The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1869-04-02

At the same time it must also be admitted
tharthe high NORTH exerts a strange
fascination. The eternal repose, the un-
chan geability of It's oFgeaie aud Inorganic
nat ures, Suggest the thoug lit that the.poIar
regions stillrctain the character OF the
epochs Of the creation. The great word
decay see ms thsre almost unknown. s xel.
ling luscious 4fotins and brilliant colors
may~enchantSthe eye nudcr the tropics
but what blooms and ripens to-day lies
PROSTATE tomorrow, prey to destruction,
and painful thoughts Of the evanscence of
the beautiful mar our enjoyment In the
north it is different. In the year III the
corpse Of a man was found in hut he had
inhabited acentury and a lalfYag oA skin,
flesh, hair, aif we're there, only slightly
covered with mould. But let the carcass
of any animal come into immediate con-
tact with water or ice,s and it will be so
well preserved during thousands and thou
sands of years that dogs and men can
still eat the meat Long as the Arctic
night are, they are pass by without Wis
iblestrace. One impenetrable mantle of
ice and snow wraps all that exists. Sum
mer hardly melts this crust even in the
most sheltered hooks, 1t unlocks the
ground perhaps to the depth of few feet,
but lower down everything rei.. aims UNI
changed from season to season. Not a
drop OF water permeats the bowels of the
earth. Vegetation is confined to the up
pertnost layers of the soil and the lowest
strata of the atmosphere. Plants whose
roots grow downward in less severe climates,
grow horizontally in Mowaja Semla. There
Is nothing vegetable, no Shrub, no grass,
higher than a span. 20 The polar willow
spreads out its stunted arms like shrub,
with stem no thicker than straw, and
the foliage which forms Its crown consists
OF a couple Of ieaves. Some other species
of willow (solic ldndta) drive their stems
along the surtacs, and resemble woods
growing rather in than above the earth
The result of this walt of trees and even
OF vigorous crop OF grass, is a strange
feeling Of solitude and dcsolaton which
awes even the rudest sailor that visits these
bleak regions Songless are the few land
come out on bright, pleasant days, futter
by and disappear like spectres and yet it
Is not this resemblance to vast grave
yard which impresseS US most profoundly
in these high attitudes, but the sensation
produced By the unused, the unconsumcd,
the undestroyed-the thought that the
IIoNuCtlNcsr. pOHSIS VI ulOt1ef edTtil
should slumber here as though the dawn of
creation had just broken, and life was yet
to follow. But lone and barren as the
land appears, the sea and shore TEEN with
life. The shores Of the Behring sea, +"
says DIR. Hartwig in his .aduirabie book,
ARE treeless and bleak. The lurid glow
OF the active volcanoes which tower from
out the Atlantic range that forms a curve
between two continents illuminates a
strange weird scene The mainland offers
nowhere products to tempt mans rapacity;
but all the more animated is the picture
presented by the waters. The algae, gil
gantic gardens, compose round the rocky
coasts forests not to be equalled in the tor
rid zone : mcdusas, zoophytes, molluses,
crustacea, countless varieties Of fish in in
mense schools, gigantic swimming mamma
la; whales, and walruses fill the sea and
its shores while above them hover myriads
OF aquatic birds, which resemble in the ev>
ening twilight floating islands,