The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-11-05


had faded away to the merest ghost of
moon as though seeing herself supplancd by the
sun and finding she use, she had deter
mined to pine away and die II seemed to me that
Humpty Dumpty must have had this scene in his
mind when he wrote his immortal poem Of the wal
and the Carpenter" where he says
The sun wan shining on the sea-
Shining With all his might
He did his very best to make
the pillows smooth and white,
And this was odd, because it was
The middle OF the night.
The moon was shining sulkily
Because she thought the
Had no business to be there
After the day done.
'tIts very rude of him, - she said,
ITO come and spoil the fun.
1t was now bed time. The women brought thor
blankets ait and spread them down the floor OF the
chart room We improvsed pillows for them out OF
cushions and overcoats tucked them in amid much
laughing and giggng their part and then turned in
also 10 get a few hours sleep before commencing to
coal the ship
At live O'Clock next morning all called up to
coaling, and after the unusual luxury Of
cup of coffee a number of got into the boats and
rowed oil to the beach, 300 or 400 yards distant A
bright unclouded sun and the SOFT warm air, remind
ing of the approach OF spring in more southern
ATTITUDES gave promise OF beautiful day, and the
boats touched sprang ashore the Wild strange
coast with keen feeling of delight only to be under'
stood and appreciated by those who have been long
time board ship. We found smooth, sandy beach,
very favorable for the boats. 1t thirty forty
feet wide and extended like shelf along the
foot of the rugged perpendicular cliff which appeared
to be $50 200 feet high AT one place there was
break in this gigantr .esau where avalanche had
torn it, carrying Jay mass Of loose stones and
earth, which ga scade OF the purest, cearest
water now came tumbling down, foaming and spark
ling in the bright mvrniug sunshine.
Out on the still, shining water lay the ship looking,
among the white, gstening icebergs scattered about
in every direction like dark unnatural monster
that had wandered out Of ITS world and lost its
way here 1t a delight merely to live and breathe
the soft, warm, springke air, to along the beach
scramble up the face of the Steep rugged cliff and
the opposite shore of valgot Strait that stood
up dim distant and misty in the shifting Of the
morning The coal lay in three four different seams
which could easily be at distance out to
The first nearly level with the water; it
about eighteen inches thick very black and hard and
as it Immediately covered by sandstone rock ten
fifteen feet thick difficult TO get at although the
Valorous which had been hore only few days before,
had evidently been working It, The next cropped
OF the of the bluff sixty seventy feet above
the level of the water, and it this the
Esquimaux had been work, while still above
this could be two black streaks
that appeared likewise be coal The cliff seemed
be composed nearly could judge, Of alternate
strata of COAL sandstone rock. containing in many
places iron, slate, soapsone and irregular layers OF
loose earth and stones The Esqumaux had simply
uncovered the coal by cutting away the soapstone and
loose earth that overlaid the second seam leaving
bench shelf from feet wide running along
the face Of the bluff distance of quarter of milo
We had only to plunge a crowbar into the
cracks and crevces and pry II out in great blocks and
Jumps and roll it down the face of the bluff to
the water's edge. Never coal more easily got The
only difficulty climbing up to 1t in the first place,
but after that accomplished up
couple Of lines which fastened to crowbars driven
into the ground by which enabled to
scramble up without much difficulty The getting down
was easy enough. We had thrown down great
heap Of loose earth and rubbish, which formed
ing inclined plane that slid down with each step SO
rapidly that only about two steps required to
reach the bottom. The fine coal filled into large
sacks on the ledge where it got out and tumbled
the precpice while the blocks that out
rolled down Coaling, such hard work under ordinary
circumstances here afforded the greatest sport There
would be a cry OF ''Heads ~ of half
ton perhaps, launched its mad course,
down the steep, while the crowd below engaged
in getting sacks the boats drop everything and
scatter in all directions and the block rushing down
the steep bank gathering force at every instant
suddenly strikes the bottom breaks pieces and flies
in all directions like exploding shell 1t
altogether unattended with danger, either, for
times those above malicously delayed singing out,
Headsl 10 until IL was almost late escape, and
more than of them received piece of coal about
the legs shns that made them call down loud male
dictions the heads Of the guilty ones above The
girls employed themselves in picking up the
pieces aud filling them into the sacks, and
they appeared 10 enjoy the sport much
ANYBODY, evidently regarding it grand holiday
must say that think that everybody greatly
tonshed the these girls displayed in their
dress and the trouble they took to keep from getting
stained aud soiled with their work We have been
long accustomed to hearing the terms dirty" and
'althyn applied to the Esqumaux that the very word
has come to suggest something unsavory and offensive
The truth that the majority OF travellers always and
invariably pronounce evorything-customs, manners,
dress, IDEAS cookery, ways Of lile-everythmg in
short to which they not accustomed which
they have never seen before, as either dirty
or t'oarbarous /" These girls like those
OF Disco wore white starchcd linen tops TO their
boots and as impossible to keep them from get
ting blackened with the coal dust they changed them
and put clean pairs no less than three times during
the day-a fact which alone q sufficient refutation Of
the ISLANDERS that been heaped upon their devoted
little heads.
As fast as the boats loaded they towcd or
to the ship by tho steam launch, and the work pro-
crossed 50 rapidly that noon when we to din.
ner we had already got in twenty tons. Il was not,
however very good coal, for although 1t burned very
readily and made little smoke, It produced scarcely
more than half the steam produced by equal guam
tity Of Welsh coal But IL had every appearance Of
growing better IL worked deeper into the HILL
aud we really could only get that which, cropping
out Of the steep Of the BLUM had been exposed
the action Of the frost for centuries and had ecours
been more or less decomposed We had no means OF
comparing It with Welsh coal
From the top OF the buG the ground, which APP
ufth rio nf a