The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-10-09

LIFE IN THE 1oE K1NapoM


most repuIsive Of human industries,
has associations incomparably fascinat-
ing to the imagination, apart from the
terrible toll, the courage, the endur-
ance, and the danger, involved in the
pursuit. All these come into the pic
ture, and underlie its charm, enhanced
by the great distance, the parting from
home and friends, the absolute silence,
the complete isolation. No news comes
20 the homes of the whalers until
they bring it, with ease and plenty,
or the grim blank of failure no
passing ships hail the voyagers to
the far north, to the region
where mans dominion has never been
acknowledged, where he is no more
than persevering invader, who snatch
es, with inconceivable toll and difficulty,
q few swift victories, and then steadi-
", inexorably beaten back by the float
ing forces of the ice king. The giant
barriers of the ice-realm are closed
against him, and the mysterious night
of the arctic winter bids defiance to his
puny daring When the darkness comes
down upon the polar world, does the
strange calm that broods over the great
wastes Of water within the great
wastes of ice which form the Spitzber-
gen islands remain untroubled, or do
the winds howl over the black waves
until the ice-barriers shiver, and moan,
and split themselves into frantic frag-
naents, careering wildly under the rush
ing lash Of the tempest, and anon clos
ing up for long spells Of their inexora-
r-T BILE ward ? The whole region, during
the brief season for which man can
look upon it and live, is one of enchant-
ment and delight, but he leaves it with
the lingering longing to learn the mys-
teries OF its winter unfulhlled. No
wonder that the good people of Hull.
eEatehsd with patient curiosity the lading
" of schooner-yacht which sailed from
Hull on the 11th May, 1872, with
small party of English gentlemen and
an exclusively English crew, for it was
bound for Spitzbergen, was to sail
round the island, and was fitted with all
II Uthe requirements for whaling and seal
in. large fishing fleet was sailing,
but the schooner soon outsailed them
all, and as the fishermen hauled toward
their fishing banks, and she stood on her
course alone, the talk ON board her was
of the hyperborean seas ahead, whose
dread and danger the men knew and
had dared and of the great whales,
whose capture is such fierce excitement
u e, and large profit, Many days sail pass
by before the " hnners appear, but at
length the gentlemen see them, and
~. their nl-concealed admiration seems un-
called for by the crew, to whom these
-srnt wonderful creatures are very small deer,
indeed, the mere outlying wilde
- fowle'' of the ice-realm, gliding on the
surface of the calm, clear sea with a
sudden, gentle motion, and heaving a
,F loud "p-O-of" as they come by the
'if ship, whence they are watched in strict
est silence. The marvels of the north
-- ern seas come quickly Van Mayen's
---isiantl lies IN the ships course. and as
Y u they hearib the whole air is alive with
"A Nxhitewingsd armies of sea-birds, the
,jhigh cliffs being tenanted by another
host at rest two rocks stand out from
the land, exactly resembling swift-sail-
ing ships, coming on with all sails set,
and heeling over to the gale; and the
.s icy peak of Beerenberg rises above the
n sea-level |, 1870 feet. The beach had a
history to tell full of warning, and yet
of weird attraction, for here were bits
.Vi3 Of whRle-boats reduced to match-woed
by the frightful action of the boisterous
~' seas; fragments of wrecks of ships that
had fought brayeIy against the ice, bnt
had been heRten bits of masts of mer-
cha1it-vessels; huge piles of driftwood,
,..t once stately trees on the side of some
.i5u Siberian river, now stranded on the
arctic coast, and the little tunnels with
which the sea-wOrms had perforated it
in every direction tenantless; for the
wood-borers cannot i've in the tempera-
lturs' of the awful artie seas. The Wild
duck and the white-fox have the island
to themselves, aud beyond it lies the
true commencement of the west ice, the
surge of the heavy sea breaking upon
.aH the oater edge of the hinge floating
--snasses,- and che illimitable distance
laden with heavy blocks, interspersed
80 with Aat snow. Surely here is the end
OF All things, and no ship can ever get
beyond this beautiful barrier, this spray
q sprinkled diadem on the brow of the
awful ice king, shining with almost
,i unbearable lustre of rubies, diamonds,
.if emeralds, and sApphires and the thun-
dering sound of the disrupted masses
which straw the sea is the warning a
,r-v dismissal. d, They heed neither, but sail
toward the densest part, through a
fringe of broken ice in a heaving sea,
forcing the schooner at all speed, and
charging the most likely place for an
f,lt entrance, as. the surge rises and falls
with awful fury. They get through,
for they have men on board who are &C
customed to deal with ice, to hit it care
fully, and turn it gently from it's way
and the wonderful operation succeeds.
a khe schooner stands out 70 sea in broad
a., channel, with ice walls on either side,
and the first terrific barrier lies between
"a them and all life that is less than arctic.
"a AT first it is little difhcult to grow
= . aocustouaed to the absence Of darkness,
g. then the perpetual life becomes plea
SAINT but there must be always some
confusion abont time, especially when
l'.f, occupation is either severe toll or strong
excitement, when danger is never absent
a. for long, and every object is absolutely
=, strange and novel. To drift OF into
the indistiDguishable fog on IN ice-lay.
ar, when in pursuit of family of seals,
wariest and most tautali2ing of crea
tnres, Is only an incident, and then tn,