Huntsville gazette., 1881-11-12
In the Ice OH Nrangell Land. :

After cruising along the Siberian
coast for few days and calling at the
Cape Wankern village to procure as
many as possible of the articles taken
by the natives from the wreck of one-of
the lost whalers, we found ourselves
once more on the edge of Wrangell ice,
and once more in dense fog on the
morning of August 8. A huge white.
bear came swimming through the driz-
zle and gloom and black, heaving waves
toward the ship as we lay at anchor,
guided, doubtless, by scent. He was
greeted by a volley Of rifle balls, no one
of which injured him, however, and for
tunately he could not be pursued. Tie
fog lasted in dismal thickness until /
O'Clock in the morning of the 18th, when
we once more saw the hills and dales Of
Wrangell Land hopefully near. We
discovered lead that enabled us to ap-
proach within perhaps fifteen miles of
the nearest portion of the coast. At
times we thought ourselves much near
er, when the light falling favorably
would bring out many of the smaller
features, such as the subordinate ridges
on the faces of the mountains and hills,
and the small dimpling holows with
their different shades of color, burrows
that seemed the channels of small
streams and the peculiar rounded out
lines due to glacial action. Then push
ing eagerly through the huge, drifting
masses toward the nearest cape, judg-
ing by the distinctness of its features, it
would suddenly seem to retreat again
into the blue distance, and some other
point catching the sunlight would be
seen rising grandly across the jagged
hummocky ice plain, relieved against
the blue shadowy portions to right and
left as background. 1t was not long,
however, after tracing one lead after
another, and coming to stand-stiil
with the ships prov against ice Of
enormous thickness, before we were
forced to the conclusion that all efforts
made hereabout would now be vain.
The ice did not seem to have been
broken or moved in any way for years.
We turned, therefore, and made our
way back to open water with difficulty
and steamed along the edge of the pack
to the northeastward. After a few
hours run we found the ice more prom
ising, showing traces of having been well
crushed and pounded, enabling US to
bear gradually in toward the land
through wedge-shaped ledge about
twenty miles in length.
Next morning steaminG ahead once
more to the end Of our water lane, we
were rejoiced to find that though there
was now about eight or ten miles OF ice
separating us from the shore it was less
firmly packed, and our little vessel made
way through it without difficulty until
we were within two miles of the shore,
when we found the craggy blocks ex-
tremely hard and wedged closely, but q
patch of open water near the beach,
now plainly in sight, tempted us to con-
tinue the struggle, and, with the throt-
tie wide open, the barrier was forced,
and by 10 O'Clock a. m. the Corwin was
riding at anchor less than cables
length from dry gravel bar stretching
in front of the mouth of river. The
long battle we had fought with the ice
was now fairly won, and neither the en-
CINE nor the hull seemed to have suf-
fered any appreciable damage from the
terrible shocks and strains they had un-
dergone. Going inland, along the left
bank of the river, we found it much
larger than it at first appeared to be.
There was no snow left on the lowlands
or any of the hills or mountains in sight,
excepting the remnants of heavy drifts !;
nevertheless it was still about seventy-five
wards wide, twelve feet deep and was
| flowing on with clear, stately current
at a speed Of about three miles an hour.
While the snow is melting it must be at
least two hundred yards wide and
twenty feet deep, and its sources lie well
back in the interior of the country. Not
the slightest trace, however, could we
find along the river, along the shore or
on the bluff to the northeastward of the
Jeanette party or of any human in
habitants. A land more severely soli-
tary could hardly be found anywhere on
the face of the globe.-John Muir, in
| the San Francisco Bulletin.