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WAKEMAN’S WANDERINGS.
peeps at Some of the Most Interest
ing Features of Norway.
“Eagle-Nest” Norwegian Farms First
Visited by the Poet Traveler—A
Native Guide and a Night in a Weird
Fiord-side Hospice—Curious Peasant
Customs Revealed—Primitive Lives
0 f Content at the JEdg-e of Glacier
Fields, Where the Tax Gatherer Is
Unknown.
(Copyright.)
London. Nov. 16.—Travelers in Norway,
who have written of Norway and its peo
ple. have invariably spoken of two char
acteristic subjects, but in so brief a man
ner as always to pique and never to sat
isfy the reader's natural interest. These
are what have been termed for a better
name the ‘‘eagle-nest farms, - ’ and the
• saeters” or mountain summer dairies.
So far as 1 know no traveler, writing in
our language, has ever visited the former,
and while a few have actually seen a
-aeter. its environment and the strange
and lonely life at the same have never
been adequately described.
In sailing along the Norwegian coast
from Bergen to the Lofoden Islands, one
who is closely observant of the mainland
scenery, and particularly if a powerful
field-glass is used, will be surprised at
the number of utterly lonely and isolated
inhabitations, seemingly perched against
the gray’ crags at great altitudes midway'
between sea and sky. The larger number
of these are at least 2,000 feet above the
sea To the eye it seems inconceivable
that place for even their foundations
ci mid be securod. The picture is always
the same. A line of black wall thousands
of feet high: a dent of purple or a de
pression of misty blue where the speck
of a house is built: and then black and
sumber crags behind and above; and
above and beyond these the ghostly
glacier-fields.
Because from a distance their eerie
location, and the ragged, huddled struc
tures. which often surround the main
habitation, recall the nest of the eagle at
the edge of beetling crags, they have
come to be called “eagle-nest xarms.”
Sometimes the eye will follow a black
line of fissure descending from these habi
tations to a cavernous, rook-gorged gap
beside the water. In this case a little
boat house ma.v be seen upon the rocks;
and somewhere near, a winding, puce
like line will trail upwards and into the
darkening depths. This tells that the
eagle nest farmer is a fisherman, too, or
has this means of communication with
the outer world; but how he reaches his
home-perch above; how he subsists in his
desolate habitation; and what manner of
folk these are, who find contentment in
lives of such endless solitude, danger and
nature-grudged sustenance, were conjec
tures which haunted mo until I found
means to know.
Above the cliffs walls of the larger and
sterner fiords which penetrate the main
land from the coast, the eagle nest farms
are even more numerous than along the
outer coast. This is particularly true of
portions of the Hardanger, Sogne and
Throndlijem fiords. In the lordly Naro
tiord, a branch of the Aurlands branch of
the Sogne, and in a few instances in the
Throndhjem, they are at such lofty alti
tudes that they' appear like specks of
snow or ice, or like poising birds upon
edges of the cliff, i had noticed a few lo
cated at prodigious hights between Styve
and Holmenas, on the northern wall
i rests of this fiord, which, all the way
beyond Dyrsdal to the waterfall of the
Ytre Baaken that tumbles 8,000 feet, is
like some black and terrible waterway to
the realms of Eblis; and on landing at the
picturesque station of Bakke,. where
snow-capped mountains rise thousands of
feet sheer above the village, leaving not
a spare foot between habitations and the
towering walls of stone. I determined
that even if the endeavor should end in a
broken neck I would first have seen a
Norwegian eagie nest farm.
Four days passed at Bakke, four days
of contemplation of scenery so somber and
awful that it continually suggested the
infernal, before I found anyone either
competent or willing to act as a guide.
Then good fortune came to me in the per
son of a strapping young fellow, a native
of (irindedai, who had been lured away
from his own mountain home to Austra
lia and tired of a roving life in the anti
podes was returning as best he could,
with a look of eager homesickness in his
eyes almost savage in its intensity’. The
little he was to receive as boatman, guide
and interpreter, would on our return pay’
his passage on the fiord steamers around
through Aurlands Fiord to Fejes, and
still leave him as many dollars as a peas
ant's hard labor for a whole year will
give for saving in Norway. So we were a
happy pair as we rowed in our small boat,
hired at Bakke, to the northeast towards
Styve and Dyrdal's ice-fields above the
clouds.
f could not have found in all Norway a
more fitting companion for this particu
lar adventure. Not so very long ago the
"Id method of stages by row-boat along
many of those fiords was still in vogue,
travelers were then taken from one sta
tion to another in cumberous sharp-point
ed boats. The crew of each would return
with other passengers to its home-sta
hon; and frequently these crews, from
stress of travelers’ haste, or when hired
11 the week or month, would make voy
■tres the entire length of a fiord and its
various lesser branches.
