The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1888-05-26
BLEAK REGIONS.
Some Wild and UninhabitatA
Spots on the Earth.
Bear Island, the Most DeSolate
Place in the World.


sidence which made them islands had
never taken place, North America would
have extended farther cast than Eng.
land or France are.
The Island of this class which lies
nearest to the European continent is
Bear Island, land of lakes. hills and
marshes. Between it and the Norwegian
coast, two hundred and eighty miles
distant, the ocean is eighteen hundred
feet deep.
Bear Island is, perhaps, the most
desolate land in the world. The names
given its hills tell the story of the i'm
preston made upon explorers. The
English named the largest of these hills
Mount Misery, and the Dutch named
another Jammerbery, which means
Mount Calamity. There are not trees.
but such an abundance of lichens that
from a distance, some of the land looks
grassy. Although Bear Island is said to
have received its name from the killing
OF bear there by the Dutch dis coverer,.
there are now no living creatures on tie
island except insects.
Bear Island has, however, some value.
for there are large and rich coal de-
posts. Perhaps. when the coal of the
rest of the world has been nearly ex-
hausted, men may go to live on this
dismal spot of the earth in order to
mine its coal.
The marks of vegetation in the coal
strata prove that the island belongs TO
the American continent, for they are
The same as those upon the coal in the
Arctic regions Of America.
To tine ro,thward of Bear Island lies
the more interesting land of Spitzber-
gen, which is fortunate in having been
once inhabited by men, and still being
inhabited BY animals.
The five large islands of Spitzbcrgen
cover twenty-five thousand seven hun
dred and twenty square miles; and
though the northern shore is only six
hundred and fifty miles from the north
pole, the southern shore has climate
which owing to the influence of the
Gulf stream, the recent Swedish ex-
plorers declare superior to that of Scan
dinavia.
The explorers say that this climate, in
summer at least. is one of the healthiest
in the world, and that colds, catarrhs, and
affections of the chest are never known
there. Sailors falling into the water let
their clothes dry upon their todies, as
they say they cannot take cold in Spitz-
bergen.
1t is deemed probable that health re-
sorts may before very long be built on
the banks of Spitzbergen creeks and in
lets for the benefit of in valids from Eng
land and the continent. Fancy going to
the Arctic ocean to get rid of colds and
catarrh!
If people ever do seek Spitzbergen as
a summer resort, they will find at least
ono interesting circumstance; the sun
does not set for four whole months, so
that the summer sojourncr need not be
afraid of the might air." There is,
however, great deal of fog and cloud,
with heavy frosts, even in midsummer.
In the last century, Spitzbergen often
swarmed with whalers. Villages built
of p!anks were found everywhere along
the shores.
There was Dutch port and an Eng
fish port, and as many as twelve
thousand whalcrs, of various rationale
ties, found themselves there at once.
The Dutch had promising town,
called Smcerenberg. There was no
government over the island, and the
crews of rival fleets sometime, fought
pitched battles on the beach.
All these men were birds of passage,
Tut one old Russian, named Starashtchin.
found lonely spot Oh the west coast,
and lived q hcrmit's life there for
twenty three years. and proved the salu-
brity OF the climate by dying Of old age.
The Loneliness of this old man through
The dark Arctic nights, that were
months long, seems something terrible
10 think OF. But it was what he
sought.
The whales and walruses for which