Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-07-11

Its coast line is widely 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.
The body of the island indeed resembles
that of some huge monster of the antediluvian
world, even as its capes and headlands re-
semble such q monsters unsightly limbs and
claws.
A more terrible 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 a snake or a wolf.
Lone, blasted and barren, it looks like the
skeleton of a land that has persisted.
1t may indeed be that Desolation is the relic
the surviving f~ragment-of a continent that
went down here countless ages ago, with hosts
of inhabitants, in some vast CONFUSION of
nature.
1t has certainly undergone dreadful vista
tons; been rent by earthquakes, pulverized
by ~frosts, dashed and wasted by fierce tempests.
Its mountains are only of moderate height,
but are capped eternally with snow.
Its vegetation is limited to q few dwarfsh
plants, including some moses, a species of
lichen, a coarse grass, a plant resembling a
small cabbage, and a sort of cress.
1t winds are raw ana piercing, it's summers
cold and frosty, its winters those of the Polar
Circles.
The interior of the island is occupied by
immense Doggy swamps, where the ground
SINKS at every step.
The rains in Desolation are almost incessant,
in their season, and the island is accordingly
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 CHASTITY region are well
worthy of the rains, being of a ~cloud-like
donaitu and hOuarinO 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 attitudes. AS
to the moon itself, and the stars, the clouds
and fogs rarely permit them to betray their
existence.
No fishes worthy of note, not even fishes of
prey, abound in the adjacent waters, by rea-
son, perhaps, of their containing poisonous
minerals, or deadly exhalatlons from the vol
canic fires beneath them.
Yet the dark grim sea inclosing Desolation
has done something to repair the sterility Of
the island.
Penguins, ducks, gulls, cormorants and
other marine birds are plentiful IN some Of its
harbors.
Seals also abound.
Strange and terrible landi
Not a single human being, SO far as is known,
has ever lived there, save as is now to be re-
corded in these pages.
Near the middle of a dull, dismal afternoon,
some eleven weeks later than the date of the
preceding events, the good thip Flying Ghilders
drew near to the island of Desolation, shaping
her course toward its northernmost bay, called
by Capt. Cook Christmas Harbor.
A fair breeze was blowing from the north,
and the ship was carrying every stitch of her
canvas, including s~tudding-sails.
Her crew-both watches-were busy about
the deck, and her passengers-a score in num-
ber-had gathered in groups, mostly forward.
and were gazing with great interest upon the
wild. rugged shores before them, SO far as the
fog suspended upon those shores permitted
them to become visible.
The ship had come here for water, nearly all
her water casks having been stove or started
during a squat ten days previously, and every
soul aboard of her having been since that date
upon short allowance. l.I .Ig5
Upon he quarterback stood Capt. Luke
Pedder, looking unusually happy, with Will.
Hawley beside him.
81 mean to get our water aboard before
dark, Capt. Pedder, and SO avoid losing anight
here, said the young executive, totally uncon-
scious of the plot to leave him alone on the
desolate island, and of the extraordinary adj
ventures which were before him. The strange
events that happened there, and indeed the
whole of this thrilling story, will be found only
in the New York Ledger, which is now ready
and for sale at all the bookstores and news
depots. Ask for the number dated July 13,
and in it you will get the continuation of the
story from the place whereof leaves off here: