New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-08-03

ing. The pet of a white-coat in his best condition
is about three feet long, nearly as WIDE. ana ~
weighs about forty pounds. When the htin,er
and drags them over the ice 10 the ship. IL is
not unusual for vessel 10 accomplish IN single
day oil that II has come 50 far to do From
30 900 to 100 900 seal IRE often found in single
"patch and 80 quickly can the hunters work that
they often load TO the gunwalcs within ten hours.
This. of course, is a lucky, though not an un-
usual voyage. But in the chance of getting 1t
n thousand risks are run. The chief of these is
stormy weather. Nothing more fearful can be
imagined than the action Of the ice under the
Influence of raging winds and raging seas. Vast
Islands OF ice, hundreds Of square miles IN area,
are lifted the crcsts IF mighty waves ami dashed
against each other. breaking into thousand blocks
with roar that would drown the voice OF ten
Niagaras. Shooting this way and that, they are
often piled upon one 2nothcr in colossal ana
fantastic monument, more huge aud grand and
moment. and then sent by the impu lSe Of another
wave crashing into an iceberg or spinning across
the glacial SEA into the msts beyond. Resistance
to such forces as these is utterly impossible
Many noble slip has been ground into spntcrs
between the ice or sent in instant 70 the bottom
by blow from one Of these dreadful batteries
The escapes Of sailors in such pcrlls are often
incredible. Sometimes in the worst storm by
skiful navigation or good luck, or both, they con-
10 the desperate cxpedent of abandoning the ship
and taking 10 the Ice. The chances, OF course,
are all against them, but it has occasionally hap,
pencd that by sPrinSng from pan 1T, to pan Th,
ordinary stories Of the perils of the
sea. >hpwrecl famine or fire, are tame indeed
compared with the stories these seal-hunters can
tell OF their experiences on the Labrador
Scarcely less interesting, if less animated, are
their tales of the icc-Gelds when gentler infiu-
cpccs prevail. To hear them describe in their odd
dialect. the scene produced by a mellow moon or
Pickering aurora as they Tighten the les wilder
ness with gentle glow wild cleaning rldi-
ancr, is r. see in ones mind picture of majestic
beauty startling grandeur If a moonlicht on
the sea or on the placid bosom OF an inland lake
/, 50 grateful think what il must be on a limit
les cXpause Of moving shapcle>s ice There are
meadows of S liver stretching into space. There
and there. and there cathcdrals, modelled by
spritcs and buildcd by giants, with golden domes
ana spires from which the yellow light HnccaS-
ingly flashes as though they had been cut from
one vest topaz Oh in the distance runs line
Of hlar wafer leading into the worlds that may
not hc srcn-a wall; for sprctrcs. All around
are shapes HAT ore would rather not personlty.
but about which the imagination fingers help
lcs'ly. Dwarf, they seem - be, and COLLINS. cen
taurS and hidc0uS gcrl. now shrouded In mTS-
teriols cloaks now dcclied ont in thc widest
irinlcry with Shouldrr- knots aud plnmcs and gar
mcnts spanulcd with Fight, embroiGercd EN-
tossod emblzCned. The moonlight flowing over
tbs, strange appearances ever changes their form
ard thc restless water gives them notion TWO
attributes that seom 70 claim for them many