Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-07-04
ships to anchor in any of its bays and har-

ships to anchor in any of its bays and har-
bors.
Its shape is very irregular, but something
like that OF an hour-g glass, it being nearly cut
in two by q couple of large bays; but these
two divisions are unequal In size, the north
ern peninsula being much larger than the
southern.
Its coast line is wildly broken and jagged,
its innumerable CULTS being long and narrow,
and its promontories are correspondingly
sharp and slender, reaching out into the
ocean like fingers.
Tie body of the island indeed resembles
that of some huge monster OF the antedilu-
Wan world, even as its capes and 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 terrors.
No inhabitant is there, not even a savage
no house, no tree, no shrub, no fence nor
| road, no field nor garden, no horse, no dog
not even snake or a wolf.
| Lone, blasted and barren, il looks like the
skeleton of a land that has perished.
| 1t may indeed be that Desolation is the
relic-the surviving fragment-of continent
that went down here countless ages ago,
with hosts of inhabitants, in some vast con-
vulsion of nature.
1t has certainly undergone dreadful vista
tions; been rent by earthquakes, pulverized
by frosts, lashed and wasted by fierce tenn
pests.
Its mountains are only of moderate height
but are capped eternally with snow.
Its vegetation is limited to a few dwarfish
plants, including some MOSES, a species of
lichen, coarse grass, plant resembling a
small cabbage, and q sort of cress.
Its winds are raw and piercing, its sum-
mers cold and frosty, its winters those of
the Polar Circles.
| ..,.o
immense boggy swamps, where the ground
sinks at every step.
The rains in Desolation are almost inces-
SAINT, in their season, and the island is ac-
cordingly veined with numerous torrents OF
fresh water, some of which have worn out
of the solid rock tremendous cavities and
gullies. The only other season than that OF
the rains is one of almost constant snow.
The fogs of that ghaslly region are well
worthy of the rains, being of cloud-like
density, and lowering almost continually
over the whole face of the island.
: The sun of Desolation is usually hidden by
, a canopy of lead-colored clouds, and appears
on the rare occasions when it is visible
scarcely brighter than the moon in other lat
, itudes. As to the moon itself, and the stars
, the clouds and fogs rarely permit them t
betray their existence.
No fish worthy of note, not even fishes O
prey, abound in the adjacent waters, by rea
> son, perhaps, of their containing poisonou
. minerals, or deadly exhalations from the vo
= canic fires beneath them.
= Yet the dark grim sea inclosing Desolatio
4 has done something to repair the sterility G
- the island.
Penguins, ducks, gulls, cormorants an
Il other marine birds are plentiful in some {
u its harbors.
Seals also abound.
Strange and terrible landi
Not a single human being, so far as
a known, has ever lived there, save as is no
ii to be recorded in these Da0es
d Near the middle of dull, dismal afte
y noon, some eleven weeks later than the da
u of the preceding events. the good ship III
e ing ChilderS drew near to the island of De
q olation, shaping her course toward its mort
s ernmost bay, called, by Captain Cook, Chris
Is mas Harbor.
D, A fair breeze was blowing from the mort
e and the ship was carrying every stitch of h
canvas, including studding-sails.
)t Her crew-both watches-were busy abo1
the deck, and her passengers-a score
Is number-had gathered in groups, mostly 70
ward, and were gazing with great intere
a upon the wild, rugged shores before ther
TT so far as the fog suspended upon tho
shores permitted them to become visible.
IS The ship had come here for water, near
c. all her water casks having been stove
a. started during squall ten days previousl
and every soul aboard of her having be-
" since that date upon short allowance.
d, Upon the quarterback stood Capt. Lul
Pedder, looking unusually happy, with Wi
y Hawley beside him.
/ Il mean to get our water aboard befo
I'll dark, Captain Pedder, and so avoid losing
y, night here" said the young executiy
Or totally unconscious of the plot to lea
Or him alone on the desolate island, and of Il
n, extraordinary adventures which were befo
ID him. The strange events that happen
~ there, and indeed the whole of this thrilliI
IN story, will be found only in the New Yo
er Ledger, which is now ready and for sale
er all the bookstores and news-depots. A
II, for the number dated July 13, and in it "
., will get the continuation of the story fro
IN the place where it leaves off here.