The Columbian fountain., 1846-07-28
ReWJ. I, WARD, Assistant Editor.
PRICE ONE CENT.

ful description, and the proudes, ship that
ever breasted wave, has been lost at her
anchors, and SO near to the dwellings OF the
inhabitants, as to enable them to see the
doings of her peopled deck--the earnest
but hopeless struggle for life, of the luck
less mariners, and TO hear, high above the
hoarse rail Of the tempest, the agonising
shrek Of the drowning man. Such ship
wreck took place the season before arrived
IN Valparaiso. Tbs ship, unable to bear
up against the fury Of the winds, dragged
her anchors and fell ssbroad Off 10 the
shore, the bank above which was filed with
spectators, who in sorrow looked on and
saw the good ship
Whose march was on the mountain wave.
Whose home was on the deep"
torn asunder, and her crew engulphed be-
lore their eyes, without the possibility Of af-
tordlng them relief. fss.alg
But to return. The morning after our
arrival, the launch was got over The side in
less time, and with more alacrity than
ever saw one got over before Curiosity
was ",Uheted up sharp" and the long bos.
''acent IL Dith rush" SO did all the crew,
and some eight or ten passengers, who, be-
sides positive laundering which they had
had tor some days past, for apul" at the
pure cold water of The island, were all agog
for wonders and sightseeing. Some Of
them wanted to find Robson Crusop's stone
Ratchet, others TO catch his poll-parrot--l
his tame goats and lamas
Dear readers were you ever thirsty H.
really thirsty; Were you ever under On
allowance Of "Adam's ale' in the ohorse
latitudes." Did you ever lie down at night
and dream Of water-the cold water in
the ssiron bound bucket that hangs insthe
we'll ?" Did you ever pass whole days in
thinking of water, water, water; or fancy
in your feverish, broken slumLers, that far
over an arid plain you could see grove Of
green trees, covering buhbling spring, and
yet deprived Of the power Of locomotion?
II you have experienced this, you ha,s
something OF the eager haste, with which
our crew and passengers. as the boat kissed
the smooth, pebly beach, hurried to,a bright
splkling stream TO be seen just above the
landing After having been ''boxed about"
for more than five months, with ..water,
water every where, and moi drop 10 drink"
excepting "warm stuff" pumped from
"gang casks" exposed to the heat of a
tropical sun, snd failing in all cases, -
might be supposed, Of illing It's proper Of
fee of quenching the thirst Of the Thirsty
men. With what rapture would they have
drawn near the clear, bright, sparkling
stream, that found its way down the noun,
tain side, sometimes whirling in rapid cir
cles round a natural basin, covered in most
parts with moss and tender vines, and pro-
tected from the sun by the broad and grace
ful foliage of tropical trees at other times
leaping miniature cataract into another ba.
sin below, or guigling amid fragments of
broken rocks that imPeded its progress, and
oftentimes hiding it from view, il burst
forth and fastened down a smoth, inclined
surface of rock, clothed with long grass,
which waved too and fro, as if stirred by
some unseen and mysterious power---unlil,
weary at last, as it were of its wanderings.
it threw itself in all lis maiden beauty and
sylvan charms into the embraces Of the
s'monarch of the briny flood"
Boast as you may OF the nectar Of the
Gods-quaf the sparkling champagne,
cooled in ice-adorn the bacchanalian DEITY
with chaplets of green, and spread in gold
en- gobets the rosy wine 10 his parched lips
But commend me, a thirsty mariner, from
my long journey over the wide waste Of
ocean, to the invigora,ing coolness OF tho
stream, far off in the island of Juan
Fernandez. Fl. J. w.
To be continued