The Opelousas patriot. [volume] (Opelousas, Parish of St. Landry, La.) 1855-1863, 1855-12-22
The North Cape.

The following is q graphic description Of the
North Cape: ( .s41 -. b.
Lord Silyerton approached the Cape, and
looked steadily downward. He drew q long
breath, and in hushed accents, said:
"Illis reminds me of Shakespeare descrip-
ton of the chalk cliffs of Dover, in King Lear.
But uhat IRE the cliffs of Dover? But what
are the cliffs of Dover to this North Cape of
Lapland ?-This is awful-tremendious-sub-
lime! The whole world has not its equal.
What would not Shakespeare have written, had
he stood on this North Cape? A sight like
this would make even a common man q poet
but the poet-born would be etherealized-
transported beyond himself-inspired f"
"Give me your hand, my Lord" said Herr
Klingpager, " for I think you have iron
nerves, like myself, and we may venture to APP
proach nearer the brink Of the precipice."
They did SO; and Lord Silverton, accus-
yards Of a three-decker, involuntarily shrank
and shuddered, as he gazed down the blue gulf
of air, and saw the apparently miniature waves
break at the foot Of the mighty Cape, and
heard the faint echo of their roar. 81.
"Tis neutrality-suspicious. horri-
bic - murmured he.
"From our ~standing-point to the surface of
the sea below is sheer one thousand feet"
coolly remarked Herr Klingmager. "See the
gulls and the great, auks flying halfway down.
They look no larger than sparroWs! Only en-
deayor to conceive the scene here in mid-winter,
when all is storm and darkness, and when the
ocean, driven in huge waves from the icy Arc
tic regions, bursts against this sentinel of ma
ture-this defiant Cape-and casts up solid
masses Of water in tens Of Thousands Of tons,
hundreds of feet high, against the rock, and
the foamy spray flies a hundred feet above the
summit where we stand!" '' +
"Listen q moment" he continued "you
feel the cutting wind, and you hear its shrill
whistle as it rushes against us but do you
also hear a different and most peculiar sound?"
""Tis the boon Of the ocean at our feet, is it
not p" 99I. ri F. f
9" Yes /; we hear the sound of the waves beat
ing heavily-as they have beaten without rest
or pause, for thousands Of years-against the
base OF the Cape; and the sound is so faint at
this immense elevation, that one might fancy
he was standing on a'spot long miles from the
sea. But it is not the echo Of the waves that
! wish you to notice. Bend you head and again
listen"
Lord Lord Silverton did so; and now he
distinctly heard q sound, or a variety Of sounds
blended together, SO as to produce a species of
wild, unearthly symphony. There were wall
ling sounds, Migratory sounds, kissing sounds,
moaning sounds, rumbling sounds, signing
sounds, quivering sounds, rushing sounds, sharp,
soft, and mingled sounds-all heard family vet
clearly y, and impressing the hearer with a
pleasing sensation, not unlike the imaginary
distant concerts we sometimes listen to in a
dream.
what fresh marvel and mystery in this?"
sit is no mystery, my Lord, but a very
natural and simple phenomenon. The singular
and undesirable sounds are produced by the
very same wind that blows against us, and
they are caused by the resistance offered to the
wind, on its passage, by the head or front Of
the Cape beneath our feet and it is, as YOU
observe when sailing around it, not a plain
surface like a wall or b%astion, built by hands.
as it at first sight seems, but grooved, and
ritted, and full of hollows and protuberances.
Of all sizes and shapes; hence the singular
variety Of sounds, all Of which reach us here in
an undertone but were we suspended halfway
down the front of the Cape, we should doubt.
less be astonished at their loudness! /"
~ what a depth must the solid foundations
descend"
"Perhaps they begin miles below our feet y,