The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-04-02
1MI.ItJTT

iaeA0oEt1 "A 0IOhf OF THREE CENTURIES
| a6la;ior She following somewhat roman
tic Incident:
(, As there Is nothing 40 solemn in ma
! tnre as thu vast: desolation that reikhs'
!spaug; the; ;Nortk : Pole-virgin yet of the
l tpresehne 'pt sintrnding feet or sail or any
MMehHe pfaodt human kind-so when
I Me catch Yagqe1limpses of that land OF
silence oS ard senabled to lift the curtain
ot igposangs that hangs about it's ont
3HktrsSt nosh4pg pan more strike the mind
with ltd 4mptassiveness. We all know
i2thst ia a1ne lonely, ice.bound spot lie
the remsins Of brave explorers-Sir
John franklin and his company-neyer,
perhaps, to be brought back, to the
world OF green aelds aud pleasant places.
But sometimes the secrets :of the far
North are unlocked; sometimes the sha-
dow OF Ignorance which Envelopes it
and hides it from our sight gives way to
the light of knowledge, and the,ewo
reads q curious story In tile revelation.
II has been reserved for Captain Carl
I'sen, q Norwegian havigatof} 10 pierce
this veil OF mystery. in one instance, at
least, and to make discovery, which, in
the recital ofait, seems more like "a
strange fairy tale of the far North than
Q sober narrative Of our prosaic day.
t5While sogmany bravo men arc exploring
Pthe -Arcti1 regions, searching for that
North sPQles the geographical phantom
which eyer allures and ever eludes, a
curious Interest will attach to his disco
very. Bus IN order 80 approach this
}sAhbiecs,; eve, must follow circuitous
.tonte--we mustEsEo back nearly 27S
years, to d period late in the sixteenth
century, about the year 1885, when one
| William Barentz, Dutch. navigator,
sailed away on his second voyage Of dis
covery to trace Dut, if possible, the
Northwest passage-that famous ina
gined highway; to Asia by way of the
AroticiO ocean, the fact of the existence of
which 30 many other navigators have
vainly endesvored to Teaiize. Barentz
Jailed In lis search, but he discovered
Spitzenbergen, the vast archipelago
which lies in the heart Of the Arctic
Ocean. He found it expedieat to land
upon the coast, and there he built huts
Tor shelter and for temporary residepce
tor himself and for his company.s : Here
he tarrled during the dreary tmonths of
time abandoned the spot, lenving the
huts and their, oontelts,- and returned to
his own country, never TO revisit his
quaint settlameht. i3itss hjssS.Fi
Three oonturies nearly have passed
] away since thai, event. The years have
sabne and gone. pvefSthnsa silenk kwitness-
/ ses t9 thas spfesenea a6fAbe at1ctsnf m ariner
and his sturdy crew. In all that time,
inaadadlfGe sacred iaoltads Of this spot,
haunted nth memories Of thatz,ooping,
Tong ago, ,'ot Barenta and f1is imhhn! HPos.
Fsibiy.t from "a distance,S the -8alrus and
the seal may have .ga1eds s9pknEib and
I from bis rapid flight ih- tie 9Th 81; ;thome
arctic bifd of passage lazy have tbt1ed a
curious eye upon the scene.;;Bas no
dust has settled there; no moth has stolen
in to" bring decay. Even the elements
I seemed to have, abated' their severity,
and to have protected with q Kindly
hand the legacy left to their undivided
keeping r. .asgs
The sequel almost partakes OF the cha.
racter of one Of those tales wherewith
| the princess in tho Arabian Nights de-
ferred her threatened and delayed fate
by willing away the tedious evenings Of
her cruel caliph. One day, in the year
| 1871, Captain Carlsen bore shoreward in
his ship to this icy coast Of Spitzbergen
He landed at the spot where Barentz had
landed before him, aud to his perpIexed
- ~ efPSoASN SdS fISlOu VI luo OH Gu
| campment.
The huts We're still there, just as Myn-
heer had left them, nearly three hundred
years ago. In the rude hearth lay the
relics of the utterly dead and long ex-
tinguished fire. Upon shelf were books
from the old Dutchman's 8 library-a work
on navigation, tho latest edition, publish
ed before he had sailed. and q history of
China, translated into Dutch. Jugsaud
dishes, wherein lad been prepared the
drink and food OF the 'adyent1rers, were
scattered here and there, and even pair
of shoes was found, which had belonged
to o little cabin boy, who, as say tho re.
cords, had died nponthe voyage. There
we're also quaint cng.avings. and Gu
rions mathematical instrument, intended
to assist in obtaining longitude. All
these articles were carefully collected,
and were bronghtto to Europe on Carlsen's
return.
There ia touch OF the pathetic in this
revelation OF tho long kept secret of the
arctics. It is rs pathetic, indeed, as that
story Of another old Du oh seaman, Myn-
heor Vanderdecken, whose shp-we