Burke's weekly for boys and girls. (Macon, Ga.) 1867-1870, August 31, 1867, Image 1

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Entered according to Act of Congress, in J une, 1867, by J. W. Burke & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the So. District of Georgia. Vol. I. Written for Burke’s Weekly. the regions oe ice and snow. OST of our little readers have but a faint idea of the masses of ice and snow which are to be * found in that part of the rmk world in the vicinity of the North Pole. They have Jnpj read about the frozen re gions in books of travel and adventure, and some few of them may have heard of them from per sons who have navigated the Polar Seas, but it is difficult for us at the South to realize the actual condi tion of things. We give with this sketch, a pic ture of an iceberg: a large mass of ice, which is floating down from the north after the long winter is over. Sometimes a number of these icebergs float together, and if a ship comes in contact with them, they press with such force against it as to crush it and some times cause it to sink. On June 25th, 1859, a vessel, called the Kitty, left London, having on board a stock of warm clothing for the Indians, two thousand copies of the New Testament, and a number of prayer books in the ( ree language. In addition to these, there was on board a large supply of provisions for the use of the missionaries during the following year. On the night of August 12th the Kitty became entangled in some icebergs, and, after several days, the sail ors, finding that there was no hope ol saving the ship, were obliged to leave the precious freight, and to escape for their lives in a small boat. The vessel shortly after sank, and for sixty-three days the sailors were exposed to the most severe hardships, but just as their stock of pro- MACONL G-A., ATJGrTJST 31, 1867. visions was exhausted, and they began to fear that they must die of hunger before another day was over, they found that they were close to the coast of Labrador. They were seen by some Christian Es quimaux, and brought to shore, and even tually returned to England. Dr. Hayes, of Boston, left that city in July, 1860, in a small schooner which he called the United States, on a voyage of discovery towards the North Pole. He had been on a former voyage with the late I)r. Kane. Since his return from his last expedition, he has published a narra tive of his adventures and discoveries, and his book — The Open Polar Sea —is one of deep and thrilling interest. He spent a little more than twelve months in this region of snow and ice, enduring almost incredible hardships and priva tions. He encountered his first iceberg the day before he passed the Arctic circle. “ The dead white mass broke upon us,” he says, “ out of a dense fog, and was mistaken by the look-out for land when he first caught the sound of the breakers beating upon it. It was floating directly in our course, but we had time enough to clear it. Its form was that of an irregu lar pyramid, about three hundred feet at its base, and perhaps half as hiffh. Its summit was at first obscured, but at length the mist broke away, disclosing the peak of a glittering spire, around which the -white clouds were curling and dancing in the sunlight. There was something very impressive in the stern indifference with which it received the lashings of the sea. The waves threw their liquid arms about it caressingly, hut it deigned not even a nod of recognition, and sent them reeling backward, moan ing and lamenting.” Dr. Hayes saw many icebergs of immense size, and of every pos sible form. He was in frequent danger of having his vessel crush ed by vast masses of ice, which, detached from the surrounding bergs, were constantly falling around him. At one time he counted more than five hundred of these immense bodies of floating ice in sight from a single point. One enormous iceberg, encountered on the coast of Greenland, was threte hundred and fifteen feet high, and a fraction over three-quar ters of a mile long. Estimating that at least seven-eighths of it were under wa ter. Dr. Hayes made a calculation that its cubical contents were twenty-seven thousand millions of feet, and its weight about two thousand millions of tons. ——- Have the courage to obey your Maker at the risk of being ridiculed by man. No. 9