Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1884-11-11
MISCELLANEOUS.
sketchs of Foreign Travel.
By Coz. JSo. It. GrDsoN.
(Continued.)

There is nothing on earth 1 like so
much as the sea. Pardon the bull,
for was in Ireland. am proof
against sea sickness, but know it we'll
from observation. There is no rem
cdy for it and no preventive. Nor do
[ believe there is any palliative
Should remedy ever be found, the
fortune of the discovcrer would be
certain and complete. Tome the sea
is very fascinating. It agrees with
my health, and no matter how the
boat rocks my sleep is both profound
and refreshing. like the sea breeze,
so fresh and bracing. The various
aspects she presents according as she
is on a lark or in repose, alike interest
me. Even danger gives zest to it all.
On bright sunny day the sea, in a
gale. seems to be happy, Joyous and
playful. The waves VIII lear, jump,
race, chase one another, embrace,
tumble over, laugh, break and fall
and pitch in the glory of million of
white caps and rainbow-like cresents
across their breasts. Twill not essay
a description of the sea when she is
in towering rage, when the ship, all
closed down and drenchcd and drip
ping, and the waves rumbling over
her like rolling thunder in a summer
sky; when she reels and quivers and
groans under the repeated and stun
ming blows of the waves, now on one
side and now on the other, with PROV
at one time pointed hcavenward, at
another to the bottom OF the gaping
gulf in front, according as the noun
tain is athwart she course, or rolls
over it from the side. / will only say
that on such an occasion the motto of
per drclua I'D oStrd'' has no appli-
cation, for the stars are reached, as it
were, per-saltum. For full and pow
erful description of storm at sea,
that found in David Copperfield, and
drawn by the hand of master in the
art of word painting, has no superior
in our language.
Do ships or other things, no matter
what-do huge boulders even that are
brought from Greenland, imbedded
i'll the bosom of immense icebergs,
ever reach the bottom of the sea p
They certainly do, in shallow waters,
where the specific gravity is in their
favor. But, in my opinion, there is
in very deep waters such thing as
''hard pan''-a dense stratum of
water upon which rest, poised, as it
were, all objects from the aerial re-
gions and through which they never
penetrate-a division plane below
which the fish above never descend,
and above which those below never
ascend, save when they make dash
at one belonging to the upper fam
lilies that has approached too near the
border, and then it never rctuns to it's
native regions because of the great
expansion it undergoes, but floats
helplessIy upward to q point of equal
specific gravity. Idare say thatther
arc full rugged ships in position sit
ting grimly on this hard pan, with
sails unfurled and streamers flying,
resembling castles, and like those of
medieval times, are occupied by the
robber fish as so many strongholds
or strategic points, whence they issue
to seize their unwary and weaker
fellow creatures. Nor do doubt but
that these ships move about on the
hidden currents of the deep, for there
are rivers in the ocean. And why
should there not be at this late day,
even, ships of the Phenicians, of the
Greeks and of the Romans, floating
along as sound and whole as when
first they sank to their new estate p
Why should they not be preserved?
Neither air, nor light, nor frost reaches
them. Piles upon which bridges are
built last indefinitely. And the piles
buried in the lagoons of the Adriatic
sea, upon which the city of Venice is
built-a city of several hundred thou
sand inhabitants, distant three miles
from shore, and which has been in
existance for many centuries-show
no signs of decay. We see mummies
that have been embalmed thousands OF
years ago, and we know that alcohol
preserves animals, pr0vided it is mol
I H-..-.Ts-.y