Year: 1869

drifting southwark. But L soon saN


that the sun was moving in a lowe


circuit, and was convinced that IN.


hopes were delusive. L cannot tel


how long / drifted in this way. Afte


l had exhausted my small stock o


ducks eggs, l had neither food no


drink, but the sense of hunger wa


soon lost in that of thirst. L shoult


think it might have been about TN


sixth day after left Edges Island tina


lay down, utterly exhausted and dis


heartened, whispered n brief prayer


and resigned myself to die.


ASHORE AT THE POLE.


How long I remained insensible


cannot tell. l only know that l wa


aroused by sudden shock, and haC


reason enough left to infer that I'll,


boat had struck a rock. / tried to lii'


my head, but was not strong enough
Soon after there were sounds of voices
as of children, near me, and | thought
( it only a dream. But opened my
/ eyes, and beheld n group of strange
creatures around the boat, ch ldren in
size and features, but evidently men
in age, who were gazing earnestly n
me, with curiosity and some alarm.
| Weakness and thirst were too strong
| in me to give way to other emotions,
and | tried to make signs to these
people that / needed water. They
were long in comprehending me, OF
/ so it seemed to my impatie see; but al
length one brought me small vessel
/ of water, and l drank it eagerly and
/ beckoned for more. In few minutes
| l felt greatly refreshed and endcavored
I to rise, but l had over-estimated my
strength and dropped back from weak
ness. The strange little men were ev-
identity consulting rs to what they
should do with me, which l made out
by their ge:tuTes and movements,
J though their language was wholly un-
intelligible. They soon rugged a
rough litter of sticks, upon which
they placed me, and eight of them
lifted il and bore me away from the
shore. | had not strength to notice
the appearance of the place where
had landed, but | was so anxious for
the safety of my boat that 1 succeeded
in impressing the idea upon my un-
known hosts, and had the satisfaction
of seeing several of them at work up
on it, attempting to draw il into a
J AAelA AOh WV bCNhCNAA AlAN 4OCAos nv
bearers took me along very carefully,
while l slept most of the time, and
was only conscious that we went a
long way up n steep hill, and then de-
scended more gradually into n deep
valley, musical with running streams
and singing birds. When we halted
at last was lifted upon a soft couch
of moss, and various articles OF simple
drink and food were administered to
me in small inStallments. None OF
them were familiar to. my taste, but
all grateful and restorative. / was
still too weak to notice much, and my
dreamy thoughts were troubled with
questions whether the creatures into
whose hands l had fallen were can
nibals, whether they would fat me
before putting me on the spit, and
whether L might not hope to get
strong enough to kill a score or two
of the puny things and so escape.


FIRST IMPRESSION OF wAHNo.


was able to lift myself upon one
arm and eX3mine my surroundings.
/ could see that | was in a small circu-
lar nut or tent, woven with splitreeds,
like a basket, so open as to admit the
light through the erevices. No one
was with me, but l could hear many
voices near, and frequent and bril-
liant flashes of light upon one side of
the tent made everything within visi-
BILE, but were very painful to my eyes.
/ thought at first the flashes were from
a thunder-elOud, but they assumed ut
times such u variety of colors that 1
could not account for them in this
way, and was puzzled until thought
of the northern aurora, which l had
sometimes seen in the same cOlOrs,
but never before so brilliant. While
] was watching their curious play
through the crevices of my basket
house, several little women entered,
one of whom | knew TO be Il matron
OF considerable age, frOna her Wrink-
les and dignity and self-pOssession of
her manner, While the younger ones
were evidently fiuttered and some
what afraid of the giant Providence
had thrown upon their care. made
salutations in German, which, as /
anticipated, was as strange TO them rs
their words to me. How to make
known my wants was not easily con-
trived. BY putting my hands TO my
mouth, as if taking food, L soon gave
them to understand that | was still
hungry, and they brought me several
kinds or mutt, ali of which appeared
to be half dried, and small sort of
bread-fruit, much inferior to that OF
the tropics; but still satisfying TO my
hunger. After l had eaten all 1
thought best, the older lady handed
to me what looked like q wilhered APP
pie. The skin was so hard and tough
and the general appearance so forbid
ding, that politely returned it. But
the kind old dame saw that was not
familiar with the fruit, so, to teach me
its use, she bit hole through the rind
and showed me the inside. 1t was
filled with thick, sirup-iike pulp,
which L tas-ed, and found to be very
delicious. 1t was like the jelly flavor
ed with sherry wine, which my Ger
trude used to prepare for me, and,
smiling my approval of it, l. soon dis
posed Of the contents and beckOned
for another. 1t was given with some
apparent reluctance, which soon un-
derstoOd, for had not finished suck
ing it when began to feel quite eX-
hilarated. | afterwards found that
the teRe, rs this curious fruit is called,
is too excessively sweet to be eaten
when ripe, and that 1t Is allowed to
remain upon the trees, or rather bush
es, till fermentation has given an al
coholic quality to the pulp. In this
state the natives count it their choicest
fruit, not only as 4 Means of festivity,
but as Il medicine.





After three days i'm the little hut,
attended by the same women, and
seeing no man, began to feel rs if L
had the strength TO get up, and was
eager to 90 out and see the strange
country and people. L also felt an
appetite for more substantial and
stimulating food than my nurses pro-
vided. A piece of salt junk and bread
would then have been luxury. My
first attempt to rise was failure, and
l resigned myself as well as l could to
longer confinement. On the fifth day
[ succeeded in rising, and crept thrO'
the low door of the hut. The scene
that met my sight am unable 10
describe. 1t was so unlike anything
had ever before witnessed in any
part of the earth, that | lacked words
to convey a right impression of it. l
can only attempt some rough outlines.
| was in the midst of village OF n
thousand huts or more, like that l
had just l6ft, some l3rger, some small
Ter, and among them, i'll groups, were
thousand of people, so fragile, soethe-
real in aspect, that | could hardly be-
lieve thOm TO be flesh and blood. The