I p

The EDITH and LORNE PIERCE
COLLECTION of CANADIANA

Queens University at Kingston

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LECTURE ON SABLE ISLAND,

BY J. BERNARD GILPIN, B.A., M.D., M.R.C.S.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

WRECK OF THE "ARNO,"

BY JOSEPH DARBY, ESQ.

$ 1«, 6g f m $ffs${[ fatoe-

•GrW

SABLE ISLAND :

ITS PAST HISTORY, PRESENT APPEARANCE,
NATURAL HISTORY, &c, &c,

A LECTURE,

BT

J. BERNARD GILPIN, B.A., M.D., M.R.C.S.

Also,

1 DESCRIPTION OF THE SHIPWRECK OF THE AMERICAN SCHOONER
ARNO, LOST ON THE ISLAND SEPTEMBER 19, 184G.

BT

JOSEPH DARBY, Esq.,

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE ISLAND.

$ $0M on t\t same Stafcjtrt,

BT

THE HONORABLE JOSEPH HOWE, M.P.P.
All Delivered before the Athen«ttta Society, February, 1858,

HALIFAX :

rsINTED AT TnE WE8LETAN CONFERENCE STEAM rBBSe,

18 5 8.

SABLE ISLAND,

% f Ktac.

.-

A romantic interest has always invested the subject of
this evening's lecture, — Sable Island. Its position, jutting
far out into the Western Atlantic, — its wind-swept desolate
gand-hills, — its perpetual fringe of everlasting surf, — with its
md story of many a drowned man or sea-wrecked ship, min-
gled with ghostly fable or truer tale of murderous plunder, —
are full warrant for the deepest interest. Let the interest of

the story, then, bespeak your attention for an hour, whilst I
endeavour to give, — I. Its Early History ; II. Its Present
Appearance ; III. Its Natural History : being a description
■ of the various quadrupeds, birds and fish found about it, with
^ the vegetable productions affording them food; IY. Some
Interesting Particulars of Ancient Shipwrecks and their Relics ;
and to conclude with a General Summary of the whole.

I. Its Early History. — We read in those wondrous
stories of Northern adventure which the Sagas of Iceland have
handed down from the 9th century, that the bold Biom Heri-
afson, after making the coast of Newfoundland and sailing
towards the setting Sun, came upon a sandy land, which, from
its position, must have been Sable Island. In his meagre
chart of a new world its sands have but scant mention ; but
it must have been that this hardy Dane from the undecked
poop of his miserable shallop was the first European that
nighted this terror of all future navigators That when

ti

the rest of the world scarce dared to creep out of sight of
land, these bold men, without compass, or chart, or reckoning,
looking only to the stars, ventured the great Atlantic, and in
undecked vessels wrote records that have survived them a
thousand years, is perhaps a greater triumph in nautical
adventure than the huge Leviathan of the 19th century.

Our next mention of the Island is connected with Sir Hum-
phrey Gilbert. This pious and accomplished gallant of the
court of the virgin Queen Elizabeth, and a half-brother to Sir
Walter Raleigh, hearing when in Newfoundland of cattle being
on the island, sailed thither to victual. Confused in a thick
fog, and pressed by a south-east storm, he lost his second in
command on the North-east Bar, and barely escaped with his
remaining two vessels, soon after to founder himself in a terri-
ble gale on the Great Banks. His sole remaining consort
carried home the unwelcome news that the heroic Admiral
hailed them during the raging storm, " That heaven was as
near by sea as by land," and shortly, standing at the helm,
sorely wounded in his foot, and Bible in hand, went down.

By the kindness of my friend, Thos. B. Akins, Esq., I am
enabled to quote a graphic description of this untoward event,
clothed in that quaint piety and racy style so peculiar to the
time: — " Sabla lieth to the sea-ward of Cape Britton," (I
quote from a black-letter edition of Hackluyt's Voyages 1583,
taken from the above gentleman's library) "about 45 leagues,
whither we were determined to go upon intelligence we had
of a Portingall, during our abode in St. John's, who was
himself present when the Portingals about 30 years past did
put into the same island both neat and swine to breed, which
were since exceedingly multiplied. The distance between
Cape Race and Cape Britton is 100 leagues, in which navi-
gation we spent 8 days, having the wind many times indif-
ferent good, but could never attain sight of any land all that
time, seeing we were hindered by the current. At last we

fell into such flats and dangers that hardly any of us escaped,
where nevertheless we lost the Admiral with all the men and
provision, not knowing certainly the place. Yet for inducing
men of skill to make conjecture by our course and way from
Cape Kace thither, and thereby the flats and dangers may be
inserted in sea charts for warning to others, I have set down
the best reckonings that were kept by expert men, William
Coxe, master of the Hind, and John Paul, his mate, both of
Limehouse." Here follow the courses and reckonings of
each day, starting from Cape Race and ending sadly, " Here
we lost our Admiral." It is worth mention that these courses
were marked out by my friend James Daly, Esq. (whose
practical knowledge of these coasts is exceeded only by his
personal worth,) on his own chart, and that where they lost
their Admiral coincides exactly with the N. E. dry bar, — so
true, as judged by modern art, was the reckoning of these
thoughtful and ancient mariners.

