of which was blocked up by a large stone. In it a dead man was found. Amongst the Esqui maux, when the last of a family dies, his house is his tomb. It is closed up, and the neigh bourhood is forsaken. On entering the Polar Sea he saw some remarkable cliffs exactly resembling the Crystal Palace in shape. Once the Isabel was nearly wrecked in the iee : her stern was lifted out of the water, and she heeled over to one side. Steam saved her. " ' The edges of the fan were burnished bright " from abrasion with the ice." There is a sketch of the babe/ in her perilous position. the following extract is touchi uig : About four o'eloult in the afternoon, while busy in my cabin at my charts, I was informed that three bears were near us on the ice: and, our poor thap4 really needing a fresh meal (haying supplied Captain l'idlen with the re mainder of toy Cape lurk eligetl) set off 114 pursuit of the intruders The trio were vinlently cono posed of a 'wither and twins: ton), 'wing rather anybitis to scrum the hitter. for eaMing to England *tine, I tired cautiously at the mother, but, not living successful in hit• ting her the first t• in a vital part, I was obliged, as she scampered over the ice, to tire such ratoluon shots that I W 01111414.11 one and killed the other of her cubs: anti it was nearly seven o'cluwk hetiire all three wen. secured and hoisted 011 board. Poor Mrs. Bruin! it was quite heart rending to see the affection that existed between her and her cubs. The latter, when they saw 164 mother wounded, regardless of their own : offerings, v on 1 1 11 l s t eed, licking her wounds, whilst she, with that natural instinct observable amongst all wild animals, seined snow up with her huge paw , and plastered it the 144441141 pall, tie P`tallelt 1111Kiii iy its Myrtle effects. When she began to eat the snow we knew she Was rent t a lly wou n ded but even then her care bor the cubs did not cease, as she kept continually nutting her head from one to the other: and, though roaring with pain, she seemed to warn them to escape, if possible : but their attachment was as great as hers : and thus I was obliged to destroy t h e in all. It went starving dogs reconciled me to the Ileeessity. Alt ! Captain Inglefield, were you thinking of " your starting doge" when you intended to take the young hears to England alive? The truth is, Captain Inglefield is a sports man, and cannot refrain from having a shot at any bear within reach. He is an able officer, an agreeable writer, and, judging front this work, a good man. We have only space for one more extract. He anchored offs group called the Hindi Islands, and the governor is, as usual, hospitable : On the rah 1 reruiyeil a message from the patentor, that as it was the King of Deninark's birthday the Eagnimaux would assemble nt his !liaise and hate n donee, and the 'demure of my company was solicited Air the ',ces sion. Aveonlingly, at six o'clock, I repaired to the wooden palace of his excellency, and there found, ellitillited into a smallish chamlwr, as many Esquimanx as 4 ... 44 1.1 v ow venientlY stand. I haul prepared my self with certain bottles by which pinch could lie quickly made ; and several of the officers and crew joining the piety, by their assistanee each of the Esquimaux ladies was first supplied with n glassful of the beverage', and afterwards the gentle. men. when I made them maleistand that they Were to give three cheers for the King of Denmark, which was done with a vigour and good-heartedness that blade the woollen walls echo again. I had prepared another treat for them, which I am quite sure was to many the most iugrawable of the two. My coxswain came in to tell me when all was ready, and then I begged the govenuer would tell the party to go Hatable, where I had somewhat to show them. When all were assembled, the booming of One of our guns, which by signal was tiered Unto the vessel, not a little alarmed some of the most timid. and their fe a r w a s tod much allayed when. from under their tt ry flows, si shower of rockets flew into naubair with a whirl that startled some of the more ancient sages atnOligst them, though, when no damair was found to necnte to any of the party, the Awaits of joy overpowered the imbue of the rockets. The blue lights and white lights, which were bunt to enliven the perforrnaneett, were oljects of great curiosity, and I could sec some inquiring faces eagerly watching our tnove ments as the iwwifirra were placed to ignite them. Dancing was afterwards commenced , and feeling that it was my duty to lead off with the govern o r's wife, who was an Esquimau', I begged the honour of her hand for a d a n ce , in the beet Esquiniatix of which I was master; and, t o the scraping of a disable , ' fiddle. bound round with twine and splints, 1 Ittuachttl into the mysteries of an Espii. 