Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1898-02-16
at about 1890 a. m. Our altitude is 800

1
more mortars and pestIes than we car
pack of. We wish we might have
jlckass that we can begin to load. We
hope to make richer finds further on
and so are at a loss what to take here
Mr.. Nelmes takes a neat little mortar and
some pestles, and | take several OF the
latter, hoping to find a mortar nearer
home and thus save SO much packing.
Here occurs an incident that / must
relate. Mr.. Nelmes does not seem to be
in any great haste to move on to other
explorations. lie sits down on the
mound and seems to be taking notes wit h
book and pencil. / start on toward bluff
overlooking the ocean. | am expecting
my friend will soon follow.
hnd the land to be very much
broken, and have gone only short dis
lance before lose sight OF Mr.. Nelmes.
l wait as long as dare for him to come
up, and as he does not put In appearance,
decide to make back tracks; for l feel
sure am lost. The feeling OF loneliness
creeps over me at first, then takes on a
very rapid pace, and take on a like pace
trying to find the mound l had left a
short time before.
think was never SO bewildered be-
fore In all my life. The sun Is hidden In
FOG or cloud. cannot make out the way
over which have come, nor can l find
the mound. Finally catch sight OF nv
friend on high mound in the distance
there for the purpose OF getting sight
OF me. l am glad enough to find him,
and swing my spade over my head and
halloo. He sees ME and sits down on the
| mound as though at home till l come up.
MY friend has compass, and trying by
II to set myself Alright regarding its
points, find myself altogether wrong.
cannot understand how I am so ter
ribiy mixed up, since l have with me
nothing stronger than water.
This illustrates how easily one may get
lost in these bad Iands", as | call these
broken lands. Although the island is
only seven and one-half miles long by
about three and onehalf miles wide it Ia
no nice place in which to get lost The
very solitude OF the place is enough to
make one feel him self to be an Alexander
Selkirk, for up to this time we had not
Il
reptile, and almost not blade OF grass.
Here we strike the edge of a desert. az
1t were-a dreary waste Of sand. AS we
travel further on westward, we walk
along on gravelly ground that runs up |
against the desert Of sand. 1t Is re- |
markable how straight is the line where |
the gravel and sand meet and continue
In company for long distance
We came to large mound. Here had
been party OF surveyors from the gov
eminent ship "McArthurn We find
some records on paper in bottle The
paper Is so brittle that it drops into bits
as we handle it, SO we cannot make ont
the full text. 1t appears as though some
OF the party had scrubbed on the mar
gin OF newspaper and put it in this bot
tie without stopper.
This mound had been very much ding
over, probably by this party 1t il
IL O'clock we are sitting on our elghth
nonnd. and | can count dozen more III
,,l, view. About and around every
mound we find many fossils we thlhK
thew are the remains OF shruooery tha'
,rew about the habitations OF the INDIANS
The fossils have the appearance OF Tree
,r,nks some with branches on them, ana
o,,ers vines that run along the ground.
,sJstrike MANY OF them with my spade
they break as would icicies. one thihs
observe is that some OF them nave mono"
hearts, Ii they were once shruooery,
how thew became fossils is mystery;
and vet no more mysterious than Is the
fact that very numerous tripe Vi Ia
disns once inhabited this lonely Island
dried and parched as though IL were
baked in an infernaloven.
weare now resting upon our twelf'h
o,nd TRY to keep no fuLher count.
: It is time to be making tracks'o"aro our
Yacht. We begin 10 step aidg orlsKy'
2 hut nv. what lies before US! III Is well
we do not know what weare 10 Ell
A counter-deep Canyons, gHl gu'cnes'
had lands and wide stretches'r wastes Vi
e sand with clay outcropplhl' we can
II M, nrop up the sun nor sta It's setting
n go are our feet and wry our legs
he we dare not stop to rest.
After making several miskes as TO the
headlands, off which lies yacht just
g, at sunset we come to the rl' DUN Hiu
ct c,ambering down over treacherous
lg side to he lower land, era through the
a wire fence of sheep corrtpass a cls'erh
CHI that we find was made receive ram
les yster. probably in winterhere are the
,,ooden snouts to run the.ter into the
we oistarn-then we jump ON ledge
ter shelf down to the beach. e are gis" 10
nd find the captain and Harthere before
,ut Ms. and that they have led the boat
down. for the tide is out we are weak
ain Unon hearing our ste the captain
the concludes we have had t'reater tramp
to and he thinks we have more. hut
hen he states he has during the
and dav million birds | sure he ana
|, as Vary found no such sole as had we.