I cannot forbear from quoting more from this ancient volume.
k< Contrary to the mind of the expert Master Coxe, on Wed*
nesday the 27th August they bore up towards the land, those
in the doomed ship, the Admiral, continually sounding trum-
pets and drums, whilst strange voices from the deep scared
the helmsman from his post on board the frigate. Thursday
the 28th the wind arose and blew vehemently from the south
and east, bringing withal rain and thick mist, that we could
not see a cable length before us, and betimes in the morning
we were altogether run and folded in amongst flats and sands,
amongst which we found flats and deeps every three or four
ship's length. Immediately tokens were given to the Admi-
ral to cast about to seaward, which, being the greater ship and
of burden 120 tons, was performost upon the beach, keeping
so ill watch that they knew not the danger before they felt
the same too late to recover it, for presently the Admiral
struck a-ground, and had soon after her stern and hinder

6

parts beaten in pieces. The remaining two ships escaped by
casting about east-south-east, bearing to the south for their
lives even into the wind's-eye, sounding one while seven
fathoms, then five, then four fathoms and less — again deeper,
then immediately four, then three fathoms — the sea going
mightily and high," — as accurate a description of beating over
the N. E. Bar as if it was done yesterday.

Here perished to the number of almost one hundred souls,
among whom was drowned a learned man, an Hungarian,
born in the city of Buda, called therefor Budceus, who, for
piety and zeal for good attempts, adventured in this action ;
minding to record in the Latin tongue the things worthy of
remembrance, to the honor of our nation, the same being
adorned with the eloquent style of this orator and rare poet
of our time. Here also perished our Saxon refiner and dis-
coverer of inestimable riches ; and no less heavy was the loss
of Captain Bichard Brown, a virtuous, honest and discreet
gentleman, and never unprepared for death, as by his last act
of this tragedy appeared. Befusing to leave his ship "he
mounted upon the highest deck, where he attended imminent
death and unavoidable, how long I leave to God, who with-
drawed not His comfort from His servants at such times."

Twelve men escaped in a boat from this disastrous scene to
the Nova Scotia shores, and were carried by some Frenchmen
to England. Thus our first acquaintance with the Island is a
holocaust of one hundred strong men to this insatiable shoal,
with whom went down the man of science, the man of letters
and most rare poet of our time — the man of honor daring
death, rather than desert his shattered post, and all told with
that racy style that only an eye-witness can use, and with an
unaffected strain of old fashioned piety which comes back to
us men of the 19th century like the flavor of some rare old
wine.

Fifteen years later, in 1598, another tragedy was done on

this Island. The Marquis De la Roche landed forty French
convicts there and left them to their fate. Seven long years
afterwards, brought back to France by royal command, the
twelve survivers, clad in seal skins, with haggard faces and
shaggy beards, told their piteous tale to the great King-
Henry, surrounded by his splendid court, of their dreadful
exposure till a French wreck afforded them some timber for
shelter, of a few sheep soon eaten, and of their conflicts with
the huge seals and sea lions, whose skins their only covering,
whose flesh their only food, and whose savageness their well
scarred limbs amply proved. A free pardon and fifty golden
crowns apiece attested the depth of the Royal interest. — Nor
is the moral wanting in this quaint tale of adventure and
crime, for all must be pleased to learn that these galley slaves
of France accepted the terrible expiation of their crime in a
right sense, and, enriched both by the Royal bounty and their
hard won experience, returned to the scene of their suffering
to ply a prosperous trade in fur.

Afterward the Island is frequently mentioned as being the
resort of fishermen, and in the year 1635 eight hundred
head of cattle roamed its hills, and it abounded in black foxes
and seals. About one hundred years later an American
clergyman, Mr. LeMercier, put cattle upon the Island and
intended to remove his family there, but disagreeing with
Government about the terms, his project fell through. From
that date till the beginning of the nineteenth century, but
little more is known. The increasing commerce added to the
frequency of wrecks, and it seems to have become the abode
of men of infamous character and desperate fortunes. Arti-
cles of rare and foreign workmanship, from time to time were
exhibited as coming from there, and stories of murder and
piracy got whispered about. Several wrecks perishing with
all hands, and the Princess Amelia Transport following in
quick succession, induced the Government of that day to issue

8

a commission to visit the Island, and to concert measures to
settle some families upon it. It is said that children, as well
is the dead, bore testimony to the urgent need for such a step.
The infant children of the wreckers, on seeing those sent to
investigate the Princess Amelia wreck pull out a watch, gave
unmistakable signs that a lady had come ashore with one of
those tickers ab&ut her neck. This watch was never seen ;
and one taking refuge in a solitary hut during a rough night
either saw or fancied he saw the shadowy form of its owner
pacing the wild beach, and passing through doors, where doors
there were none.

The historian of Nova Scotia has seized upon these inci-
dents as the foundation of a ghost story, to which is added a
foot note with the names of the parties, who must have been
known to parties still alive in this city — Mrs. Copeland and
Lieut. Torrens. Many and many a winter's storm has
swept the sand over the hut where the pale lady with her
bloody fingers walked, but tradition still marks the spot,
and Smoky Hut Gang is the name of a herd of wild ponies
who toss their savage manes and crop the wild beach grass
now mantling the pale ghost's walk. For this story I refer
you to Mr. Haliburton's book entitled, "Wise saws and
Modern Instances."

The shadows of half a century have already darkened the
tale, yet these facts remain. He who told it never recurred to
it voluntarily, and was a man of the world and of high reck-
less spirit, and an antique family ring was obtained in a shop
in Water Street, and returned, not to the poor lady's severed
finger, but to her friends at home. Suffice it to say the wreck-
ers were deported from the Island, and the first humane estab-
lishment formed about the year 1802 ; and this brings us to
the second part of our lecture, — its present appearance.