017 1116111 pada., which, but for the strenuous exertions of my partner to keep toe right, I should certain)? hare set into utter confUsion. It was composed of s Anima. des rboers and a rya complex to a wonderful degree, and cs• hawing to a frightful extent; and yet it appeared to be the &terminal of the whole party to coin' at this one fi gure till tired nature sunk. l`naccustomed to this kind et' violent csetrise, I was soon bunched up, and tried to escape ; but at last I had the gratification of °burning an elderly lady epistolist) beginning to falter, and, out of eompl .nt to her, 1 presume, this shiner was terminated. The Esquunaux seem to think it impossible to he too warm, so the duos and windows Were tightly dosed, and certain lamps a n d tallow canines ( with which I had sup• plied his c‘eellen.,l soon brought the I sta rr i oure up to Wool' hest. After resting from mt lalsoir, I determined to try their waltz, which 1 fluid wan not very unlike ours, being performed somewhat in the same manner, and the fair ladies with whom I now alternately figured inntructing utr m the tup.tei ivm of the measure. some o f my sa il o rs having obtained permission in attend the b it n, t j wy lloW solicited to give a specimen of their skill, and Ile• corilingly a sailor's hornpipe and reel. with the Its suit heel ad toe *teem' nt. met with great applause. Having accomplished the object of his voyage, and communicated with Captain p u ll et' i n th e N o rth Star, Captain Inglefield resolved to return to England. lie eneoun tered very boistemus weather, which, no doubt, as in the case of the ancient mariner and the albatrotis, was caused by the which nine fathom deep had followed him from the land of mist and snow as a punish ment for killing the young hears. Stromuess was reached on dill 4th NOVem• her, four months after they hail left 'Woolwich. The northern ice is no longer a sealed hook, The mystery is gone from " the death-white snow" that awed the imagination of .lane Eyre and invoke the strange eloquence of Franken stein. lint the deeds of those by whom that mystery watt solved arc HS sublime a n d their fame will be as lasting as the ice cowered reek islets, inottitt aims, anal headlands through which they forced their way to fame. 'yrillo. A By the Baroness Tautphoeus. 1 Assistants : Bentley. Tuns work will not add to its writer's repute.. tion. The Baroness Taut pinball% has rather the talents of all essayist than those of a novelist, her forte lying in disquisition, not invention. tittelt at writer, in applying to fic tion, should take great pains, in choosing a re markable story, and in aterstrately elaborating the plot. There are souse fietionists, like t ieorge Sand, and others we could mime, that van almost afford to do without. It story. Hut the Baroness Tatitplmens wants inmpirntion, and none of her love passages thrill the heart or intaisten the eye. To learn wind. passes for a 11114 hi " One talld hot i n terest our readers. It is at novel in %%licit the colouring and costume are taken from rovincial fashionable life in t iernanny, and t p he authoress hats evidently had in her eye souse of the descriptions of rural life in England by our own novelists,. Fietions, where the scene is laid in foreign countries, can interest us only in two ways—either nm de• serilsing manners or by introducing us to original diameters. " ()Tat " has little that is charac teristic of fierma life, and, instead of meeting any new types of hsmoauaity in its are for the thousandth time called on to give our sympathies to puppets fantastically dressed andl attitudinising in a conventional style. But we read MI without emotion, and, arriving at the mehanchuly catatstrophe of the heroine at the end of the third volume, we close " with a feeling of relief. The following remarks on certain phases of 'gaiety in liermany are interesting, and we extract them as a specimen of the writer's Maillier as all essayist : Dancing is in tiermany a p aa mion which pen-114m ell elio.seu alike—in other respeeta they have hot little ul common, and seldom mix. Commerce has not often enahleil I ieriemlili to imams ' , stannous riches ; and, omit uvic indiviilualm of Idle barglirr Elittl4 id, IWCOMU NY, -,I ''l * * Xi twollinary wealth, it %mail hot inime them ata,te their wigimil %phew, so MmHg is the list of d e marcation drawn by birth and fortified by prejudice. Efigland....loit no; we will not ‘ny what wealth can do there. Cleverer ti.enot lorve already demerilicil the rich parrrrest's provre,.m—his nlmomt certain elei sit otti, though devoid or all flint committal.* moped nave wealth alone. We must, however, oho , remember that iu Ellldl4llll talent anal intellectual t 333 i l letter or e very ileiicriptima will (Amble the posaemsor to rine, pedlars et ell more quickly, and certainly more m 010414 , ill the sorial wale, whertint both are alike powcrlemm in tiennany. Birth and genealogy deeide the position in life so completely that it is lab!sival ituroseibilisy to change it, inseassuch as none can i