Tliis often brought the real Vikings of
°'ir generation, that is. the dwellers on
viks. or creeks, along the fiords, into ac
quaintance with the peasant folk of
another fiord; and the father of my
fuide, whose name was Peter Erickson,
" as a master of such a boat when Peter
was a lad. Those who dwelt at Fejos
had come to not only know the lowly of
nakke, but many had acquired s .the
almost unconscious cunning of the In
dians wood-craft, or the coast-sailors’ un
explainable eighth sense of instinctive pre
eons, iousness of location in fair weather
°r loul. This made clearer to those boat
men than ordinance chart every hidden
miasm, sequestered water-fall or unseen
tome-nest upon the crags: while the
’•? r . v ‘ raigsmen whom we-had set out to
msit had been in the days before the
whistle awoke the sleeping
m ii" s o f fh e soln bre Naero Fiord, one of
the crew of Peter’s father's boat.
it was well we had provided food and
blankets. The enthrallment of the sav
majestic scenery of the fiord, the
‘Oiterings at chasms, gorges and narrow
a "cv openings, where odd and fantastic
‘ amicts and half hanging clusters of farm
’hidings toppled at the edges of precipices,
”r seemed- trembling from the furies of
*oarmg torrents; and above all the meet
j.'f” an d partings with quaint peasant
■t" ips to whom the shadowy fiord was
or only highway ever known, and who
" ' i.vs shook hands with us as though wo
"t" old and dear friends they had not
11 !l .or a decade, and never expected to
shouting and waving “favels”
” :ls long as we were insight—brought
_ 1 iil.v to the real beginning of our cliff
"bey. when it was already fairly night
.’.'"'.b there at the bottom of the narrow
• s of the fiord.
. 1 < place into which Peter dexterously
- •iccit our boat was the most forbidding
■ ‘ gruesome lever had the fortune to
11 From the middle of the stream
1 opening was wholly unobservable;
, 'b.v guide informed me that.hundreds
■ , . e *t could be found among the
’■"udous walls of the Norwegian
, . ' It was practically a vertical fls
, • <kw> feet high, and perhaps as deep
lu,v the water’s surface. One edge
was almost as smooth aud rounded as a
hewn pillar for r.U its mighty height. The
other correspondingly hollow, would have
closed against it. had the same inconceiv
able nature force which separated it set it
again in place, with perfect lamination
and without an inch of variance or waste
space. The two edges of these forma
tions reaching above the clouds are not
fifteen feet apart at the entrance; but
away 1 in there were weird and awful
depths: fo; while sight'could not pene
trate them the whispers, murmurs, plain
tive songs and hoarser threnodies of fall
ing waters, told the wondrous story of
erosions, displacements, boat-battles and
all the elemental struggles which the
dead centuries had known.
Not fifty feet from the entrance our
boat grated against a shelving rook. It
was almost as level as a floor, and but a
few inches above the water. Beyond this
the rock had perhaps centuries before
been eaten away or had given away, form
ing a covered hollow like naif- of a trun
cated cone. This spot, resembling a sec
tion of the pre-historie bee hive huts of
Ireland, was to be our resting place for
the night—a place which had probably
sheltered more human beings before me
than the greatest and oldest hotel in
Norway: and I thus learned of another
interesting custom of Norwegian peasant
ry. As I have before ixiinted out. the
fords are their real highways. Journeys
of hundred of miles are still made by en
tire families or parties too ]>onr, or too
thrifty’, to seek shelter and food at the
fiord side hamlets. They have for centu
ries used these nature-built stations.
Their food, fuel, and sheep-skins for cov
ering are brought with them in their
boats; and water, the sweetest, purest-,
cold water in the world, is leaping or
trickling from every rock.
Peter had no sooner built a cheery fire
—for each halting party from immemorial
custom contributes to the public supply,
and there is always fuel at hand —than
he explained torch in hand, some of the
curious characteristics of this quaintest
hospice I had ever beheld. A genuine
Norwegian inn without landlord, station
without master, hotel without host. On
the same rocky level, but just around a
projection of the fissure-wall, was a tiny’
paddock with little walls knee-high,
built of loose stones. The source of cer
tain unaccountable sounds I bad already
heard with dii‘e forebodings were now
made clear. Three tiny’ Norwegian cows
were munching their green fodder, aud
two of the tiniest calves I had ever seen
stood gravely’ beside them. These might
belong to the cragsman wo were about to
visit, Peter told me. In any event, here
the peasantry, who often changed the
grazing places of their little herds, penned
the animals at night: and the wise little
things, conscious as their masters of dan
ger of niglit-roaming or mistep, never
budged from the few square yards of rock
to which they’ were meekly ied from the
boats.