Should any one be visiting the Island now, he might see
about ten miles distance, looking seaward, half a dozen low

3

dark hummocks on the horrizon. As ho approaches they
gradually resolve themselves into hills fringed by breakers,
and by and by the white sea beach with its continued surf —
the sand hills part naked, part waving in grass of the deepest
green, unfold themselves, — a house and a barn dot the West-
ern extremity — here and there along the wild beach lie the
ribs of unlucky traders half buried in the shifting sand. By
this time a Red Ensign is waving at his peak, and from a, tall
flag-staff and crow's nest erected upon the highest hill mid-
way of the Island, an answering flag is waving to the wind-
Before the anchor is let go, and the cutter is rounding to in
five fathoms of water, men and horses begin to dot the beach,
a life-boat is drawn rapidly on a boat cart to the beach, man-
ned, and fairly breasting the breakers upon the bar. It may
have been three long winter's months that this boat's crew
have had no tidings of the world, or they may have three
hundred emigrants and wrecked crews, waiting to be carried
off. The hurried greetings over, news told and newpapers
and letters given, the visitor prepares to return with them to
the Island. Should it be evening he will see the cutter
already under weigh and standing seaward, but should it be
fine weather, plenty of day, and wind right off the shore,
even then she lies to the wind anchor apeak, and mainsail
hoisted, ready to run at a moment's notice, so sudden are the
shifts of wind, and so hard to claw off from those treacherous
shores. But the life boat is now entering the perpetual fringe
of surf, — a few seals tumble and play in the broken waters,
and the stranger draws his breath hard, as the crew bend
to their oars, the helmsman standing high in the pointed
stern with loud command and powerful arm keeping her true,
the great boat goes riding on the back of a huge wave and is
carried high up on the beach in a mass of struggling water.
To spring from their seats into the water, and hold hard the
boat, now on the point of being swept back by the receding

nave, is the work of an instant. Another moment the) are
U-t't bigfa and dry on ihe beach, another, and the returning
wave and a vigorous run of the crew h:is borne her out of all
barm's way.

Such is the ceremony of landing at Sable Island nine or
ten months out of the year : though there are at times some
sweet halcyon day when a lad might land in a flat. Dry-
shod the visitor picks his way between the thoroughly drench-
ed crew, picks up a huge scallop or two. admires the tumbling
play of the round headed seals, and plods his way through
the deep sand of an opening between the hills, or gulch (so
ealled) to the Head-quarters establishment. — And here, for
the last fifty years, a kind welcome has awaited all, be they
voluntary idlers or sea-wrecked men. Skreened by the sand
hills, here is a well stocked barn and barn yard, filled with its
ordinary inhabitants, sleek milch cows and heady bulls, lazy
swine, a horse grazing at a tether, with geese and ducks and
fowls around. Two or three large stores and boat houses,
quarters for the men, the Superintendant's house, blacksmith
shop, sailor's home, for sea-wrecked men, and oil house, stand
around an irregular square, and surmounted by the tall flag-
staff and crow's nest on the neighbouring hill. So abrupt the
contrast, so snug the scene, if the roar of the ocean were out
of his ears, one might fancy himself twenty miles inland.

Nearly the first thing the visitor does is to mount the flag-
staff, and climbing into the crow's nest scan the scene. The
ocean bounds him everywhere. Spread East and West he
views the narrow Island in form of a bow, as if the great
Atlantic waves had beat it around, no where much above a
mile wide, twenty-six miles long including the dry bars, and
holding a shallow lake thirteen miles long in its centre.

There it all lies spread like a map at his feet, — grassy hill
and sandy valley fading away into the distance. On the
foreground the outpost men galloping their rousjh ponies into

11

head-quarters, recalled by the flag flying above his head ; l»*f
West-end house of refuge, with bread and matches, firewood
and kettle, and directions to find water, and head-quarters with
flag-staff on the adjoining hill. Every sandy peak or grassy
knoll with a dead man's name or old ship's tradition — Baker's
Hill, Trott's Cove, Scotchman's Head, French Gardens —
traditionary spot where the poor convicts expiated their
social crimes — the little Burial-ground nestling in the long
grass of a high hill, and consecrated to the repose of many a
sea-tossed limb; and two or three miles down the shallow
lake, the South side house and barn, and staff and boats lying
on the lake beside the door. Nine miles further down, by
the help of a glass, he may view the flag-staff at the foot of
the lake, and five miles further the East-end look-out, with its
staff and watch-house. Herds of wild ponies dot the hills,
and black duck and shell-drakes are heading their young
broods on the mirror-like ponds. Seals innumerable are bask-
ing on the warm sands, or piled like ledges of rock along the
shores. The Glascow's bow, the Maskonemefa stern, the
East Boston's hulk, and the grinning ribs of the well-fastened
Guide are spotting the sands, each with its tale of last adven-
ture, hardships passed, and toil endured. The whole picture
is set in a silver frosted frame of rolling surf and sea-ribbed
sand.

Far different a scene awaits him in heavy weather. From
his tottering perch, rocking to the blast, he sees nothing sea-
ward but white and broken waters, and nothing inland but drift-
ing sand and mist closing in his narrow horizon of long grass,
wildly tossed on one or two wind-swept hills.

