Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1850-11-14

luClCcS 0OH W hiCiSSo A1oShSAs -
cause of this passing away was q
mystery. There was food around
them, and where food and fuel are
nearly convertible terms, they would
hardly have been without fire and
light. Whether it was intense cold
or pestilence, or poisonous surfeit,
the corpses were there, and for ought
we know to the contrary, are there
still.
After this we sailed along the
coast quietly, but with the pleasant
excitement Of hopeful expectation
We had not seen the water more
open, and wers momentarily expec-
ting to shape our course for Lancas-
ter Sound, the great highway to the
West. On the I6;h Of August the
shore was close upon our left hand,
and in spite of the delusions Of Arctic
distance, it was as it looked, not
more than five miles of.
The Crimson CIIns.
By and by we came to the "Crim-
son Cliffs OF Beverly" the locality Of
that curious vegetable growth called
the red snow. The coast here was
built Of high and rugged metamor-
phic rocks, broken along the sea line
into precipitous sections and where
the con6guration OF the hills permit
ted, lined by a rough detrettus of
broken rock. Numerous gorges
opened out landward, and on these
were patches OF snow stained by a
brownish red. Imagine the work
OF a Titan, with his dredging box Of
cayenne or brick dust, and you have
the Crimson Cliffs of Beverly, with
out the poetry.
1t was a calm, or nearly such,
with the little wind that was stir
ring ahead, and this gave me an op-
portunity Of going ashore. After
forty five days Imprisonment, hem
med in by snow and ice, | enjoyed
it intensely.
We were in latitude rs deg. 04
min., nearly but eight hundred and
thirty six miles from the Pole, and /
three hundred and fifty six miles from
the Northernmost limit attained by
nan. Yet, when we landed within I
1 little cove, one side Of which was
ormed by Glacier, and the other
ormed by its distillations, we found
t green, bright green, with MOSES
md a highly elaborated vegeta-
ion:
The Glacier came down from a
steep gorge, whose distant termina-
ion was an ice bound mOraine. 1t
lid not quite fill up the little
lorse shoe like expansion into which
We entered, but stood across it like
. solid wall or escarpment, sustaining :
/ dome of snow. One side was fro.
:en to the opposing cliffs, and the
'ther proiruded into the sea. The
ide presented TO us offered a longi- 6
udinal section, exhibiting its sue /;
essive increments ofgrowth. Near 6
he eye, it had a heighth OF above
wo hunded feet, and its surface be-
1g Of gentle descent, it met the in &
lination OF the hill side at an acute $
ngle of some three hundred yards I
bve ms. {
II is beyond my power of Ian {
,uage, dear -, to convince you /
Iow fresh, and pure, and chaste, and
Inning, and beautiful, was this wall s
# silver and crystal. The lines of 4
Is formation were beautifully ar g
anged in horizontal strata, blending j
( last with the soil at its base, and {
o incorporated with the bed above S
which it had grown. 1
. Flora. ......-
Now, out oil the ground, the
pace upon which | stood in the lit c
le meadow Of the cove--can you re- a
lize itl-in beds bordered and lined G
1ith thick moss and horny lichens, S
n Arctic Flora raised itself full OF a
lodest variety and beauty. f,
Under the stimulus oil the short t,
ut ardent Summer here, vegetation
uickens to an extent beyond con-
option. Man himself is conscious Il
effort, and strong effort, too, n
'hen he constrains himself to recur- Il
ing alterations Of repose, under v
ne nervous stimulant of constant e
ght. But the Arctic Plant has no ii
'ill to set against the nearly unceas- :
lg operations of the chemical pro- a
esses which constitute vitality; the
bsorPtion of carbonic acid, (aIways n
4 excess in these high latitudes) z
oes on steadily; the solar rays calls O
for its oxygen, and the 4
oor plant sleeps little. G
Yet / was surprised at their ex- T
RENE luxuriance and variety. Ihad 4
ooked for some marks of vegetation,
ven in this high latitude, but here q
vere genitans, and rannacule, and h
nemones Of extreme beauty min 5
led with the coarse grasses and =
lose matted crawling willows.-l &
Wait fill vou see nv coliactson fro,. a