Where wc built our fire, fire bad been
lighted since the time of Harold Haar
fagre. In a hole or little chamber in the
rock were a few rude iron utensils which
had perhaps been used for centuries by
these fiord wayfarers; and another little
indention in the wall served as a sort of
toll-box, where those who felt able or
willing to do so deposited a few ore, near
ly’ the smallest coin in the world, in trib
ute to the eagle-nest farmer, thousands
of feet above, to whose posessions this
strange place was a sort of lower and
outer lodge. Having drawn our boat
upon the rock we slept within it. It was
a wakeful night for me. The soughing of
the wind through the narrow fissure was
full of ghostly plaints and voices: while
the falling of near yet unseen waters of
differing volumes from varying hights.
seemed almost articulate with wild
speech and song; as if the mighty mytho
logic heroes of Norseland in concourse
within this my sterious chasm wore re
turned from a night to chant their sagas
there of love, of the chase and of war
It was late when we awoke. The calves
had mysteriously disappeared. Peter was
then sure they were Frederickson’s on
the cliff top above. Their owner had
come with a companion, and without dis
turbing us had slung the little animals
over their shoulders and were now scal
ing the hights with them. Peter said we
must make haste as the cows were to fol
low, and we should overtake the crags
men at home before the.v began another
descent. With a bit of food in our hands
we started. Peter in the van. The way
led for a few hundred feet past the crag
man's boat house, along the edge of what
was on three sides, an almost vertical hol
low cube cut by’ nature from solid stone.
More than a score of waterfalls could be
seen. Some seemed no larger than a
white ribbon of lace waving down the
black rock sides. Others poured from
cups and hollows larger accumulated vol
umes. And still others issued like spout
ing tunnels from cavermous holes in the
rocks. All fell in an immense pool of
such great depth that the discharge of
the waters from the black cauldron was
without ripple where they mingled with
tliose„of the fiord.
The other side of the mighty hollow
cube was broken into irregular masses of
rock, some ploughed as smooth as though
polished by a lapidary, and bet ween these
tremendous displacements were pow
dered stone and detritus of sand; so I
knew that sometime, thousands of years
ago, a parcel of giaciers had tilted into
the chasm and thus provided a not alto
gether perilous way for our ascent. A
zig-zag path, forming altogether a dis
tance of perhaps two miles, led up the
broken chasm side; and at three places
huge timbers had been rigged for raising
and lowering, with rude windlasses, ani
mals, with huge leather bands fastened
around their bodies, and all things that
could not climb or be carried on these
sturdy cragsmen’s backs. Here then was
half the mystery of these famous eagle
nest Norwegian farms removed. Peter
said they were all equally accessible,
both upon the coasts and the fiords. They
have simply seemed inaccessible to those
travelers who make books from steamers’
decks, and have been put among the
eagles, the clouds and the glaciers, in the
pictures, without so much as a rope and
swinging wicker basket to aid the read
er’s imagination in safe ascent.
We met the head farmer and his son on
their way back to the fiord-side paddock,
near the upper edge of the chasm. I was
much more of a curiosity to these good
folk than they to me; for I was the first
foreigner that hud ever visited this, or,
so far as I can learn, any other, eagle
nest farm in Norway. Peter made them
know easily enough who he was. and
the greetings at the farm-house, or
houses, for several branches of one
family were huddled in great roomv
houses along the plateau, were rather an
ovation than a welcome. I was alto
gether disappointed: for I bad looked
forward to knowing in this experience
the uttermost desolation in which human
beings can sustain life. I was glad to find
one of the cheeriest places I had come
upon anywhere in Norway.
The eagle-nest farm comprised alto
gether HOO or 300 acres of partially and
grazing land. A mountain stream ran
through it. The cliffedge above the fiord
was protected by low walls of timber and
stone. The entire tract might be called
a “swail,” or little eorrie or saucer
shaped depression such as you will find
in the Scottisn Highlands. In front was
a misty line above the fiord; then a
mighty panorama of mountain, valley and
waterfall as far as the eye could reach.