The establishment as now constituted consists of a Superin-
tendent and family at head-quarters, with a boat's-crew, cow-
herd, and teamster and cook for the men's mess ; an outpost
man and family at the South side ; another family at the foot
of the lake, nine miles distant ; and another at the Eastern

H

extremity of the Island, — all told, with women and children;
thirty-five or forty souls. Their duty is to he perpetually on
the look out for wrecks, and to render them every assistance
in saving life and property. In fine weather the look-out
men from the various stations can see the entire circuit of the
island. After storms, and during thick weather they arc
supposed to patrole the entire island once a day. Mounted
upon his hardy poney, the solitary patrole starts upon his
lonely way. He rides up the centre vallies, ever and anon
mounting a grassy hill to look sea-ward, reaches the Westrend
bar, speculates upon perchance a broken spar, an empty bottle,
or a cask of beef straggling in the land-wash, — now fords the
shallow lake, looking well for his land-range, to escape the
hole where Baker was drowned ; and coming on the breeding
ground of the countless birds, his poney's hoof with a reck-
less smash goes crunching through a dozen eggs or callow
young. He fairly puts his poney to her mettle to escape the
cloud of angry birds which, arising in countless numbers,
dent his weather-beaten tarpaulin with their sharp bills, and
snap his poney's ears, and confuse him with their sharp shrill
cries. Ten minutes more, and he is holding hard to count
the seals. There they lie, old ocean flocks, resting their
wave-tossed limbs, — great ocean bulls, and cows, and calves.
He marks them all. The wary old male turns his broad
moustached nostrils to the tainted gale of man and horse
sweeping down upon them, and the whole herd are simultan-
eously lumbering a retreat. And now he goes, plying his
little short whip, charging the whole herd to cut off their
retreat for the pleasure and fun of galloping in and over and
amongst fifty great bodies, rolling and tumbling and tossing,
and splashing the surf in their awkward endeavours to escape.
Let no man envy his fun, bred of well-fed man and high-
conditioned nag ; many and many a bitter ride amply atones
for it. His well-practised eye now discerns in the spot on the

Ill

13

on the horizon the South-side patrole advancing. The two
solitary figures draw bit, chat a while, and slowly tura tail
homewards, and an hour afterwards he makes his report : 'An
empty bottle — old spar covered with barnacles — 20 head of
seal — met Solomon on the South side" — (generally received
by the worthy Superintendent with the usual grumble, "When
he first came on" the Island he did not know a horse, and now
he rides as if they were steam-engines. I did not expect him
for an hour. He shan't have old Smiler again in a hurry.")
Perchance at this very moment the look-out man at the East
end is straining his very eyes to pierce the thick fog of the
N. E. Bar, stretching away with its high narrow back, brist-
ling with ancient wrecks for five miles sea-ward, the sea break-
ing across it, forming little ponds in the centre with their
miniature rivulets rolling back into the ocean. As the blasts
come down from the broad Atlantic he scarce keeps his saddle
or the poney her feet on the drifting sand and plashing pools.
Perchance a gun comes down heavily from windward or the
rack lifts, and he sees the high black hull and flapping sails
of some mistaken trader grinding on the outer bar. An hour
or so afterward the look out at head quarters descries a boy
at the top of speed galloping along the sandy ridge of the
nearest hill. Before he has dismounted from his blown pony
to hand his report, " a wreck ! a wreck !" resounds all around,
up goes the flag, the horse, always in stall or feeding at tether,
is mounted, and the working horses driven in boats mounted
in their carts, and all in eager haste seek the scene. Here
is work for man and horse for a month, — to rescue the crew,
strip the wreck, land and store the cargo, and haul it for re-
shipment will cost many an hour of toil.

The ordinary work of the Island is to cut and haul firewood,
cure hay for the stock, to repair or rebuild the main buildings,
attend to the monthly visits of the cutter, and land supplies ;
and to gather in the season the annual crop of cranberries,

14

At either extremity of the Island arc houses of refuge,
where shelter and tire-wood, match-box and bread, and direc-
tions to find water and houses are always awaiting the sea-
wrecked man. Again and again have they sought this refuge,
and on the nun-row with renewed hearts found that assistance
which but for it would have been of no avail.

The boats built upon the Island have always been admired
for their fine beam, great floor, and picturesque high stem
and stern, and have weathered many rolling seas ; but, owing
to the philanthropic Miss Dix, who visited the Island in per-
son, they have now at the three stations a life-boat with all
the lines and proper appurtenances which the most modern skill
has added to those praiseworthy inventions. The worthy lady,
who left behind her the character of an intrepid horseman,
must have been amply repaid by Mr. Superintendant McKen-
na's Report, which reached her in her retreat in Switzerland,
in which he attributes the safety of several hundred souls
entirely to a Francis' Metallic Life-boat of her gift, which
boarded a ship through a sea no Island boat could stand, and
endured shocks when flung upon the beach that would have
rent in pieces any wood-built boat. Such is the life of this
little self-exiled brotherhood in the great cause of benevo-
lence ; and how worthily they have been ruled over by the
various Superintendents, who are both Notaries and Magis-
trates of the County of Halifax ; and how kindly each sea
wrecked man has been received and fostered, the many com.
plements and presents of all nations received by the Province
in their honor is the best proof. The royal gift of a silver
cup filled with golden crowns and a medal struck for the occa-
sion attested the gratitude of Louis XVIII. to the late Mr. Super-
intendent Darby for saving the crew of LeAfricane frigate, and
silver medals for the boat's crew, with a golden one for Mr. Super-
intendent McKenna, attest how the British public viewed their
exertions in rescuing the passengers and crew of the A read id.

