The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1868-11-26

lOcliy, shook the crust OF the earth In the
western hemisphere Gust as a wave of the
ocean would shake the sides Of an old
oaken vessel) and vomlted up to the sur
face the seething masses of matter which
had been agitated in It's bosom for thcu-
sands OF years. These masses. on coming
IN contact with lower temperature, in
stantly crystalized just as water crystals
ICES into ice in winter time.
The captain of a vessel, trading between
San Francisco and Valparaiso, describes
what he witnessed in the Pacific ocean,
but in what latitude he keeps secret to
himself. This captain has, or rather had,
a brother boarding in a house on North
Fourth street, and ii is letter which he
wrote to his brother That has given occa>
sion TO the rumors that are whispered
about in that quarter OF the city The
substance OF the letter, as it has reached
US, is mainly as follows:
When nearly half way on the voyage,
and at the time the earthquake took place,
fearful phenomenon presented itself -
The ocean became convulsed to its highest
depths, and a terrible wave was swept
along Sn high that, as the captain humor-
ouSiy said, he thought it would have
landed him in the city OF Quito. The
seamen were terribly frightened, bat the
vessel was to rights again in less than ten
minutes. The affair was mere Joke
among the mea, for they iancied it was
one OF the high tidal waves which are com
mon in the Pacific They continued their
voyage. but towards midnight were alarm
cd by an extraordinary light which app
peared 10 the heavens. and was first no.
tlced on the larbcard side, and which the
ignorant and supeTsti;iGus attributed 10
supernatural causes. The captain, who
seems to be an intelligent and courageous
man, s;eered his vessel right in the drec-
ton of the light, and just before sunrise a
sight, of magnIficence-such as no human
eye has ever rested on-met his gaze. 1t
was no less than group of islands form
ed of huge masses of solid diamond of
every color, and, in some places, of the
purest briliancy. The sailors fell into
ecstasies, and one man, half breed from
the Sandwich Islands, lost his senses so
far that he would have thrown himself
overheard if he bad not been tied down.
They sailed among the group the entire
day, and found II 10 consist. on a rough
calculation, of from = to 20 in number
but the exact number, or their relative
size, there was no time to ascer tain. They
consist Of a large, white flint rocks of
crystalized shape (sOme places nearly
transparenD which rise 30 a height of
about $50 feet from the water. Thick
layers of various metals are imbedded
into them, and the diamonds fortn thick
layers beside these latter. This is the
general formation but some of the
smaller islands are composed nearly al
together OF diamond, in which the emerald
prevails. There are agate, opaque topaz,
ruby, and, indeed, diamonds of every hue;
but one island, which he describes as
being almost seventy miles long by fifteen
wide, consists of an entirely pure emerald
without any admiXture of foreign sub
stance. 1t was difficult to effect lanh-
ing on any of the group. At length some
of the men succeeded ; but the captain
himself, satisfied with what he had seen,
did not leave the vessel
The men describe the interior of the Is
land on which they landed as consisting
almost entirely of mud, which is gradually
coagulating under the heat of the sun A
curious thing was, that the briIIiants were
seen in the muddy quarters Of the island,
lying about like huge buulders-the small
est ones they saw being about 200 tons in
weight, but there were numbers of others
considerably larger OF course there was
no water or vegetation 10 be seen. The
most curious effect the sight had on the
men, both those in the vessel as well as
those who visited TIE island, was that the
extraordinary brilliancy sickened their
stomach, and vomiting, followed by
copiouS discharge from the bowels, was
the consequence All efforts to detach
portions of the diamond rock proved abor-
tive; and IT was out of question to attempt
removing any of the great brilliant bould-
ers. They made an attempt to detach
portions of rock by means of crowbar
and sledgPI but 1t was so hard all efforts
were usele.N, and, though they had pow
der enough on board, they had no implies
ments with which to drill the holes for
blasting The captain would have pro
ceeded on his voyage to Valparaiso; but
the men mutinied and obliged him TO put
back TO Panama. He afterward, with
the consent of the crew, ran the vessel on
shore on the northern coast of Columbia.
and, telegraphing to the owners that she
was lost, came on as far as Aspinwall,
from which city he wrote to his brother
in St. Louis He desired his brother TO
come along at once, and bring with him
the finest and best tempered implements
for blasting purposes, and if possible,
quantity of nitro glycerine. The brother
departed for New York Immediately, but,
before going, he communicated the secret
to confidential comrade, through whom
the news leaked out only as late as yester-
day evening. | am told that it has al
ready reached The ears of a rich ieweler in
this city, who Is about to start an expedi-
ton which he proposes to carry on himself
1t is more than probable that the crew of
the abandoned vessel have anticipated
1E flovr