The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-11-11
scEnE 1n ZEE ARCTIC ocEAN.

started q SecOnu time III ScdECh va DiA "O''
Franklin, in November. 1882, and for about
3 wears it was not certain that he was alive
He has published an outline of his excur-
sion, and we take the following interesting
sketches:
The first is a scene with the moon and
sun both shining. The second Is descr1p-
ton of one of the l.,.slsy e&igehcies Ut that
most perilous adventure:
..The moon is nearly full and tue dawn
ing sunlight, f,singling with hers. invests
everything with an atmosphere of ashy gray.
Il clothes the gnarled hills that make the
horizon of our bay, shadows ogt the terra
ces ia duh definition, grows darker and
colder as it sinks in the fords, and broo DIS
sad and drcary upon the ridges and mea $
urleSs plains of ice that make up the rest OF
our field of view. Rising up above all this,
and shading down into it in strange combi-
nations, is the intense moonlight. glittering
on every crag and spire, bracing the outline
of 4he back ground with contrasted lightness.
and printing its fantastic prO4iles on the
snow-field. 1t il a landscape such as Mil
ton or Dante might imagine-inorganic
desolate, and mysterious! | have com e
down from the deck with the feelings of
man who has looked upon a world unfinish-
ed by the hand of its Creator"
Here is thrilling narrative in different
vein
I'VE fastened at last to the great foe
near the shore, making our harboT i'll a
crack WHICH opened with the changes of
the tide.
The imperfect diet Of the party was
showing itself more in the decline of their
muscular power. They seemed scarcely
aware of it themselves, and referred the
difficulty they found in dragging and push
| ing to something uncommon about the ice
or slodge, rather than to their own weak
ness. But, as we endeavored to renew
our labOrs through the morning fog, belted
on all sides by ice fields so distorted and
rugged as IT, defy our efforts to cross them,
the truth seemed to burst upon every one.
| We had lost the feeling of hunger. and were
almost satisfied with our pasty broth and
the large draughts of tea which accompanied
| it. was anxious to send orr small boat,
the Eric. across the lumme hill at Appah,
where knew from the Esquimaux we should
| find plenty of birds; but the strength of
the party was insufficient to drag her.
I'VE were sorely di>hcartcned, and could
only wait for the fog to rise, in the hope of
some smoother platform than that which
was about us, or some lead that might save
us the painful labor of tracking. I had
climbed the iceberg; and there was nothing
in view except the Dalrymple rock, with its
red brassy face towering in the unknown
distance. But hardly got back to my boat
before gale struck US from the northwest,
and foe, taking up tongue of ice about
a mile to the north of us, began to swing
upon it like pivot, and close slowly in
upon our narrow resting-place.
"At first our own foe was also driven be-
fore the wind; but in little while it encoun-
tered the stationary ice at the foot of the
very rock itself. On the instant the widest
| imaginable ruin rose around US. The mer
sprang mechanically each one to his sta
ton, bearing back the boats and stores
but l gave up for the moment all hope OF
our escape. 1t was not a nip, such as are
familiar to Arctic navigators; but the whole
platform where we stood, and for hundred.
of yards on every side of us crumblcd anC
crushed and piled and tossed itself madly
| under the pressure. ! do not believe thai
our little body of men, all of them diSciplin
ed in trials, able to measure danger while
combating it do not believe there is one
who this day can explain how or why
hardly when, i'll fact-we found OuTselve.
atloat. We only know that in the midst o.
n clamor utterly indiscribable, through
which the braying of a thousand trumpet:
could no more be heard than the voice of &
man, we were shaken and raised and whirl
ed and let down again in IL swelling vast,
of broken hammocks, and, as the mel
grasped their boat-hooks in the stillnes.
that followed, the boats edded away in 6
tumultuou: skrecd of ice and snow anC
water.
We were borne along i'll this manner a,
long as the unbroken remnant of the ii
shore floc continued revolving, utterly
powerless, and catching a glimpse every
now and then of the brazed headand thai
looked down on us through the snowy sky
AT last the tloo brought up against the
rocks, the looser fragments that hung rouni
it begun to separate, and we were able by
oars and boat-hooks to force our battered
little flotilla clear of them. To our Joyful
surprise we soonfound ourselves in a strctcl
of the lamd-water wide enough to give u:
rowing room, end with the assured promise
of land close ahead
''As we nearcd it, we saw the same for.
hidden wall of belt-ice as at Sutherland and
Hakluyt. Wepulled along its margin, seek,
ing in vain either un opening or access, oil
a nook of shelter. The gale rose, and tho
| ice began to drive again; but there was