The Placer herald., 1862-10-18
What Divers Find Under Water.

When the vessel has settled down in a
sandy bottom, it is preserved for many
months from breaking up; and its position
may be much the same as it would be when
floating in calm water, if it not be tilted
over by any under current drifts. The light
of course de ends a good deal upon the ma,
,ure of the bottom; but where there is no
chalk TO give a milky thickness to the water;
the diver pursues his work in a kind of
gloomy twilight. BY the aid of this he can
feel round the ship; but when he ascends to
the deck, and down into the principal cabins
he finds everything pitch dark, and has moth
ing to guide him but his hands. This is the
most difficult; and yet the most frequent la
b'r he has to encounter; The danger being that
in large vesse where the cabin stairs are so
deep, and the cabins are long and broad, he
may pet his air tube twisted around some UNI
familiar projection and SO squeeze off his sup
ply Of life from above. In positions such as
this. he requires all his nerve and self possess
sion, all his power of feeling his way back in
the exact road that lie came. He may have
got precious casket to which he has been
direrted in his arms; but what Of that, if he
die before he can find the stairs. The cold
as they float along the low roof over his
head, are the decomposed corpses of those
who were huddled together in the cabin
when the ship went down.
A few of these may I've on the floor under
his feet, but only when pinioned down by an
overturned table or fallen chest Their ten
dency is upward, and The remorseless sea
washes away the dead infant from its dead
mothers arms, and the dead wife from the
dead husbands embrace. If the wreck be in
the channel. the small crabs are already be-
ginning to fatten on their prey. The diver
Olsen angles himself from this silent crowd
and ascends the welcome stairs to the deck.
The treasure he has rescued is hauled up into
the attendant diving boat: and he turns
again to renew his work. He seldom meets
with an accident under waler-never, per
haps, with death; and the chief risk he runs
is from getting some heavy piece of ship
lumber overturned on his long train of air
pipe Even in this case he feels the sudden
check and want of ar, gropes his way back
to the obstruction, removes it, signals to his
companions to be raised and reaches the boa
exhausted and alarmed, but not so much as
to give up his plare in the trade. His earn
ings mostly take the form Of shares in what
he rerovers II fortunate his gains may be
large; if unfortunate they may be small; but
no man can grudge him the highest prizes it
is possible for him to win. Nav Whtstab.e
always have the honor of producing such
bod aud dex'erous men as plenlifully MS she
has hitherto done, and may they have the
wisdom to keep what they can get.
Dickens All the Year Bound.
PErR1FIED MEN-The Virginia City Enter
prise, of the 4lh inst. has the f,llowiny item:
"a pelrlied m n was found some time
ago in The mountains south of Grave,lr Ford.
Every limb and feature of the stony mummy
was perfect, not even excepting the lett leg,
which had evidently been wooden one dur
ing the lifetime of the owner (Which life
time hy the way, came to close abou, a
century ago, IN the opinion of savan who
has examined the defunrt) The boly was
in sitting posture, and leaning against
huge mass of cr"ppngs; the attitude WAS
pensve, the right thumb resting against the
side of the nose; the left thumb partially
supported the chin, the fore finger pressing
the inner corner of the left eye, and draw
ing it partly open; the right eve was closed.
and the fingers of The right hand spread
apart. This strange freak of nature created
sensation in the vicinity, and our informant
states that by request, Justice Sewel or
Sowe'l, of Humboldt city, at once proceeded
to the spot and held an inquest upon the
body. The verdict of the jury was that
deceased came to his death trim protrar,ed
exposure" etc. The people of the neig Dor
hood volunteered to bury the poor unt"rfu
nate and were even anxious to do so; but it
WAS discovered, when they attempted to re
move him, that the water which had drip
ped upon him for ages from the crag above
had coursed down his back and deposited
limestone sediment under him Which had
glued him TO the bed rock upon which he
sat- AS with a cement of adamant, and Judge
S. refused to allow the charitable citizens to
blast him from his position. The opinion
expressed by bis Honor that such course
would be little less than sacrilege was emf
nently just and proper. Everybody goes to
see the stone man. MS many as three hundred
having visited the har !ened creature during
the past five or six weeks"
How THE REBELS USE OUR WIREs.-The
rebels have used our telegraph wires in Vir'
gina with even more signal success than
they had in Kentucky, and with quite as
much impudence. The moment Ftzhugh
Lee captured Manassas, he teegraphed in
the name Of Gen. Pope's Chief of S'af to
the proper officer at Washington requesting
him TO send to the Junction large supply
of shelter tents, and harness for artillery.
The order was promptly filed, and the rebels
| were soon gladdehed bv the appearance of a
train loaded with what they wanted. Jack
son, on his arrival. sent message to the SUI
perintendent of Military Railroads, cooIly
asking him to change the time table on the
road for his accommodation. We shall
probably soon find this and. other equally
gratifying correspondence published in the