Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1845-05-29
blockaded by large masses and islands

tne noftn years, and which had d.
length chilled the waters Of the coast,
and changed the temperature of the
atmosphere, and presented an impreg
nable barrier to the entrance in their
ports, Of friend or foe. The sea, at the
distance of miles from the land, was
frozen to great depth, vegetation was
destroyed, and the very rocks were
rent with cold. And tkis intensely ri
gid weather continued for ages.
The colony of Greenland, after this
unexpected event took place, never had
any intercourse with their friends In
the mother country. They were cut
off from all the rest Of the world And
by this sudden and unanticipated
change of climate, they were also doubt
less deprived of all resources within
themselves. Their fate, however, is
mystery. History is silent on the sub
ject. All which is known Of this I'M
fortunate people is, that they no longer
exist. The ruins of their habitations
and their churches have since been dis
covered along the coast, by adventu-
rous men, who have taken advantage of
an amelioration in the climate to explore
that inclement and sterile country, and
establish settlements again on various
parts of the coast; and also by mis-
sionaries who have brayed hardships
and perils to introduce among the abo-
nginal Inhabitants the blessings of civ
ilization aad Christianity. No other
traces of those early European settlers
have been discovered, and we can only
speculate upon their fatef
1t would require no very vivid ina
gination to imagine the appalling sense
Of restitution which blanched the fea-
lures and chilled the hearts of those
unhappy colonlsts, when they began to
realise their forIorn condition, when the
cold rapidly increased, and their harbors
became permanently blocked with enor
nous icebergs, and the genial rays CT
the sun were obscured by fogs-when
the winters for the first time became
intensely rigid, cherries and dreary-
when the summers were also cold, and
he soil unproductive-when the noun
tains, no longer crowned with forests,
were covered with show and ice thro'-
out the year, and the valleys filled with
glaciers-when the wonted inhabitants
of the woods and the waters were de-
stroyed or exiled by the severity of the
weather, and their places supplied per-
haps by monsters Of a huge and fright
full character.
1t were easy to follow this people in
fancy to their dwellings-:o see them
sad, spiritIess, and despailing, while
conscious of heirimprisoned and cheer
less condition and impending fate-to
watch them as their numbers gradually
diminish through the combined inhu-
ence Of want and continual suffering
to behold them struggling for existence;
and striving, nobly striving, to adapt
their constitutions, their habits, their
feelings, and their wants, to their
strangely-changed circumstances, but
all in vain-to behold them gazing
from their icy cliffs, with eyes straining
to the eastward, to that quarter of the
globe, far distant, where their friends
and relations resided in a more conge-
NAL cline, surrounded with all tie bles-
sings of life-but compelled to rest
their eyes on vast, dreary, and mono
tonous sea of ice, mass of frozen
waves surrounding myriads oficebergs,
extending to the utmost limit Of their
vision!
Fancy might even go further than
this, and portray the last of these un-
happy cclonists, who had fingered on
the stage of life, until he had seen all
Of his companions-all, of each sex,
and every age, die miserable death,
the prey of want and despair. Poets
have described, in lines of surprising
beauty and sublimity, the horrors that
may be supposed to surround "The
Last Man p but there seems to be a
remoteness, and indeed an air Of impro-
liability about the subject which robs it
Of half its force and majesty. But here
is an event which has actually occurred,
and worthy ofbeing commemorated by
the ableSt pen in the land. Here, in
deed, we may imagine, without often
ding probability, the wild horrors, in
yading tbe very temple of reason, and
accommodating, until madness takes
possession Of The mind. Here we may
look for the reality Of the fanciful pic
ture, presented with so much terrible
dlstinctness BY the poets. Boston
.Mer. Journal.