, 1855-03-17
A Story of thc North.

y
The interest with which the recent dis
covery Of the fate of the party of Sir John
Franklin has invested all the old stories
and traditions of adventure in the Arctic
seas, renders the following narrative Of the
fate of Errick ROnde peculiarly interesting
and appropriate at the present time:
As early as 9SS Errick Rande, an
lcelandic chieftain, fitted out an expedition
Of twenty-five galies at Suefell, and having
manned them with sufficient crews of colo
nists, set forth from Iceland to what ap-
pearCd more congenial climate. They
sailed upon the ocean fifteen days, and
they saw no land. The next day brought
with it a storm, and many gallant vessel
sunk in the deep. MOuTtains Of ice Gov
cred the water as far as the eye could
reach, and but a few gallies escaped des-
truction. The morning of the seventeenth
day was, clear and cloudless the sea was
calm, and far away to the northward could
he seen the glare Of ice-felds rejecting
on the sky. The remains of the shattered
feet gathered together TO pursue their voy-
age, but the galley Of Errick Rande was
not there. L..nF -
"The crew Of galley which was driven
further down than the rest, reported that,
as the morning broke, the large fields Of
ice that had covered the ocean were driven
by the current past them, and that they
beheld the galley of Errick Rande, borne
by resistlesS force, and with the speed Of
the wind, before tremendous field of ice
her crew had lost all control over her.
they were tossing their arms in wild agony
Scarcely moment had elapsed before il
was walled in by hundred ice hills, and
the whole mass moved forward and was
soon beyond the hrizon. That the galley
Of the narrators escaped was wonderful
it remained, however, nncontradicted, the
vessel Of Errick Rande was never more
seen. Half century after that, Danish
colony was established upon the western
coast of Greenland. The crew Of the YES.
sells which carried the colonists thither, in
their excursions into the interior, crossed
range Of hills that stretched to the north.
ward; they had approached neafer TO the
pole than any preceding adventurers. Up
on looking down from the summit Of the
hills, they beheld vast and interminabie
field Of ice, undG!ating 10 various plaees,
and formed into o thousand grotesque
shapes. gaa saaf
"They saw not far from the shore, q fgs
ure in an ice vessel, with glittering icicles
instead Of masts rising from it. Curiosity
prompted them to approach, when they be-
held dismal sight. Figures Of men 10
every attitude Of woe were upon the deck,
but they were icy things; one figure alone
stood erect, and, with folded arms, leaning
against the mast A hatchet was pro-
cured and the ice split away, and the fea-
lures Of chieftain disclosed, paid and
deathly and free from decay. This was
doubtless the vessel, and that 6gure the
form of Errick Rande. Benummed with
cold, and in the agony Of despair, his crew
had fallen around him. The spray Of the
ocean and the fogs had frozen as it lighted
upon them, and covered each figure with
an icy robe, which the short-lived glance
of Greenland sun had not time to. no
move. The Danes gazed upon the speets-
Gle with trembling They knew not but
the scene might be their fate. They knelt
down upon the deck, and Inuttered q prayer
in their native tongue for the souls Of the
frozen crew, then hurriedly left the place,
for the night was approaching" ~ vs