15

We take next The Natural History of the Island. Fur
various reasons this narrow strip of sand, guarded by ever-
rollino; surf, has been a favourite resort for various of the
animal kingdom. Formerly the walrus, or sea lion, repaired
to it in numbers. We read of as many as three hundred
pairs of teeth collected. They have long ago all disappeared,
yet even now the waves wash out from the sand the massive
skull and long teeth of some old frequenter of the bars.

It is said, black foxes once abounded upon the Island, and
so many accounts concurring we must credit it. It is difficult
to imagine how they lived in winter, but when we consider
that iii the various changes wrought by time or circumstances,
horses, the natives of sultry Arabia, and rabbits from sunny
Spain have taken their places, we may well make some allow-
ance for the change of food in two hundred years.

During January the great Greenland seal (Pkoca Bar-
bat a) leaves his frozen seas and seeks the more genial tem-
perature of the N. E. Bar to rear his little ones; As early
as January their whelps are found upon the sand. If undis-
turbed, they remain till Spring ; but if molested they seek
the farther extremity of the Island and soon disappear. The
old males are frequently eight or nine hundred weight, and
readily recognized by their bristling moustache. Many are
the stories told of conflicts waged with the old ocean bulls, as
they not inaptly call them.

The common Harbour Seal (Phoca Vittulina of Godman)
is an inhabitant of the Island the whole year round. Though
sporting in the rough sea, he loves the retirement of the tran-
quil lake, and quickly avails himself of any opening by the
storms into its shallow bars. About the middle of May the
new-born whelps are found sleeping on the sand, — lumps of
helpless fat in the smoothest velvet coats, with large black
plaintive eyes. These little sea-babes do little upon land but
saarl and flap from side to side, but the moment they reach

16

the Water they dive and directly re-appear, holding hard with
their tiny flippers upon their mother's back, who goes ofT
rejoicing in her load after swimming up and down in restless
circles, whilst you tease her baby on the beach. In two or
three months they have attained to three or four feet and fifty
or sixty pounds weight, and now frequent the dry Bar, and
sleep and snore the live-long day, and are overtaken and mer-
cilessly clubbed for their skins and oil. These animals remain
the whole year about the Island, often roaming solitary, and
more frequently in herds sporting in the roughest weather
and angriest seas.

When the present breed of wild Ponies was introduced,
there is no record. In an old print seemingly a hundred
years old they are depicted as being lassoed by men in cocked
hats and antique habiliments. At present three or four hun-
dred are their utmost numbers, and it is curious to observe
how in their figures and habits they approach the wild races
of Mexico or the Ukraine. They are divided into herds or
gangs, each having a separate pasture, and each presided over
by an old male, conspicuous by the length of his mane rolling
in tangled masses over eye and ear down to his fore arm.
Half his time seems taken up in tossing it from his eyes as
lie collects his outlying mares and foals on the approach of
strangers, and keeping them well up in a pack boldly faces
the enemy whilst they retreat at a gallop. If pressed, how-
ever, he too retreats on their rear. He brooks no undivided
allegiance, and many a fierce battle is waged, by the contend-
ing chieftains for the honor of the herd. In form they resem-
ble the wild horses of all lands : the large head, thick shaggy-
neck of the male, low withers, paddling gait, and sloping
quarters, have all their counterparts in the Mustang and the
horse of the Ukraine. There seems a remarkable tendency
in these horses to assume the Isabella colours, the light chest-
nuts, and even the pie-balds or paint horses of the Indian

i?

Prairies or the Mexican Savannah. The annual drive or herd-
in<* usually resulting in the whole island being swept from end
to end, and a kicking, snorting, half-terrified mass driven into
a large pound, from which two or three dozen are selected,
•lassoed, and exported to town, affords fine sport, wild riding,
and plenty of falls.

The Brown or Norway rat has become very prolific on the
Island, as this traditionary deserter of sinking ships, doubt-
less finds many opportunities for his acute instincts.

A few of the old Black rats were seen making their escape
from the Bella Maria, Spanish brig, but were soon lost sight
of; probably devoured by their brown inveterate foes.

The Island owes the introduction of the common or Spanish
rabbit, to the Hon* Michael Wallace. He finds the loose sands
very fit for his long burrows, and rears his prolific brood and
frisks among the high grass, and affords many a fresh dinner
when salt junk is plenty and fresh beef scarce, as well as
exciting that love for sport natural to all : for I have known
sailors just landing with their lives, and hardly dry, yet unable
to resist the running down a rabbit !

They seem to be losing their spotted colors, and becoming
silver grey or black, with a white collar ; thus approximating
to the wild, grey species of New England.

It is probable all the sea duck of the American coast visit
the Island during their semi-annual flight, but the only species
I found breeding wore the Black Duck (Anas obscuro), and
the Shell Drake, (Merganser.) Both these breed in num-
bers ; the Black Duck on the grassy tufts about the ponds, and
the Shell Drake on the high sand cliffs or about old wrecks.

