Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1888-08-18

| sunken lodges of rock jut up here and there
with ugly suggestiveness. We reached the
spot, landed and found at the edge of de-
serted farm-field point of huge rocks which
set like gigantic spur into and above the
tide prssage. We had come up with the
tide and 1t was already filling the Cobseook
with grand sweep, creeping here and there
with angry lashings among the cavernous
depths of the passage. With the conscious
ness of the mighty forces beyond and the
whole Atlantic at their back, and realizing
what must irrevecably be hurled through
and over this hideous ehasan, ones fancy
easily gives fantastic indiuid uality to attack
| ing and opposing elemental forces. As If
| the spirits of the sea, resentful of their end
less forays at this stubborn spot, were pos
sessed of added malignancy, the eneroaohing
1 waters macs high above the level of the in
coming bays flow as If for irresistible on
| s1aught, and then charge furious1y. Break
| ing into countless ferocious !egions, their
| forces sweep and seebhe around the rocky
| bases with hiss and shrek, and defeated,
rush sullenly away. Again, again and again
| are these charges of the appraised waters
| made with increasing force and fury. In an
| hours time the entire bare earth of the great
! basin Ia wholly covered, with such impetu-
| osity has the tide stormed the chasm. For
two hours more this place has not It's squal,
1 in the same space, even sG Niagara for active
| maleyolence and demonstration of the awful
power of boundless waters raging to find
| their level. There is a positive fearfulness
! to the stoutest heart in watching the whirl-
4 ing, swirling, crashing rips and ,naelstroms
| splitting upon the rocks and tossAsg skyward
great sheets of spume which cleaVe the air
/ with piercing screams, while the hoarse bel
l lowing of the mightier volumes through the
4 wider spaces is utterly beyond description.
1 So tremendous is this conflict of the waters
| that frequently the air above is white with
mist as with smoke Of mighty battle. The
| desolate, lofty headlands, the overgrown
4 fields from which the horror of thasspet has
actually driven the farmer owners Of yore,
| the stunted pines and spruce, the dreariness
| and grewsomeness of the place where scores
4 Of lives have been lost and many venture
4 some craft pulYerized like stick of punk,
4 the believing, screaming and roaring of the
waters, all contrive scene and sound of sur
passing dread and harror. But to all this is
added the indescribable actions of myriads
of crows, which, as If their diabolical ma
I lures were fred to the highest frenzy as the
\ tide struggles increase in intensity, whirl,
wheel and DART above the mist like cyclonic
cloud of inky blackness, uttering from their
| brazen throats such hideous shrieks and cav
4 ings as at times even out-cry the maddened
4 elements below. No shores can show anoth
l er such battle of the tides. The "Inferno's"
widest imagery and pieturings cannot fur
/ nish mare hideous and terrifying spectacle.
After days coasting about the beautiful
Il
1 rapidly becoming a formidable rival to Bar
Harbor and Mount Desert; climbing to the
4 rocks over old Herring Cove, where the re-
doubtable Admiral William Fitzwilliam
4 Owen built his famous quarterback to pa
/ rade in full uniform for the admiration of
II fishermen below; and stroll in the quaint
old church-yard where many of the noble
I family are now at rest; we set sail from
4 Quoddy Head back along cur own winsome
1 coast, and thence to that Every throne of the
bold and romantic" the noble island of
4 Grand Manan. Perhaps twelve miles to the
southwest of Eastport it stands gigantic
sentinel before the entrance to the Bay of
Fundy. It is twenty-five miles in length,
I from three to seven miles wide, and rises,
1 with few exceptions of beach and cove, pre-
cipitately out of the sea to height Of over
1 four hundred feet. From every side its
cliffs at distance present the most marvel.
