The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-11-02
A NEW MUNCHAUSEN.


HpmnEtNhD
NoscHntC 4aD,IOT,
The st. Louis j ines has marvellous story,
which purports to come in letter from the
captain of u vessel uadlBg between San Fran
cisco and Valparaiso, aud which describes
what he witnessed in the Pacific Ocean, but in
what latitude he keeps a secret to himself.
The substance of the letter is as follows:-
When nearly halfway on the voyage, aud
at the time the earthquake took place. fear
full phenomenon presented itself. TIE ocean
became convulsed to its migbtie5t depths, and
a terrible wave was swept along so high that,
as the captain humorOusly said, he thought it
would have landed him in the city OF Quito
The seamen were terribly frightened, but the
vessel was to rights again in less than ten
minutes.
The affair was mere Joke among the men,
for they faDced it was one OF tue high tidal
waves which are common in the Pacific. Tney
continued their voyage, but towards midnight
we're alarmed by an extraordinary light
which appeared in the heavens, and was first
noticed on the larbOa d side, and which the
ignorant and superstition, attributed to super
natural causes. The captain, who seems to
be an intelligent aud courageous man, steered
his vessel rig in the direction of the light
and Just betOTe sunrise sight of msgniliJenC5
such as no human eye has ever rested on
met his gaze. 1t was no less thau group of
islands formed OF huge masses ofsOid diamond
Of every color, and in some places OF the
purest brlliancy.
The sailors fell into ecstssies, and one man,
a half breed from the Sandwich Islands, lost
his senses 80 far that he would have thrown
himself overheard ii he had not been tied
down. They sailed among the group the en-
tire day, aud found it TO consist, on a rough
calculation, at from twelve to twenty in nun
ber; but the exact number, or their relative
size, there was no time to ascertain. They con-
sist of large, white flint rocks of crystallized
shape (some places nearly transparency, which
rise to a height of about one hundred and fifty
feet from the water. Thick layers of various
metals are imbedded into them, aud the dia-
mopds form thick layers beside these latter.
This is the general formations but some of
the smaller islands are composed nearly alto
gether OF diamond, in which the emerald pre-
walls. 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 admiX-
ture of foreign substance. 1t was difficult to
effect landing on auy 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 island
on which they landed as consisting almost en-
tirely of mud, which is gradually coagulating
under the heat of the sun. curious thing
was, that the brllliants were seen in the
muddy quarters of the island, lying about
like huge boulders, the smallest 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 to be
seen. The most curious effect the sight had
on the men, both those in the vessel as well az
those who visited the island, was that the ex-
traordinary brilliancy sicKened their stom soh,
and vomiting, followed by copious discharge
from the bowels, was the consequence.
All efforts to detach portions of the diamond
rock proved abortive; and it was out of the
question to attempt removing any of the great
brilliant boulders. They made an attempt to
detach portions of rock by means of a crowbar
and sledge, but it was SO hard all efforts were
useless, and, though they had powder enough
on board, they had no implements with which
to drill the holes for blasting. The captain
would have proceeded on his voyage to Val
paraiso; but the men mutinied and obliged
him to put back to Panama. He afterwards
with the consent of the crew, ran the vessel
on shore ON the northern coast of Colombia
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 imple-
ments for blasting purposes, and, if possible,
a quantity Of nitro-glycerine. The brother
departed for New York Immediately, but be-
fore going he communicated the secret to a
confidential comrade, through whom the news
leaked out only as late as yesterday evening.
am told that it has already reached the ears
of rich jeweller in this city, who is about to
start an expedition which he purposes to carry
on himself. 1t is more than probable that
the crew of the abandoned vessel have anti0i-
pated him; and if they were lucky enough to
keep their secret and fit out small craft with
whatever they required on board, are now
quarrying in the diamond archipelago.
PSI forgot to state that the captain writes
that the entire bottom of the sea seemed as if
glittering with gems for at least five miles from
the islands. These will probably never be of
use, for they mast be huge rocks Of diamond
and cannot be detached unless some better
mode of blasting under water than that already
practised can be invented. l forgot, also to
add my conjecture that the reason the diamond
rock is seen in its full purity arises from the
fact that it was projected right forward
from the very centre OF the earth. What the
captain calls white trans parent flint rock is
probably some formation not known as yet to
geOlOgists. This will be better understood as
soon IA the nlaca ia exDlOra1