Thrilling Stories Of The Ocean - From Authentic Accounts Of Modern Voyagers And Travellers; Designed - For The Entertainment And Instruction Of Young People by Marmaduke Park
page 60 of 128 (46%)
page 60 of 128 (46%)
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has ever given any thing like the true effect of an ice berg. In a
picture they are huge, uncouth masses, stuck in the sea; while their chief beauty and grandeur--their slow stately motion, the whirling of the snow about their summits, and the fearful crackling of their parts--they cannot give. The ice of the bergs is compact and solid, or of a fine green tint verging to blue; and large pieces may be frequently obtained, equal to the most beautiful crystal in transparency. It is stated by Scoresby, that with a portion of this ice, of by no means regular convexity, used as a burning lens, he has frequently burnt wood, fired gunpowder, melted lead, and lit the sailors' pipes, to their no small astonishment, the ice itself remaining in the mean while perfectly fixed and pellucid. MASSACRE OF THE CREW OF THE ATAHUALPA. The Atahualpa, of Boston, left that port in August, 1803, bound to the north-west coast of America, for the purpose of trading with the natives. She arrived on the coast in the month of January, 1804; and, after visiting the several islands, and purchasing skins, on the 5th of June, 1805, weighed anchor from Chockokee, on the north-west coast, and made sail. On the 8th, arrived at Millbank sound, and came to an anchor within musket-shot of the village. Soon after her arrival, the chief of the Indians, by the name of Keite, came off to the ship, with some of his tribe, and informed the captain that the Caroline, Captain Sturgess, had sailed from thence ten days before. |
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