4 Gus combinations of marine beauty and gran
1 deur to be found on or near any American
shores. There are effects here which can
I not be painted. They are only to be seen
4 and fel6. To illustrate, some great artist
4 may have the genius to put on canvas the
msjestic walls which rise above the blue
sea, with the thzead- spEne and feann be-
I tween. He may make the purple blackness
of their shaded sides, the vast, dsnk assures,
/ the great seams between strata, the feathsry
descent of some upland riVulet swinging like
a sinuous peddulum of miss in mid-air, the
II
4 into the sea, the livid green of verdure
l browning the cliffs, the radiant sky, the fish
1 ers sails scudding like gulls to starboard or
1 port, the swirling hocks eff sea-fowl sweeping
/ above, about and away and out from the
edges of awful precipices-but he can never
put one of these changing, indefnable, evan
esoent, yet ever-prescnt flmy fogs between
the eye of the head or the eye of the sense,
/ and this colossal mystery of the sea. That
tremendous, quivering, magical, ghostly SUBJ
stance which is seen, kreathed, pslpably
drunk, by the elatsd senses, is forever here
and cannot be limned. The Indians who
I lived here one hundred and eighty years after
Champlain visited Grand Manan in 1906
called this intangible thing s'Smoke of the
1 great Spirit" Perhaps that is nearer than
1 writer can tell 1t, and certainly truer than
painter can depict it, with all the fine apt
l ness of to-day. See it as part of the -ro-
! mantle old Acadia which still is, and you
have got as far ahead of Turner, as Turner
1 bedeviled the wits of poor old Ruskin and
that is the synonym for illimitability.
The eastern shore of Grand Manan is alene
1 habitable. Here are found a half dozen
qaint Gstle hamlets where live perhaps three
1 thousand fishermen and their families. They
are almost childlike folk, and the same sim
gular simplicity is characteristic of them
that have noticed as existing in 30 striking
I degree among all the native waterside peo-
pie of this northeast coast. Their toll is in
cessant, their piety unquestioning humility
| and faith, their content is tenderly beautiful.
Indeed there is something in all this remote
| ness from ordinary human activities and
| this ceaseless magical influence of the sea,
| which molds and softens character into kind
liness and gentleness, have never elsewhere
found. Repeatedly coming upon it, one can
not but wonder why 1t is not more the study
of the sociologist. Were our great penal In
| sttutions set upon our coastwlse islands,
| might not this beneheent influence have ten
I deney to soften and reform, at least to O
measurable and desirable degree, the savage
and apparently unregenerate spirit of des-
perate oriminalal These fishermen take her
| ring, cod and haddook along their own dam
1 gerous shores, and frequently join in peril
Gus quest for cod in their little schooners as
far as the Grand Banks, with startling dar.
ing and intrepidity. Their wives and daugh
ters, who are splendid types of women il
form, strength and carriage, are every viii
the equal of the men in sea lore and hardi
| hood. 1t is no uncommon thing for them Il
serve long and arduous stints at the oars, O.
the hard watches among the dories; Will
their fearlessness and positive heroism in tn
frequent Hfe-saving incidents of the drsa6
} and dangerous island shores entitle them t.
, | noble place in romance and song. TIL
, ! homes of these gentle people are STRUNG
along the eastern shore coves in PICTURESQUE
cabins and cottages, and are invariably tn
prettiest and eoziest retreats imaginable, anC
[ considering their owners occupation, thei
, cleanliness and brightness are marvellous
i Magnificent government-built roads lea
from the nesting coves and homes to tn
lofty highlands of Grand Manan, and thenc
) | to Its western and southern extremities.
The picturesque, weird and sublime are o.
) every hand. The eastern shore with its nea
4 | islands, its hundreds of fishers sail. oil
/ boats and rotting wrecks, surf whiel
, breaks and tumbles ceaselessly, the odd COS
. tumes and utensils of the fishermen, th
, dainty villages and struggling settlements
all contrasting with mighty background O
: strangely colored cliffs and yerdure-clat
t heights; the northern shore with its trernsn
' dous hsadIands above the ,ever-moaning sea
. | the western shore with its succession of mas
sive cliffs, its Indian Beach where the Quod
! DIV Indians come, Dark Cove, Kidds None,
8 Cove and the savage maelstroms of Long
j Eddy; and the southern shore with Its ont
i | lying Woods Islands, Broad and Seal Coves
Q | the majestic Southern Cross promontory
Gannet Rock lighthouse and Seuthwes
I Head, where thousands upon thousands Q