The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-12-14

i0vershadowed them iD gloom. and the
sun was seen no moro for even a short
half hour above the southern horizon, the
men began to ponder, and to be alarmed.
and to dream dreams. The crew Of the
Alert envied The. crew, of the Discovery
they at least we're near tile open sea and
safety. The scamen Of the Discovery. on
the other hand, believed that their COM
rades on the Alert had perished 10 man.
Besides, on the. bleak hillside near the
ship was there not cairn and q grave?
and was there not tablet--a "head-
stone," the men caller it--pn the BOARD
I" be eSected oyer Captain Halls lonely
resting place, when the sun should again
fling his rays athwart the dreadfuliy en-.
during darkness? Then thera was the
mystery of poor Halls fate; Was he
poisoned, or did he commit suicide? Or
did his heart fail him as their hearts had
already failed them, or did he die heart
broken In consequence? ~
Then there were the early Dutch ships
spokcn Of by Burlington aud Beaufoy.
Fellows of the Roya! Society of England,
who had reached within two or three &c.
grees of the pole, and of finding there an
open sea and destruction-all except Que
man miracnlously saved by walrus.--
Aud there was rccDrd Of another Dutch
ship going down two degrees beyond the
pole. recorded by the late Admiral Fitz.
roy before the Geographical Society of
London, IN April, 1865 The Esquimaux
who had seen the ship enter the sen, and
another band of Esquimaux who had
seen her on the Asiatic side, agreed, the
Admiral said, in declaring the disappear
ance OF the daring navigator.
The Esquimaux on Smiths Sound, or
rather on the mountain. 1000 feet high,
re discovered by Lieutenant Aidrich in
latitude SO deg, min., saw the vessel
steer through an open channel and enter
the mild open sea. Al first abe answered
her helm, but rs siie sailed northwnrd she
DETECTED considerably from the normal,
route. Finally, like II dancing dervish,
she began to whirl round the outer run
of the irresistible eddy, like mad ship
the Admiral. this is correct description
Of the event, if it ever happened. Every
fresh circle of that sea will whirl n shin
faster than the preceding. Faster and
faster will they be driven; round and
round will they go, till at last they
plunge bow foremost into the central
abyss, crashing amid the wreck of ice-
bcrgs and the blenched skeletons Of ma
rinc monsters"
With minds stored with such cheerful
details and cnlivening traditions as tho
foregoing, Commander Markham, Lien
tenant Parr and the fully equipped sledge
parties started on their bleak journey
northward when spring came. The men
were demnralizcd by superstitious fears,
tho two officers in command were dis.
couraged. They progressed little more
than mile n day. Their track had to
be hewn through the up.renred ridges of
ice with pick-nxes. They lnbored be-
tween sixty and seventy dnys, and on the
18th of May reached the highest ln,itnde
attained by any modern expcdi:on-that
of SO deg. 20 min, % sec. north, or with
in four hundred miles of the mys!ery of
the pole. They lacked the courage to
penetrate that mystery, and Captain
Mares and his discomftted command find
1t convenient to assert that there is no
open Polar Sea. At the same time
scientists and navigators in both conti-
nents unite in pronouncing Captain
Mares mistaken End his expedition fail
ure. But none OF his wealthy denounccrs
exhibit any alacrity to lead the way to
the pole to hoist their country's flag
there. For every recently recorded fact
proved the existence not OF "Sea of
Ancient Ice"-"the Palnucrystic or Pal
eortic Sea-" but whirlpool sea, whose
borders are mingled by varying masses
of gigantic icebergs centuries old. There
are secrets of nature which man IL would
appear, Is nos destined to unlock. The
pole and the aurora boreas seem to be-
long to these. The mystery il like that
af the life eternal; it can only be solved
by yielding up the life present.