Columbia weekly news., 1859-04-07

SOMETHING ABOUT IcEDERos. Pew
sights in nature are more imposing than
that OF the huge, solitary iceberg, -,
regardless alike Of wind and tide il
steers iis course across the face Of the
deep far away from land. Like ons Of
the frost giants Of Scandinavian myth
ology, i, issues from the portals Of the
North armed with great blocks Of stone
Proudly il sails on. The waves that
dash IN foam against its sides shake not
tbs strength Of its crystal wallis, nor tar.
nish the sheen of its emerald caves
Sleet snd snow, storm anu tempest, are
its congenial elements. Night falls
around, and tho stars arc reflected trs-
mulously from . thousand peaks, and
from the green depths Of "caverns mea-
| sureless to man.
The visible portion Of an iceberg, j,
only abont one.ninth part of the real
bulk of The whole mass; 50 that if one
be seen 100 feet high the lowest point
may, perhaps, be away down 800 feet
below the waves. Now it 10 easy to see
th.t such q movisg island will often
CRATE across the summit and along the
sides of submarine hills; and when the
lower part Of the berg is roughened ovs,
| with earth stones, the surface Of the
rock over which it passes will be torn
up aud dispersed, or smoothed and stri-
ated, while the boulders embedded in
the ice will be striated in turn. But
some icebergs have been seen rising
800 feet over the sea; and these II their
submarine portions sank to the maxi.
| mum depth, must have reached tho
enormous total hight of2, 200 feet. By
such mass any rock or mountain. top
existing 2 400 feet below the surface Of
the ocean would be polished and grooved;
and succeeding bergs deposi'ing mud
aud boulders upon it, this smoo.hed
surface might be covered up and suffer
no change until the ocean bed should
be slowly upheaved TO the light Of day.
In this way submarine rock surfaces At
all depths, from the coast line down to
2 900 or 1900 test may be eeratcbed
and polished, and eventually entombed
in mud. l. is upon this theory, only
| that ne are able to accoun, for the many
huge boulders that lie scattered about
upon the the mountain, valley, and
plain.
An nnecdote illustrative of the Wit Of
| Irish " Jarvies +" is going the rounds in
Dublin. Mr.. is man of alder
manic proportions He chartered an
outside car, t'o,her day, At Island
| Bridge Barrsck, and drove to the post
Office. On arriving he rendered the
driver sixpence, which was strictly the
fare, though but scant remuneration for
the distance The jarvey saw at glance
the small coin, but, in place Of taking
the money which Mr.. held in his
hand be busted himself putting up the
steps of the vehicle. and then, going to
the well at the back Of the car, took
thence piece Of carpeting, from which
he ostcntatiously shook the dust. and
straighsway covered the horses head
! with it. After doing 90, he took the
"fare :" from the passenger, who, sur
prised at the deiberation with which
the jarvey had gone through the whole
Of these proceedings, inquired: " Why
did you cover the horse's head =" To
which the jarvey, with humorous twin
kle os his eye, and to the infinite amuse.
ment of approving bystanders, replied !:
"Why did [ cover the borse's head !;
I. tina. what you want to know Well,
because didn't want to let the dacent
baste see that he carried so big load
30 lar for si1pence it should be added
iu justice to the worthy citizen, that .
half.crown Immediately rewarded the
witty jarvey for hisready joke.
An intelligent and upright man with a
newspaper, is ten thousand times more
powerful in the even and quiet pursuit
Of his duties than all little town conbi-
nations of character ouestioners and loud
escape pipes Of egotism and SANDER
His position. without his effort, is sufi-
cient to Withstand their envenomed and
vulgar talk, which at length becomes stale
even in disrsputable places. The Jour
nalist whose motives are honorable and
'7bose independence is fearless, may feel
pain from the Misrepresentation OF
street blowers and vain imposters, but
cure comes speedily in the reflection
that al around him arc men Of superior
worth, whose silent esteem oblitera,es the
greatest injury which loose and lying
tongues can inflict on private feelings
or public reputation Sierra Citizen
Among the curiosties mentioned in
letters from Japan, arc houses whose
! 9olla erA naonraI -. nAatlv ~1 - az f,,,} =