New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1858-12-06
A Vivid Scene.

selves any further in the ce-unlesS were with the
certainty Of reaching land-would be sheer folly
The only thing to be done was to turn back Accord
lngly, to this course determined at last 10 resign
myself if-atter standing on tor twelve hours longer
nothing should turn up to improve the present as
peCt of affairs 1t was now IL O'Clock, z, M. Fitz
ana Sigurda went to bed while | remained on deck
to see what the night might bring forth. II blew
great guns, and the cold was perfectly intOlerable
blll0w upon billow q black og came sweeping down
between the sea and sky, as II 1t were going to swal
low IN the whole universe; while the midnight sun,
now completely blotted out now family struggling
through the ragged breaches Of the mist threw down
from time to time unearthly red.brOWn glare on
the waste OF roaring waters,
For the whole Of that night did we continue beat.
ing up along the edge of the ice, in the teeth OF
whole gale of wind; at last, about nine o'clock in the
m0rning-but two short hours before the moment at
which it had been agreed we should bear M and
! abandon the attempt-we came up with long low
point of Ice that had stretched further to the west
ward than any we had yet doubled-and there, be
yOnd, Jay an open sea open not only to the north.
ward and westward, but also to the eastward You
can imagine my excitement. Turn the hands M
Mr.. Wyse u Bout ship!" Down with the helm i"
| Helm a,leeG Up comes the schooners head to the
wind, the sails Tapping with the noise of thunder
blocks rafting against the deck as if they wanted to
knock their brains 0nt--rOpes dancing about in gal
vanized coils, like mad serpents-aud everything to
an inexperienced eye in inextriCable Confusion till
/ gradually she pays off on the other taCk-the sails
suten into dealboards-the stay-sail sheet is let GO
and heeling over on the opposite side aganshe darts
forward over the sea like an arrow from the bow.
Stand by to make sale u "Out all reefs = d
could have carried sail to sink man.of-war4 and
away the little ship went playing leap frog over the
/ heavy seas, and staggering under her canvas as if
| glddy with the same joyful excitement which made
| my own heart thump so loudly
In another hour the sun came out the fog cleared
away, and about n0On-up again, above the horizon,
grow the pale lilac peaks, warming into roster tint
as we approach Ice still stretches toward the land
on the starboard side but we don't care for it now
4 ia md bv 9
| o'clock we sight Amsterdam Island, about thirty
miles on the port bow and then came the 'sseven
| ice hills'-as seven enormous glaciers are called
that roll into the sea between lofty ridges of gness
and mica slate, little to the northward of Prince
4 Charles Foreland Clearer and more defined grows
the outline OF the mountains some coming forward
while others recede their rosy tnts appear less even
fading here and there into pale yelows and prays :
veins OF shadow score the steep sides of the hills the
artcuiatons of the rocks become visible; and now,
at last we glide under the limestone peaks Of Mtre
Cape-pass the marble arches of Kings Bay on the
one side-and the pinnacle OF the Voge Hook on the
other into the quiet channel that separates the Fore
land from the main
1t was o'clock in the morning Of the 18th of Aug
1856 that after having been eleven days at sea we
came to an anchor in the silent haven Of English Bay
Spit@6ergen.
And now, how shall give you an idea of the won,
derul panorama in the midst of which we found our
selves thnk, perhaps, its most striking feature
was the stlluessand deadness-and impassabilityO of
this new world ice, and rock and water surrounded
us not sound of any kind interrupted the silence
the sea did not break upon the shore no bird orany
living thing was visible the midnight sun--by this
, time mutfied IN transparent mist-shed an awful,
mysterious lRster on glacier and mountain no atom
OF vegetation gave token Of the earth's vitality! an
universal numbness and dumbness seemed to peryade
the solitude. suppose in scarcely any other part OF
the world this appearance Of deadnes 50 srikiugy
+ exhibited. On the stllest summer day in England
there is always perceptihle an undertone Of life thrill
ling through the atmosphere; and though no breeze
would STIR single Leaf, yet-in default of notion
there is always sense Of growth; but here not 50
much as blade of grass to be seen on the sides
OF the bald, eXCoriated hills. Prmeval rocks-and
eternal iCe-Consttnte the landscape.
The anchorage where we brought up is the hest ia
be found with the exception perhaps of hagdaeDa
Bay, along the whole west coast Of Spizbergen III
deed it is almost the only where YOU are not ill.,
bic to have the Ice set IN upon you at nom us no
ttee. Ice Sound, Bell Sound, Horn Sound-tle other
harbors along the west COast-are all liable to be be-
set by drftice during the course of single Bill bit
even though no vestige of it may have been iii sight
touI-and'tWehty hours before; and many good ship
has been ineXtricahy imprisoned ia the very harboI
to which she had fed Tor refuge. This bay is com.
pLetey andtOcked, being protected on its Gpen side
by Prince GharIess Foreand long island lying par
alle with the mainland, Down toward either horn
run two ranges of schistOse rocks about 1880 feet
hlgh, their sides almost precptOHs, and the OpmOst
v rdBe as sharp as knife and Jagged a saw; the
intervening space is entirely filled u by an enormous
+ notwithstanding with one continuous incline from
the head OF a valley on the right and sweeping like
torrent round the roots of an isolated CQmp of hills
in the centre-rUls at last into the sea The length
Of the glacial river from the spot where it apparently
lrst originated could not have been less than thirty
or thiryhVe miles, its greatest breadth-ltss than
niue or ten; but so completely did it fill IN the higher
end OF the valley, that il was as much as YOU could
90 70 distinguish the further mountains peeping mp
above its surface. The height of the precipice where
it fell into the sea- should jadgeto have been about
l20teet,
On the left-a still more extraordinary sight pre-.