Ring Neck ( Charadrhts Torticollis) , and Peeps ( Tringa
minuta) were breeding in numbers, and towards the end of
May the Terns or mackerel Gulls of several species arrived
and the bars were soon covered by their eggs, and presently by
their creeping young. Their eggs were collected by the bucket

18

full, and though small were well-flavored. A little brown
Sjuirrow, (Fringilla ), also summered and

wintered there. These are the constant inhabitants. About the
year 1827 the White Owl, (Strix nictea), by Mr. Supcrin-
tendant Darby's Journal, was first seen on the Island, and,
since that period visits the Island periodically, and it is curious
to watch this powerful bird, furred and feathered for a polar
campaign, yet standing the sultry heat and blinding glare of
an August sun, as he watches by the side of a rabbit burrow :
his fondness for game being too strong for his northern instinct.
A few Hawks, a Robin or two, a wild Pidgeon Plover, and
some large, black-backed Gulls, make up the scanty list.
Shear-Waters and Mother Carey's Chickens are flung ashore in
dozens after every gale. The usual varieties of the Cod
species are found about the soundings, and the enormous shore
Mackerel, or double No. l's, are plentiful in their season. A
species of Flat Fish and Eels are found in the lake, and the
remains of monstrous Skate, destroyed by the Seal, prove its
abundance around.

I am not Conchologist enough to classify the various Shells
and Shell Fish. The large Scallop, beach Clam, and Razor-
shells thrown up after storms, are the most striking varieties.
Lobsters and Crabs abound, and some parts of the lake are
almost floored by large and pleasant flavored, clams.

A Botanist would give a scientific list of thirty or forty
varieties of shrubs and plants. Trees there are none, and the
usual shrubs are dwarft to a few inches ; a little ground juni-
per and low with-wood would not afford a riding-cane. Tall
coarse grasses cover the surface of the ground, alternating
with sandy barrens and snowy peaks of blown sand. The
wild rose, blue lily, and wild pea enamel the valleys. Straw-
berries, blueberries and cranberries are in abundance. They
are measured by bucket-fulls ; and as Autumn heats yellow

19

the luxuriant green, the tall, mallow, gay golden rods and
wild China-asters are swept by the heaving gales.

The Island, by Capt. Bayfield's Report in lat. 43° 59' N.,
Ion. 59° 45' W., at the East end by some is said to be wear-
ing away. More exactly, it is changing its form, for it is
hardly probable that an atom of sand, once heaved up from
the ocean's bed, is ever swept away. The causes that have
formed it still exist ; yet it is true that there are those still
alive who once filled a happy home where now the sea breaks
five miles from dry land. The abrupt sand-cliff rocks to a
fall from the unceasing beat of the waves at its feet till a
more than ordinary hurricane sweeps it into the lake or spreads
it into a shallow bar. By this process five or six miles have
gone at the West end, and changes the same are still going
on. The winds, too, are perpetually sweeping the naked
sand-hills into the lake, or forming fantastic cones from the
loose and shifting sand. Some fences about the houses are
covered up, others blown out of the sand.

Thus many a sad relic of ancient ship-wreck is to living
men disclosed. Old timber, carved stern ways, mixed with a
skull or an arm bone, — sad alphabet to read many an untold
tale, — intermixed with coins of gold. Mr. Miller, Inspec-
tor of Lighthouses, discovered at the West end after a hard
gale spars and canvass huts, and all the marks of an old
encampment, on which record and tradition are both silent.
The sea now breaks in five fathoms over this spot, and about
fifteen or twenty years ago at the N. E. end, called ever after
" old houses," were discovered marks of a permanent encamp-
ment,— ammunition, shoes, Gorget's arms, dog-collars, and
many bones of cattle, as if many men had there long remained.
An interesting account was published by Mr. Superintendent
Darby, and the collar, which had "43d" marked upon it,
forwarded to the head-quarters of that Regiment. Referring

20

to the records of the Regiment, it was found that the right
wing of that Regiment, returning to Halifax after the siege
of Quebec, was there wrecked, but was successfully assisted
and brought with no loss of life to town. The winds which
thus opened for a while to living man the scene and the
strange-formed relics of men long passed from among them,
soon restored them, perhaps for ever, to the Island's sandy
bosom.

Not long ago, the East>end look-out, returning from the
Bar, saw half-way up a sand-cliff whose steep side the wintry
gales were cutting, long dark lines drawn along the white
sand. Climbing to the spot, to his amazement he found
marks of a long and permanent abode. The dark lines were
a hardened surface beat by men passing in and out over ashes,
charcoal and all the usual accompaniments of a lengthy
bivouac. Strong men had here held stout battle with famine
and cold. Here lay bayonets rusting beside useless guns,—
rough bullets, moulded in the sand, — knives made of iron
hoops, — a tattered ensign, knotted perchance, or seized for its
last signal of distress ; and broken glass, sleeve buttons, and
bits of coin lay strewed with bones of cattle, of seals, and
alas ! too, of men.

I hold in my hand keys of perhaps unknown treasure,—
antique ink-horn from which the last dregs of ink may have
been drained to pen a useless tale, — 'sleeve buttons that per-
chance adorned a strong right arm, — bits of silver, valueless
coin, — shoes worn by many a fruitless step to where these
tattered rags waved long in vain for the rescue which never
came. Beside all these were rotting these bones of men.
Certainly fifty and more — probably one hundred — wintry
storms had swept thirty feet of sand over the scene of this
dismal tale. To add a name or affix a date adds really
nothing ; yet it seems incomplete without it ; so we gathered
bushels of these rusty relics, and toiled amid the loose sand,

21

till nodding from its shifting summit it threatened to engulph
us in its fall.

Trusting to that interest that men at home and at ease have
for their fellow-men in wild and perilous scenes abroad, — for
men, perchance at this moment walking the wild beach, or
stiff with frozen spray, — I have somewhat taxed your patience.
You will bear with me a little longer for a short rapid sum-
mary of the whole.

