Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-11-24

him and pull an oar. So the ship was
hove to, and boat lowered, and in we
got.
Cant you anchor, captain ?" said l.
"Anchor! he calculated. with a
roar of laughter" ''Why man, its
twelve thousand fathoms deep here
but we'll lie by till you can get off;
only don't stay long; and. indeed l
wish you would not go. You think
its superstition, but l don't like the
idea at all, | assure you gentlemen.
But we only laughed at his fears,
and, shipping our oars, pulled rapidly
toward the shore. We had particular
" noticed, before we left the ship, the
strange and ghastly whiteness of
everything on the island. We could
see trees, hills, and sheets of water,
but everything looked as if it were
made of chalk. Now, after we had
pulled about half the distance, hav-
ing the bow oar. we stopped moment
to rest, and, turning around to look at
the island, were thunder-struck at the
change in its appearance. The white
ness was gone, and in its place We saw
green trees, green grass, high green
hills, and clear lake, rejecting the
blue sky, with its white hcecy clouds.
In all respects it seemed like any other
island, only infinitely more beautiful
than any we had ever seen. We re-
marked upon this extraordinary phe-
nomenon, but both agreeing it must
be some mirage or change in the at
mosphere. we continued rowing, until
in few moments we ran the boat
ashore on beautiful gravelly beach.
We looked frs. for heavy stone TO
iasten the boat. and having secured it,
turned to wave parting salute to the
captain, who had been watching US
with his glass, wheL. to our amaze
ment and horror. the ship 'rns no
tcherc to BE- seem
My blood fairly curdled. and l
could feel the flesh creeping on my
back. There was the water as far as
we could sec. bnt where, only mo-
ment before, we saw the ship, was va
cancy. Then we turned to each other,
and each noticing the pallid face OF
the other, we knew it was no optical
dclusion. but blank, fearful fact-the
ship was gone.
O'Nel spoke first. and proposed
that We should at once get into the
boat, aud pull in the direction from
whence we came, insisting that it must
be mirage. but this | refused to do.
What if when we got away from the
island, it too should disappear, and
we should be left without food or
compass, to die miserablv
No, was ia drv land, and meant
to stay there, for | was by this time so
thoroughly unnerved. that | dare not
risk any further experiments.
well" said O'Neill, they'll surely
send II boat after us, so we'll have
company anyhow ana now we're here
we might rs we'll see what there is to
be seen, and trust TO luck to get of
again
50 We started to explore orr new
kingdom, but with very heavy hearts,
for the mystery that seemed to hang
over it had greatly subducd our boast
ed Sllcpticisin.
We walked first in the direction of u
hill. from whose summit we thought
we might obtain better idea of the
lay Of the land, and perhaps see the
ship.
We reached it and could take III the
whole extent of the island, which ap-
pearcd to be about mile long, and
quarter of mile wide at the widest
part, which was where we stood but
we could not see the ship. Below us
there was a small piece Of thick woods
and underground, and at the left the
sheet of water, not more than two or
three acres in extent.
We then walked down TO the banks
of this lake, whose water was as clear
as crystal, and as we found 10y tasting
it, perfectly fresh.
-NNAS We lAiA "cCNc'
There was the mahogany-tree and the
camphor- wood. varieties Of palm, and
other southern trees but we observed
particularly, the absence of every
thing living. There was either =
bird. beast, reptile, nor insect, that we
could see. Flowers there were in
every variety. In color gorgeous. and
in perfume almost sitting with its rich
fragrance, The foliage was luxuriant,
the grass and underground rank and
wild.
We wandered through these woods
to their margin, and so on, down to
the beach on the other side of the ISL
and. 1t was all beautiful but with
the beauty Of death or artitice. The
utter want Of animal life was depress-
ing ard chilling to the spirits, and we
began to wish our explorations were
over, and ourselves free of the locality.
At length we completed our excursion
having completely traversed the island,
and still without discovering any liv-
ing thing, and without seeing the ship.
Arrived at the spot we had left our
boat, we sat down to consider what we
should do next. The question was a
grave one. Even supposing we could
remain on tie island after all we had
heard about it, with any tranquility,
how were we to be fed during our So
journ? We could not eat beautiful
flowers, nor subsist upon delicious per-
fumes and there did not seem to be
anything else in the way Of nourish
ment. The palms even, were neither
date palms, nor cocanut palms there
was no bread fruit indeed, no fruit Of
1.1,,ll Ainan.a.. NJ