Behind, lay first a field of shapeless rock.
Then came a seemingly impenetrable
forest of fir. Above this was another
line of scarred gray masses of jagged
stone, its upper edge serrated with
streaks and gullies of snow; and then tho
glittering range of ire upon the D.vrdal
Field bevond. The light at this altitude,
with white peaks everywhere along the
circling horizon line was painful and
blinding, after a week passed in the
shadowy depths of the fiord region be
low.
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3. 1893.
There were fine low, wide, stout timber
built homes; perhaps a half score of out
buildings for flocks and herds, all ar
ranged so as to protect as much as possi
ble both humans and animals from the
awful winter winds; a huge storehouse
as big as a village church for common
use: and a curious old mill for grinding
grain, where the stream tumbled into the
chasm in which we had passed the night.
The larger frrm house, or sort of patri
arch to them all, had a wide, outer in
clused hall. In this were bestowed on
shelves, hung from pegs or stood in cor
ners, a strange collection of oars, fishing
gear, rude farm implements, game-traps,
tremendous fur coats and rawhide boots,
stags' heads and antlers, tusks of wild
hoars, powder-horn and shot pouches and
firearms of strange and antique pattern.
The living rooms were four in number,
huge and square, leading from one to an
other through square openings; and in a
corner of each was an open fireplace as
large as I have ever seen. Every’ article,
of furniture —long, low tables, uncouth
but comfortable chairs, cumberous chests,
bunk-bed built into and against the walls,
heavy’ shelves upon great pegs driven into
the house timbers, and even the gaily
painted bureaus with the housewives’
names and dates of their marriage upon
them—was of home manufacture.
With all these evidences of ample con
tent. if within primitive environment, I
felt abashed at my own constantly recur
ring preconceived tendencies to construct
social and material pictures of rneager
ness and desolation where no such condi
tions existed. At tniddagsmad, or dinner,
which consisted of a sort of vegetable
soup seasoned with bits of dried fish, the
universal fladbrod, something like the
Scottish bannock, black bread, inordi
nate quantities of cheese, butter, cream
and milk, with great basins of tiny, but
wondrously sweet jordbaeret or straw
berries, these things were frankly’
spoken of, causing the greatest merri
ment among the family of my hose.
What lacked they? Here are comfort
able homes, and their land which has re
mained unquestioned in the one family
since Norway was Narwa.v. The women
spun the yarn, wove the cloth, made the
clothing they all wore, and besides at
tended to the cattle, and worked much in
the fields. The men felled timber in the
winter, hunted reindeer, trapped and shot
game, sometimes went oti long fishing and
whaling enterprises; and the land pro
duced enough grain for food and grass for
fodder, besides furnishing grazing for the
animals of less fortunate peasants who
often brought their cows here for the
summer months, and which explained the
presence of the three waiting in the
gorge beside the fiord.
All these folk could read, though none
had ever attended school. Elementary
education seems almost hereditary here,
and books, from the musty sagas to the
prose poems of Anderson, were piled upon
the rude shelves above the fireplaces.
Two or three times a year the.v went to
church at Bakke. These were great oc
casions, and all went in boats together.
In the long winter months the fires of the
great chimneys roared as loud as the
mountain tempests; with snowshoes they
visited other eagle-nest homes, and en
joyed much simple merry-making; and
from year in until year out, indeed from
one generation to another, they knew no
inextricable exigency and experienced no
need or longing beyond their own mutual
provision add requirement.
More surprising than all, after we had
departed—the entire ‘‘eagle nest’’ com
munity accompanying us to the edge of
the chasm and sending many a hearty
“Favel!” after us even when the cliff had
hidden them from sight—and while de
scending to the fiord with the head
farmer and his son, we learned that these
folk iiad never seen or known any officer
of the law; and that there was not even
a tradition in the numerous family above
our heads of a title to their lands being
essential, or of any attempt ever having
been made for the collection of taxes upon
any of those Norwegian eagle-nest farms.
Edgar L. Wakema.v.
SAVED TO BE SWINDLED.
From the Chicago Times.
Were a sailor to be asked the question:
“What is an ocean?” he might truthfully
answer: “A large body of salt water
ever thirsty for a sailor's life.” Out of
every storm comes disaster; every calm
is a menace to his peace of mind.
