American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1844-12-31

THROUGH SPICE ISLANDS TO CHINA.
By Mrs. C. II. Butler.
''Before eight bells you will see the land"
was the cheering remark of the captain, as
passed from the deck to go below. Land! what
rapture in the woId-what visions of shady
groves, of verdant meadows, did it call FORTH
We were then seventy days from Sandy Hook
we had watched with fearful eyes the high
lands of Neversink gradually fading in the dis
tance-we had seen at last the faint blue out
line sink beneath the wave, and now after Sc
veity days on the trackless ocean-the blue
sky above us, and the wave below, the idea of
once more resting our eyes upon the land, had
in it pleasure which only those similarly 81
tuated can appreciate. With such feelings,
then, did hail our near approach to the Island
of st. Paul.
But with the early dawn came tempests and
disappointment. Upon going on deck / found
our ship embedded as it were, in a mountain of
mist, while DRILLING rain sprinked our decks,
as it might be this same mountain dissolving
upon us. The wind at last began to lift the
vast curtain which enveloped us-fold after
fold gradually disappeared, until with one furi-
Gus sweep the whole was rent away, and our
ship discovered to be plunging madly on to the
dark frowning mass close under urslee, with
the breakers opening wide their infurlated
sters for their prey. Our situation was most
critical. For few moments all was confusion
all hands were Immediately ordered on deck
from the fore-castle, from the steerage, the
.affrighted mariners obeyed the cry of the cap
tain, whose voice sounded above the raging of
the pillows. Already our ship reels amid the
surf-her sides now buried in the foaming
waves-now poised, as it were, on the brink Of
the yawning abyss---she is almost on her beam
ends Tack Ship" shouted the captain, and
ibravely, our trusty bark ebeyed the helm-in a
few moments we are safe-free from the roar
ing surf and with hearts thankful for dangers
passed-soon CALAMITY pursuing our course.
The violent lurching of the ship too, had
made riot and confusion in the cabin. On the
floor, books, charts, papers, flute, guitar, work
basket and work were confusedly mingled; ink
stands upset, cologne stands shattered, while
comfortably epsconed in one corner, Indifferent
to the wild uproar without or the hub-bub
within, sat Bruin erect, appropriating exclu-
siyely for the qualification of bis sweet tooth, a
paper ofstray bon-bons.
Up to the present time who had looked at
the long desired land but with apprehension
and dismay! but now all danger passed, all eyes
were turned with confidence toward the solita-
ry Isle, rising abruptly from the ocean to the
heigtat of about seven hundred feet. The sum-
init has lever appearance, ana slopes gradu-
ally &c we except here and there slight ele-
vationl to within about 200 feet of the surface
of the ocean. But the most remarkable feature
is huge rock standing detached, apparently
some twenty rods from the Island. 1t is pre-
cisely in the form of sugar-loaf, ninety feet
high, with the breakers tossing and raging on
every side, sometimes lost in the sparkling foam.
The island of St. Paus was discovered by
Flaming or Fleming, Dutch navigator, in
l697-is about ten miles in length, five in
breadth-highest elevation seven hundred feet.
The dense vapors constantly arising from il,
and the flames which are often seen to issue
from its crevices, denote it to be fraught with
subterraneous heat. On the east side there is
circular cove or basin, through which the sea
GIBBS and flows, with high headland on each
side This basin is found to be the crater of
volcano, one mile and three quarters in circum-
ference, and the depth Gncluding the depth of
water eight hundred and seyentysfour feet