Omaha daily bee., 1888-04-01

NbolO hcOU vi IL opdiloh IL
anchored so one can imagine what an
extensive refuge it is. Lerwick is the
principal town, situated on the banks of
Bressay sound-populatlon 4,045, and
dates its commencement from the
seventeenth century. This is the rem
devouz for the whaling fleets bound for
Davis straits and Greenland. We re-
NAMED here for a fortnight during
which time | had ample opportunities
OF getting %aninkling into the habits and
customs of these islanders. The men
are lazy; the are pretty, and do
the hard work. The staple manufac-
spending their dollars in drink, our
British tars were to be seen crowding
around the shop windows and gazing
with admiration on the exhibits of the
far-famed Shetland hosiery, which ad-
miration generally developed into an
eager desire to invest in some pretty
shawl or cap, which was forthwith dis
patched to some loving wife Or to the
girl he had left behind him.
. The women are far in excess of the
men. Fishing is almost the sole occu-
patton of the latter, farm work and
knitting being handed over to the care
of the fair sex. The Shetland sailors
are regarded quite as skillful at seal
ilIbllS dS OuE bTlblSU SciIlltn, it1u Oh
the fleeing day" or day on which the
captains of the various ships reinforced
their crews some curious scenes were
enacted. You would see quite a crowd
OF eager fellows, young and old busting
around the captain, all vieing with each
other as to who would be first chosen,
and 1T often happened that a youth, i'm
PEELED by his own inherent ~impetuosity,
would climb over the shoulders of some
older mate and thus get nearer the
man of business"
The list of hands completed, the
whole fleet, now sOme forty ships (in-
Guiding Scotch, Danes, Swedes, Nor
wegians and Germans), steamed out in
succession, and we babe goodbye to the
last really green land that we should
see for some time to come. AS we did
So, success was waited over to us in the
shape. of a firing salute from Fort
Charles. In reply each individual ship
fired its cannon off as an echo back Of
thanks. The effect was grand, min
gled as it was with feelings of sorrow
and gladness. In four days sixteen
hours our vessel struck the first Ice in
a latitude of So north, opposite the
island of Ian Mayen, Here the sea was
covered with a thin surface dressing of
ice in the shape of pancakes, but
the further we advanced this stra-
tum gradually increased in magnitude.
minished our ratio of speed. Jan Mayen
is worthy of no particular mention
further than that it contains a mountain,
Beerenberg by name, some wv thou
sand feet high, and which is by nature
OF volcanic origin. 1t is inhabited by
numerous bears, foxes and wild fowls.
AT this junction we erected our ''crow's
nest" which term demands explanations:
Navigation through ice being a perilous
affair, it is deemed necessary to have
an outlook from as high a position on
the ship as possible, The main mast is
chosen for this purpose, and on its sum
nit is fixed a barrel large enough to
contain one man. This little house is
nicely fitted up, and contains two tele-
scopes, SO that the sentinel can discern
the proper route and telephone down to
the ships bridge the direction in which
TO steer, and from the bridge the order
is carried on to the man at the wheel.
l don't know if any of you have been
amongst icebergs, but il you have you
know the fearful sensation that runs
through you on a near approach to one.
Now, what is an iceberg? 1t is nothing
more than a vast mass Of ice hat has
broken away from such ice-sheets as
cover Greenland and Spitzbergen, which
gradually creeps down and down from
these mountainous heights till it reaches
the shore. When it touches the sea the
lower margin is acted on by the destruc-
tive influence Of the waves and breaks
up into endless forms of variety. These
blocks, many millions of tons in weight;
drift to lower ATTITUDES under the inAu-
ence of the polar currents and grad
ually melt away in water of "A warmer
temperature. AS it drifts along it melts
most rapidly under water. One OBJ
served by Sir John Ross and Lieutenant
Parry was two and one-half miles long,
two and one-third miles broad and 1873
feet high-certainly not a very desirable
object to come in collision with. Now
this explains how many OF the large
boulders of stone that wa find here and
there scattered over the surface of the
earth, come to be where they are. for
from a geological point of view icebergs
are great transporting agents, bearing
away in their headlong course numbers
OF boulders and stones off the noun
tains, which are strewn along the
oceans bed as the ice gradually melts.
Thus II YOU find on your land a large
boulder with distinct situations or stripes
on its surface, these indicate that il is
an erratic block which has doubtless
been, transported at a time when the
land WAS undar Wafar aen axnosa1 IN an