We were holding up for Acheen head
and the Straits of Malacca in the bark
Briton, aud the bay of Bengal was
without a whitecap when, at 5 o'clock one
afternoon in the year 1862, l was ordered
over the bows by the mate to clear the
flying jib dovvnhaul, which had become
jammed. 1 was a fairly grown boy in the
second year of my apprenticeship, and an
order to ca.ll the captain on deck would
seemingly huVo involved no more peril. I
scrambled out and was working away
with both hands when the brig sud
denly rose to a roller which
came racing at her from the north,
with a crest as smooth as if it had been
oiled, and there was an angry flirt of her
head as she came down, which broke my
hold and flung me far out on her star
board bow. I was under water only a
few seconds, but yet when I came to the
surface the ship seemed half a mileaway,
while a sudden squall was giving the
crew plenty to do without looking after
me. It had come out of the east, and out
of a sky as clear as a bell but a moment
before, and it had come with the swift
ness of a bullet. I seen to fall, and
as a shout was rinsed the man at the
wheel flung a life preserver over the star-
board quarter. This article was simply
a block of cork covered with canvas and
a stout strap made fast at either end.
Two of them always hung within reach
of the man at the wheel.
The life preserver must have fallen
close to me, for when f got the water out
of m.v eyes it was close at hand. I recog
nized the squall as one of those sudden
puffs rightly named a ‘-Bengal terror.”
They fly like an arrow discharged from a
mighty bow, and as their approach is un
seen and unheralded, many a good ship
has been wrecked aloft while sailing
peacefully over a placid sea. I fully ex
pected to be picked up after the squall
had passed, and was not a bit worried, as
I got the life-preserver under my chest
and made the straps fast. The squall did
not last three minutes, but it had
no sooner passed than the wind,
which had hitherto been from the
north, whisked into the west and began
blowing a gale. The sun was obscured,
the sea got up wonderfully quick, and the
last I saw of the bark everything was
confusion aboard, and both topgallant
masts were gone. Five minutes after she
was out of sight I realized that I was
doomed. Had she suffered no damage by
the squall she would never lower a boat
in the face of that piping gale and froth
ing sea to hunt for a boy who might
reasonably be looked upon as" drowned
within three minutes after striking the
water.
I of course had no idea of the position of
the bark when the accident happened. I
simply knew, as did all the other hands
forward, that we were pretty well up to
the coast of Sumatra, and that two days
of fair sailing would see us around Acheen
head Indeed. I didn’t bother about the
position, but as soon as the bark was out
of sight I gave up all hope of being saved.
Why the sharks didn’t, get me within the
next thirty hours has always been a mat
ter of wonder, as the waters of the ba.v of
Bengal were swarming with them at the
time. I had been drifting an hour or more
before I thought of the monsters, and as
night came on dark and stormy I got so
frightened at the idea of being seized that
I shouted for help until hoarse, and then
became partially unconscious. 1 remem-
her very little about‘the events of that
night .or the succeeding day. Looking
back to it is like recalling a dream. Hun
ger, thirst, fright and exposuro kept me
in a semi-conscious state most of the time,
aud it was probably better so. The gale
lasted most of the uigiit. and as it fined
down next day it still blew from the same
quarter, so that I drove steadily to the
east from the hour of falling overboard.
I was not fully eonsciousof my surround
ings when I heard the roar of breakers,
and 1 did not realize that 1 was being
drifted ashore until I was carried in on a
big roller, left on a sandy beach for a
moment, and then carried into the foam
again by the undertow. The next time I
felt the sand under my feet, however, l
made a struggle for it, and after being
half drowned found myself on a sandy
beach beyond the reach of tHe waves, t
was sick and weak and threw myself
down or. the ground, and when I finally
awoke from what was like a troubled
sleep, a full moon was shining in my
face and the night was half gone. I sat
up and looked around and dimly realized
that I had drifted ashore, and then
crawling on hands and knees under the
trees 1 slept again and did not open my
eyes till the sun was an hour high.
I had made a drift, as 1 afterward
learned, of about sixty miles, and waves
and tide had cast me ashore on the west
side of one of the Babil islands. There
are thirteen islands in this group, which
lies off the coast of Sumatra, distant
about eighty miles. The largest island is
about .30 miles long by 10 broad, and none
of them is yet permanently inhab
ited. Most of the smaller islands are
seaward and westward of the big one,
aud when I came to look around me I
found I had been cast ashore on a bit of
land comprising not over 200 acres, it
did not take me over an hour to walk
around it, and I discovered that it was
entirely covered with trees, contained
two or three fine springs, and that l was
six or seven miles sront any other island.