"We have found this Island, which most of you have con*
sidered a miserable strip of sand, to have attracted the North-
man's notice ; and that it had attractions to lure a gallant
from the Court of the Virgin Queen, a French Marquis, and
a New England Puritan Divine, who fancied he saw in its,
green savannahs the site of busy marts or peopled towns.
Nor would he think these summer voyagers far from wrong
who has witnessed its leap to life in genial spring, or seen
how the wild grass sprouted on its bleak hills, or the air ring-
ing with its myriads of tenants,— ^-the sandy bars speckled
with the tern's wild egg^ and every grassy cliff and sleeping-
pool thick with the wild duck brooding o'er her ivory trea-
sure or callow young. Doubtless those hardy men> escaping
seurvy-rusted from the two or three months voyage and ill-
found shallop of the time, revelled in its wavy valleys, then
as now enamelled by the rose and Wild pea-vine, gathered
the luscious strawberry fruit, and held rollic pic-nic on fresh
laid egg and juicy clam.

We have seen, too, how the victims of their mistaken cal-
culation carried the piteous story of the relentless storms to
their great king, — how the Island was then left to desperate
men who alternately dipped their hands in the blood of the
sea-lion or seal, and that of defenceless drowning men, — and
how this all has passed away, and an Establishment generous
and humane has been supported from the then scanty revenues

22

off the poorest Province on the main. Changes, too, we have
noticed in the animal life. The Morse (another name for
walrus.) and black fox have given way to the herds of wild
cattle, and the wild horse in his turn has taken the place of
the still wilder kine. Tales of sad misfortune, too, have
deepened our interest, to which there was neither wanting
rusty relic or rotting bones of unknown men.

We need not speculate on what would have been the change
if solid rock had anchored this floating island, — how, advanced
bo far seaward, it would have hung like a curb upon the whole
New England coast, and formidable batteries bristling with
cannon would have made secure retreat for king's ships,
prizes, and privateers.

Nor need we lose ourselves in vain speculations how it
would have been if held in the old World's hand. How some
old midseeval pile would have held a Governor, with barracks
for a regiment, and surgeon to cure the bodies so often risked,
and chaplain with church and bell for the souls at a moment's
warning held; or how some old grey brotherhood like the
venerated monks of St. Bernard would have held it for their
souls, doing in grey hood and cowl on the N. E bar, in penance
for their sins, what now is done in tarpaulin hat and pea-coat
for £40 a year.

I say we need not dress our story, for should any one ima-
gine that from the hurried life we live, which steam-boat, rail-
cur and telegraph both shorten and frightfully hurry incident
upon that hard man in ceaseless contention with his harder
fellow-man, has wasted all the precious oil of romance or that
its flickering flame lies dry rotted in its empty sconce, we can
assure him that there is some of the precious ointment yet,
and distant not twenty hour's sail. Let him give his poney
her stride along that desolate shore and ever-heaving wreck-
floored yeasty main ; or, if he have nerve, let him give her
her rein on the wind-swept height of Rigging Hill, with her

23

sure gallop breasting the ridge, the tall grass sweeping his
right hand pommel, whilst his left stirrup goes dangling over
the sandy precipice where the ocean roars some seventy feet
below. Now let him seek shelter where nestling beneath
these hills that advanced-guard of man the East-end look-out
has secured his low-roofed home, whose every low porch and
narrow gable is hung with carved sternway, gilt head-board,
or sea-beaten image waifs of sea-wreeked men. Here repos-
ing on sealskin-cushioned chairs before a hearth of glittering
copper torn from a ship-wrecked keel, and where billets of
old English oak, with many a tree-nailed hole, or Spanish
mahogany are flickering over carved locker and binnacle, let
linn listen to the sad stories, rare and strange medley of odd
assorted things gathered along the bar, or narrow escapes
which flow out in so pleasant accents from this self-exiled
man, — how he watched the long long night the alternate
windward and leeward guns to find no vessel in the morning ;
or how he found a ship's bell ringing its own dirge as it was
tossed in the land-wash ; or how he pulled the Frenchman
with his shattered knee through the ground-swell ; or how he
picked a Church Bible from a wreck, and then anon the
sands were spread with carved crucifix and volumes of St. Al-
phonso de Liguorio.

Thus, warmed by the flickering brands of one wreck, —
soothed by a cigar from another,— -and steeped as it were in
the briny dew of tempest-tost ship and rolling billow he is
lighted to his repose by the remnant of a holy taper made by
pious hand for some far-off shrine ; and seeing that all this
is the result of long and far-seeing benevolence, he thanks
God that man still remembers his fellow-man ; and, attended
by great ocean's roar to dream-land, there is awaiting him in
shadowy line the peopled past, — grim Vi-king and courtly
gallant, — base galley-slave or rare Permanius, in classic Latin

24

mutely eloquent, — or drenched in shadowy brine, there flits
the poet's high conception, —

"That ancient man,

The bright-eyed mariner";

or sweeping over that desolate sand, — each shifting hillock a
dead man's grave, — the pale lady seeks to fit her bloody
finger to the severed ring.

Itali of i\)t Sfrboow %xu

GO —^

BY JOSEPH DARBY, ESQ.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — Having been
invited here this evening to give some explanatory statements
of particular events that occurred on Sable Island during my
Superintendence of that Establishment, and not previously
having had sufficient notice to refresh my memory by reflect-
ing back to the occurrences as they happened, I fear that my
statements, although substantially correct in the outline, may
have lost through failure of memory a great many incidents wor-
thy of notice, and fully and legitimately connected with them.
Hoping that you will make allowance for the lapse of time
and the omissions that may have thus occurred, I will, at
the request of the President, make some comments on the
circumstances that occurred on the 19th and 20th of Septem-
ber, 1846, as in their nature they are partly mixed and
blended together.

