The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-03-12

From the Denver Tribune.1
Captain futile is an old sailor, nov
seventy years of age, who has traversec
the Atlantic, the Pacific, the India, the
Attic and the Antartic oceans who ha,
seen all the archipelagos, peninsulas, anC
islands on the globe, who has frequently
been at bay and who has passed through
more straits than any d. b. in town
During the last twenty-eight years
Captain futile has been devoting him
self to the far North, and he claims with
very great success. He is now en- route
to Washington where he proposes tc
ask the Government to aid him in going
to the pole, which he is confident he
willreach with sufficient time and money
He is preparing to deliver a lecture in
this city and will doubtless tell the PEG
pie more about his plans and opinions
than can be conveyed in a brief news
paper article.
This is a matter about which | am
deeply in earnest, said the Captain,
after the topic of Symmes' Hole had
been dropped, +" lam completely wrapped
up in it. 1 get earnest when [ talk,
you bet you You see | am getting to
be an old man, and I've got to do what
| am going to do pretty soon you bet
you.
His plans are to proceed to Washing
ton, spread his knowledge before Con
gress, ask money enough to purchase a
steamship, and having obtained this, to
proceed to Japan, where his whaling
vessel is now in harbor, and start from
there on his voyage of discovery. +" You
see, l know how to go, and none of the
balance of 'em do; I've been there al
most, and none of the balance of 'em
have, you bet you.
/" What is the reason none of the ex-
plorers of whom we have heard so much
have succeeded in making the discovery"
They all go the wrong route. They
90 from the East | go from the West
They are all experimenters [ am an
old sailor, used to the North seas, and
know what | am doing when I'm there,
you bet YOU. "
The Captain gradually unraveled his
story and his theory in response to ques-
tions, and he was interesting enough.
The Captain is commander of his own
whaling ship, and has lately confined
himself to northern waters as above in
dicated. His ship is now in japanese
waters, and he says that if the Govern
ment of the United States doesn't give
him the requisite assistance, the Mikado
will; consequently, he is like the hog on
ice, inasmuch as he is independent.
The Captain believes the real road to
the Pole is through Behring's Strait
He has penetrated the region to latitude
eighty-three degrees, fifteen minutes,
| L. Il g. H., I a.
any other explorer has ever reached
Here he found a comparatively open sea.
with water clear of ice as general thing,
but with ieebergs here and there of i'm
mense proportions. He sailed through
these openseas, and explored the icebergs
themselves fully. Itwas among them that
he found much to feed his theory of con-
tinuous open sea to the north, and be-
yond that continent of land wherein
dwell, according to his opinion, race
which has no equal in point of stature
and endurance, anywhere else on the
globe The captain says that he found
words which had evidently been cut and
carved, as we'll as the tusks of elephants
and mastadons, which, (the tusks and
not the animals themselves) were seven
or eight feet long and many inches in di-
ameter He also found gold quartz and
many other evidences which were to Cap
tain Tuttle what the floating wood was
to Columbus Just before he reached
America
But the strangest portion of the story
that he tells is that which relates to the
new race of men which he discovered.
They live far to the north of the land
H. IL
very different from them. They are a
stalwart people, standing, as the Captain
SAYS, from seven to eight In their moe
casin feet, you bet you. Indeed they
are another race of Brobdignagians,
without of course the Swift to render
them famous He says that they are
darkish, wear fur and skin clothing, have
large Roman noses, long black hair and
corresponding long black whiskers. The
women are almost as large as the men,
and are very masculine. Some of them
wear boards, and they are quite peculiar
| If not attractive In their personal appear
snce. They bear evidence of being vir-
tuous as well as happy, so the Captain
says, you bet you.
| He found them very friendly. Indeed
| they ran down to the waters edge to
meet him and shook hands with him,
cordially welcoming him and his follow
ers, by every sign, to their land. He
remained among them several days, but
as their language was uninteIligible to him
and his to them, communication was
limited. They, however, gave him to
understand that they were from coun-
| Try north of that in which they then
we're; that this country was pleasant
enough that it was inhabited, and that
i was not difficult to reach it, it being
only about four hundred miles to the
north They told him. by drawing on
| the ground with sticks that immense
animals like the mastadon existed there,
and that fish and game of all kinds are
abundant; also that gold was to be found
u large quantities
i 1t was while cruising around IN these
Northern seas that the Captain and his
crew were shipwrecked. They lost
Everything but one boat, and were
fortunate enough to reach land IN this
without losing man. But it was night.
and they were hundreds of miles from q
human habifation. It was winter, and
they were almost without food, and
i without clothing In this northern eli.
innate winter i matterof many months,
land Tor almost SIX months IN the yeaI