As for eatables, there were oysters
clinging to the rocks at low-tide mark,
wild fruits and berries to be had for
the picking, and 1 made no doubt of find
ing edible roots in the forest if I cared to
look for them. Before night came again
l had constructed a shelter of limbs and
branches under the trees, aud I slept
through the night as soundly as if in my
bunk aboard the bark. lam not going to
enter into particulars of the life 1 led for
several weeks, for you can easily imagine
there was very little to interest an out
sider. 1 got up a signal staff on the west
shore, spent much of my time in looking
for a sail, and was cast down and elated
by turns over the situation. I had no
means of building a fire, and my food was
consequently partaken of in a raw state.
The weather was warm and pleasant,
and after getting accustomed to the lone
liness of the situation I rather enjoyed
the Crusoe life.
I had been on the island forty-three
days w hen I got up one morning to find
the sun hidden by a haze which 1 knew
portended a storm. At about noon a
typhoon eaine out of the southwest with
such violence that within an hour 1 was
driven to seek shelter at the center of the
island, whore the forest was thickest,
and as the tide was coming in at the same
time there was a fear that the island
would be submerged. At 5 o'clock in the
afternoon and again at about 8 tidal
waves swept up the beach and into the
forest 200 feet above high-water mark,
and between tlie same hours the wind
hud such fury that at least half tlie
island was denuded of trees, bushes and
plants and left as bare as my hand. For
hours I lay fiat on the ground, clutching
the roots of a'stout bush, and a dozen
times over i had all I could do to keep
from being blown away. The gale began
to blow out at sundown, and then came a
rainfall lasting till midnight, and it was
sunrise next morning before 1 moved
down to the beach to look around and see
what damage had been wrought. About
tlie first thing my eyes rested on was the
hulk of a vessel resting almost cm an even
keel afar up the beach. Both masts were
gone a few feet above the deck. Most of
her bulwarks had been swept away, and
as I took a second look at the bulk 1 made
her out to be an old derelict in place of a
craft just driven ashore. She had prob
ably been brig rigged, but masts, rigging,
bowsprit, anu rudder were gone. As I
went closer, my heart in my mouth, for
fear I would find corpses on' tlie beach, I
took notice of the seaweed and barnacles
clinging to the wreck, and when I got
close up to tier I found great knots of
shellfish sticking out here and there
along her sides, t could walk clear
around her, the tide being out, and it was
not until I had made the circuit twice
that 1 solved the puzzle of her being there.
One of those tremendous waves of which
I have spoken must have lifted her off
the bottom of tlie sea, miles away per
haps, and flung her where she rested. The
shape of her hull was ancient, and she
carried a figurehead the like of which I
had never seen before.
There was lots of scroll .vork on the
stern of the wreck, but if she had ever
had her name painted there the salt
water had effaced the letters. I looked
along her sides clear down to her keel to
see if I could find the cause of her going
down, but the hull was perfectly sound
and in good condition. J hesitated to
board her, and, in fact, it was nearly
noon before 1 did so. I had a fear, as I
must admit, of encountering the skele
tons of the sailors who went down with
her. When I had at last plucked up
courage to scramble over her bows, the
spectacle was not near as lonely as I had
pictured. Her deck was flush from stem
to stern, with no cabin skylight. The
two windows at the stern had lighted the
cabin. There was a companionway, with
a slide to protect it. and something of
the same sort forward. Though the
decks were covered with weeds and
shells and slime, I could make out that
the craft had carried six cannon on a side.
There had been a cook house or galley on
deck, but that had gone with other fit
ting and belongings. She was fitted with
an ancient windlass, and that was still
intact, with a dozen coils of rotten hemp
ed cable about it. On her port bow was
an odd looking thing of wood and iron
which the craft had evidently made use
of as an anchor, and the sight of it was
enough to satisfy me that the hulk be
longed to a period far remote. She had
hut one hatch, and that was amidships,
with the covers firmly secured, or so they
seemed until I got a pry under the rusty
iron bar and broke it at the first heave.
That was the first thing I did toward see
ing what was below the decks.
I expected to find the hold full of water,
and as there was none to be seen 1 took
another look around, and finally found
her stern post smashed and twisted and
room enough there for the water to pour
in by the barrel. A modern steam pump
could hardly have saved the brig after
that injury, which was doubtless caused
by her striking a rock. She may have
been dismantled before the collision,
but she certainly did not float an hour
after it.
