The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-07-05
CHAPTER II.
A GREAT STEP TAKEN.

In the midst of the Antarctic ocean,
a little off the route from New York to
| Australia, there lies large island
named Kerguelen's Land, oroas Capt.
| Cook called 1.-THE Island of Desola.
ton.
1t was discovered just hundred
years ago, lin 1772,) by The French naval
| officer whose name is bears. 1t was un-
inhabited then, and is to day as desert
| ed as ever.
The smallest school.boy among our
| readers can find it upon the map of the
world, about midway between the south
end of Africa and Australia, we'll up
toward the South Pole.
1t is hundred miles in length by
fifty in breadth, and is consequently
three or four times as large as Rhode
Island.
Its coasts are so wild and dangerous
that its discoverer, during the two ex-
petitions that he made to it, did not
| once bring his ships to anchor in any of
its bays and harbors.
Its shape is very irregular, but some
thing like that of an hour. glass, it being
nearly cut in two by couple of large
bays; but these two divisions are un-
equal in size, the northern peninsula
being much larger than the southern.
IFS coaSt limo js vuiIdI,, hrol,on ond
Jagged. its innumerahIe ui,lfs bninr Ion~
and narrow and its nson,ontnriSos s,o oS ,onS oro
corresnondingIv sharp and uIonder
reaching out into the ocean like fina,
ers.
The hodv of. the island indaad rA-
semples that OF some huge monster of
tne antediiuVlan world, even as its
capes ana headlands resemble such
monsters unsightly limbs and claws.
"A more terrific solitude than this isle
OF Desolation does not exist upon our
wrecked planet.
:, Neither the SHOWS of Himalaya nor
the sands OF Sahara can outvie its ter
rors.
No inhabitants is there, not even
savage-no house, no tree, no shrub, no
renee nor road, no field nor garden,
no herse, no dog-nOt even snake or
wolf.
Lone, blasted and barren, it looks
like the skeleton of land that has
perished.
1t may indeed be that Desolation is
the rellc-the surviving ffagment-Of
a continent that went down here count.
less ages ago, with hosts of inhabitants,
in some vast convulsion of nature.
~ mas certainly undergone dreadful
VlSilations been rent by earthquakes,
PulHcrlzeu by lrost, lashed and wasted
ny herce tempests.
itS mountains are only of moderate
nelghts' put are capped eternally with
snow.
Its vegetation is limited to a few
dwarilsh plants, including some MOSES,
species Oh ilchen, a coarse grass, a
Piant % resembling small cabbage, and
sort OF cres5.
Its winds are raw and piercing, its
summer cold and frosty, its winters
'" Tho u ;ntar;nr tr . oidi nf ~ EnrE,es. ;aia
bv inonnnnsa ,oot ho Ui .ne ~ nslanu Is Gccupieu
Dy Dyomnd rm,ieirSe einIa D1ggy sWampS' where lhe
MI ro;na =. noas,. S..p'
inoasSont -, tha;r Soia.ion sooon arc alllost
=; oooauI; ~ inoir Seasoh, anu the iSlahd
toraout. 20 aouo,uirsay nf E Veineu Win numerous
torron,s hauo 'oo ~ iieSti Water, some OF Which
moom1oms m0in o'';t;o ~ VI e,o soiiu rock ire
nnIw other Saason 3bo, ant Sulie ino
Is one nf aInonSt oomStant ,"n ot.s @ ~ raihs
Tho foao nf thot ,shno.ni, 9i,om' w.. quo
voIi yynstb, th saiaiy ics' " gre
oIomd To T,.hy niIo dsn;t vi uho rams, peihg Oh
continmaiI,, ue,rSr.y' anu towering almost
isIand o'oi 'io "iioic 'acc vi .he
den by canopy of lead-cOlored clouds,
If is u;s;hio Snaroni 900 .nG rare occasions wnen
moon 90 'iir'ie, IN hen SoarGety DIlghtef than the
moon itseif % and ioaaes. the ata., as as 20 .1e
anoon itseiI, ana the stars, the clouds
thoi anu .os3 i"tay permit them 10 petray
'neri eHis'enoe'
NO fish worthy of note, not even
hshes or prey, abound in the adjacent
waters, by reason, perhaps, of their con-
tanning poisonous minerals, or deadly
eXhalatlons from the volcanic fires be-
heath them.
Yet the grim dark sea inclosing Desc.
lation has done something to repair the
sterility of the island,
Penguins. ducks. opI,s oorporonts
and other marine birds are nIantif,,I % i In,S in
some of its harhors "'o pioh'iiu' III
Seals also abound.
STRANGE and terrible land,