About all I accomplished the first day
was getting the hatch open. The mud
was drying up rapidly and the water
still draining out of her, and I thought
the delay would be to my iieneflt. 1
doubt if I could have overhauled her had
1 been so minded, as an odor which was
horribly nauseating arose from the
hatch and drove me to give it a
wide berth. The morning of the sec
ond day I opened up both cabin and
fo'castle and met with tha same odor,
though not so strong Then I carefully
lowered myself into the main hold to see
what T could discover. The craft had
only about six feet depth of hold, and
though the slime and weeds were abun
dant and far from pleasant I knocked
aboutdown there for hours. T found overa
hundred barrels which were full of liquor
of some sort, and 1 cannot tell you how
many hales and boxes, which fell into a
mass of mold at the slighest kick. There
were also water butts and barrels of l>ork
aud beef, and it was from these latter
that I got the sickening odor. ! got noth
ing whatever out of the hold, though 1
flattered myself that if the barrels of
liquor were all right they would bring me
a pretty penny when 1 got them to mar
ket.
On the third day 1 overhauled the cabin
aud fo'castle. There had been a great
raffle of stuff in both places, hut every
thing was mold as T touched it now The
cabin was small, but the fo’castle was so
large that I figured on accommodations
for a crew of sixty or seventy men Of
some tilings there was a great plenty.
Muskets and cutlasses were to be found
at every step, but each one so rusted and
eaten that it would hardly support its
own weight I boarded the wreck on the
fourth morning with the intention of get
ting into the run under the cabin, whore
anything in the shape of treasure would
be stored away, but 1 was hardly on her
decks before a boatload of sailors pulled
ashore from a Hutch ship, bound down
the coast for Batavia. She was about to
pass the island two miles away
when she sighted my signal and
tlie hulk and stopped to investi
gate. The men at once took possession of
the wreck as a lawful prize and carried
me off to the ship. I was not only treated
with calm indifference by the officers, hut
some of the sailors were positively brutal
in their conduct. The ship was sailed in
as near the shore as they dared go. and
for four days every man was busy at the
wreck. They took out 135 barrels of wine
and brandy, and a great amount of what
1 then thought was pig lead, but which i
afterward knew to be silver. 1 was not
carried to Batavia with the ship, but
transferred to a trader going up the
coast, and of all the treasure I never got
a penny. The claim which l filed with
the British consul at Batavia was pigeon
holed from the start, and the only satis
faction I have had up to date was the in
formation that my share of the plunder,
if justice had been done me, would have
amounted to several thousand dollars.
A STRANGE PART.
An Actor’s Experience as the Hind
Leg's of a Property Elephant.
From Cassell's Magazine.
“One of my strangest and most uncom
fortable experiences, sir, was being the
hind logs of an elephant!” says an actor.
“I’d gone out to Australia, like many
other young fellows do, or rather did a
few years ago, with the fixed idea of mak
ing my fortune. Needless to remark. 1
failed dismally, and soon lost the little
money 1 did possess. ] had been well ed
ucated. and tried one tiling after another,
with the invariable result that every
market seemed overstocked. Asa last
resource I went around to the theaters to
try and get a job. At one I was success
ful, being told that‘one of the chaps was
ill, and the boss in a roaring temper.’ T
made my way round, and arrived in time
to hear the aforesaid ‘boss’ remark some
what loudly and in scarcely polite lan
guage :
“ ‘What does the “hind legs” mean b,v
being ill? His business is to be “hind
legs,” and if he doesn’t turn up to-night
lie won’t have another job in my theater.’
1 rather timidly approached and asked if
I could, perhaps, supply the missing
man's place. Well, yo,ung man. if you'll
come and be “hind legs" of an elephant,
you can; if not, clear out; the pay’s ten
bob a week.’ The outlook was not cheer
ing, tint I was too hungry to be proud, so
1 answered that I had no knowledge of
the duties of ‘hind legs,’ hut 1 would do
my best, and hoped that a few rehearsals
would perfect me. I followed the ‘front
legs,’who had been a witness of this in
terview, and was quickly set to work.
First I had to put on a pair of large, loose,
dirty brown-looking trousers, with the
cardboard feet attached. These were
kept on by straps over my shoulders.
“The ‘front legs’ attired himself in a
similar garment. Then we both stooped
down to about half our hight, and a large,
dirty brown covering was drawn over us
to form the body, to which the head, etc.,
were attached. The cord working the
trunk was given into ‘front, legs' ’ keeping,
while T was accommodated with that ap
pended to the tail. At first it was most
difficult to arrange our strides properly,
and wo commenced by the ‘front logs'
making up his mind to take a walking
tour by himself, )>oor ‘hind legs’ descend
ing into a little jog-trot gallop to keep
anywhere near. Then we found the posi
tions reversed, and I was told to ‘stop
tripping up them front legs.’ At last we
were fairly perfect, and were released
witli aching heads and stiff backs till the
evening performance.
“I was naturally pretty punctual for
the first time, but when the cr.v, ‘The
stage waits for the elephant.' was heard
no ‘front legs’ were there. The manager
was furious and the audience impatient,
when at last my other half was discov
ered in the bar‘only getting a drink.’
He was promptly hauled along, but the
walk of the elephant was decidedly curi
ous during the evening. However, we
managed to get along somehow, but I
wasn’t sorry when my week came to an
end, and, taking into consideration the
discomforts of head and backache, the
decidedly unclean condition of the ‘skin’
and the long hours spent in rehearsals
and performances, I don’t think I ever
took a more hard-earned ten shilllings.”
Lord Bennett, the only living son of the
Lord of Tankerville, England, is an evangel
ist who is at present conducting a revival in
Sing Sing, N. Y. He is assisted by Or- In
glish. the British revivalist. Lord Bennett
has had a varied career. He has served in
both the army and navy, was a noted hunter
and a swell society man. The death of sev
eral members of his family is said to have
teen the reason for his giving the remaining
years of his life to religious work.
DIAMONDS. JEWELRY AND SILVERWARE.
DIAMONDS LEAD.
To accelerate sales we have gone over
the list again and trimmed prices to the
quick. DIAMONDS, SILVERWARE,
WATCHES, and our entire stock of rich
and rare Ornaments, Bric-a-Brac, Cut
glass, Silver and Gold Nic-Nacs are a pur
chase at present figures. Our visiting friends
from the interior are invited to call. Our dis
play is a SIGHT and all are welcome—even
asSIGHT-SEE-ERS.
Sternberg Jewelry Cos.
DRY GOODS.
Eckstein’s Great Sale.
Corner Whitaker and Congress Streets, Lathrop's Old Stand.
77c. DRESS GOODS. 77c.
We are over-stocked and decided to make a great
sacrifice. The best goods and best values in the city,
77c per yard, former price #1.25 and #1.50 per yard.
One Dress Pattern only to each customer.
77c Black & Fancy Velvets 77c
All Silk \ elvets while they last. Former prices $2 and $3.
ECKSTEIN'S SACRIFICE SALE
sc. SUPERIOR GINGHAMS. sc.
All fast colors, while they last. Regular price, Bc.
s2.7sWhiteWool6l’kelss2.7s
Former price, #4, Finer goods in proportion.
20c. Misses Black Hose. 20c.
Suitable for Bicycle Hose. One box to each customer.
500 LADIES' JACKETS. 500
Must be sacrificed for want of room, and being pur
chased at a decided Bargain, they will excel in merit and
price inferior goods sold.
THE FACT THAT WE ARE
ably represented in the Northern Markets, and with cash
ever ready to take advantage of desirable Bargains,
should encourage the Ladies in particular to visit Con
gress street and inspect our select assortments of Dry
Goods and beautiful Holiday Wares, before purchasing
elsewhere, at our popular prices.
GUSTAVE ECKSTEIMCO
BROUGHTON STREET.
One ol the most interesting features of our busy store is the Black Dress Goods De
partment, and we propose to make it more attractive. This week we give you your choiea
of six—6—patterns ol fancy weaves, with linings complete, reidy (or the dressmaker for
$8 49; WORTH SIO 75.
HAVE YOU EVER TRIED THE
CENTEMERI KID GLOVES?
It not do so at once, and you will then know what it is (o wear a glove that has no
equal tor fit and durability.
GOME TO US FOR CLOAKS, CORSETS. HOSIERY. HANDKERCHIEFS HID DWDERWEfIR.
FURNITURE MEN.
GROCERS.
BUTCHERS.
DAIRYMEN.
Dry Goods Delivery
Men of All Kinds.
Please call and exam
ine the
LOW PRICES.
WE ABE Itl NNINO FOB NEXT WEEK
A SPECIAL SALE Of
OPEN and TOP SPRING WAGONS and WAGON HARNESS.
A SET OF BRASS MOUNTED HARNESS AT *!> 90.
II II pnuru LEADER IN LOW PRICES,
Hi Hi UU I- 1) Hay an( j Montgomery Streets.
BEAUTIFUL MEMORANDUM BOOKS GIVEN AWAY.
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