On the 19th of September, 1846, the Government Schr.
Daring, commanded by my oldest son, came to the Island
for the purpose of conveying to Halifax the crew and mater-
ials of the wreck of the ship Detroit, lately stranded there
with her crew and passengers ; also, the crew of the schooner
Lady Echo lately stranded there. We got the Schooner
down the North side to the wreck of Detroit, about ten mile*
to the Eastward of Head-quarters, and commenced shipping
her materials, and the work went on with vigour and alacrity.
The day was moderate, with light airs of wind from the East-
o

26

ward. It was a clear and cloudless day, but it had a certain
dull and leaden appearance about it, that seemed to portend
a gathering of the elements together, as if for strife. The
sea ran high although there was no wind, and gave us a good
deal of trouble, by often filling our loaded boats in crossing
the bars, where it often broke very bad, and rolled along the
shore with a groaning, uneasy and very troubled sound.
After the sun passed the Meridian, the gloom and dulness
itemed to increase, the sea rose higher although but little
wind, and the moaning sound of the waters as they broke
along the strand seemed to give strong indications of a coming
storm. Our work proceeded successfully, notwithstanding the
difficulties we had to contend with; — the property was all
shipped, the vessel loaded and ready for sea, and at half an
hour after sunset she got under weigh, with our boat and
boat's crew to be towed up to head quarters and landed there.
The wind was now a fresh breeze from East. I got on my
horse to keep abreast of the vessel, which I did until dark.
I had ten miles to go to the landing place, I drove to that
point as fast as I could, and then rushed on to the beach to
watch the arrival of my boat. It was now very dark, with a
fresh breeze, and the sea rising very fast. The whole ocean
appeared to be in a phosphoretic blaze of light ; and the very
minute marine animalculac seemed each one to have its own
light, and to increase the natural phenomena. I soon observed
our boat coming directly towards me : I jumped off my horse,
and as I always rode with six fathoms of light line on my
horse's neck, one end I fastened there, and the other end I
tied to my leg. I was then able to assist my people in the
boat without loosing my horse, as she filled and turned over
just as she got within my reach. The people reported that
the schooner hauled off to sea the moment that the boat left
her. We hauled up and secured our boat for an approaching
gale, then went to the house, changed our wet clothes, got

27

supper, and set a watch. At midnight the watch reported
heavy gale of wind from E.N.E. j at four o'clock the morn-
ing of the 20th, a most terrific gale of wind with rain from
the N.E. ; and at daylight the gale to be still increasing, and
the wind veering to the N.N.E. All hands out. The hull
of the schooner Lady Echo, that had been wrecked near the
landing, could be seen from the look-out house to be floating
and knocking about on the beach, and we had to crawl on our
hands and knees across the Island to where her cargo of bar-
rels of mackerel was piled up, — the wind being so violent we
could not proceed against it in an upright position. We found
the cargo in danger of being smashed to pieces by the sea,
and we commenced parbuckling it up the bank to a place of
comparative safety, and were so occupied until about noon ;
and it was this circumstance that brought us all out there in
that terrific gale, as if Providence directed that we should all
be out and all together so as to be the better prepared for
what was going to follow. All of a sudden, we saw an object
off the North side dead to windward which we first thought
was a large bird, but shortly after discovered that it was a
sail distant five or six miles, and that she was running down
right before this tremendous gale dead on a lee-shore. We
could work no more at the barrels. Our eyes were strained
in the direction of the object that appeared to be running to
inevitable destruction. My first impression was that it was
the schooner Daring which had left the Island the evening
before, and that they had met with some disaster so as to
disable the vessel in the gale, and were going to run her on
shore before night to save their lives.

We could now see that she was a schooner with a close-
reefed mainsail set, steering directly for our flag-staff. I was
convinced that it was my son, who with two of his sisters on
board, and a great number of other passengers, were taking
this method to preserve their lives. I fell on my knees and

28

played most earnestly and devoutly to the Almighty to have
mercy on them, as I did not doubt but they were praying too.
and that to a God who they were taught to believe was a
hearer of prayer. The sea was breaking everywhere off the
North side as far as the eye could see, and it appeared almost
incredible that any vessel could live to come so great a dis-
tance through such mountains of broken water. I got a rope
prepared, to assist in preserving the people's lives should the
vessel be able to reach the beach through the roaring and
boiling mountains of water that surrounded her. When she
approached within three miles of the land she appeared to be
in the heaviest breakers, and we could plainly perceive moun-
tain waves on each side of her that would raise their curled
heads as high as the tops of her masts and pitch over and fall
with the weight of hundreds of tons, either of which would
have been sufficient to have smashed that frail bark to atoms ;
but, miraculous as it may appear, not one of them touched
her. No — that heaven-favored vessel was under the protec-
tion of an Omnipotent God, and guided by a Master-hand,
and neither winds nor waves were permitted to destroy the
souls on board. At one moment you could just perceive the
heads of her masts between the mountains of waters that were
smashing and breaking to pieces all around, but not permitted
to hurt her ; at the next moment you would see her on the
top of a tremendous wave which appeared like certain destruc-
tion to her ; at another, you would see a mountainous sea
rising up before her and breaking all to fragments in her
path, but when she arrived at the spot the surface was smooth
as glass. When she arrived within one mile of the shore she
had to pass over what we call the Outer Bar, where every
*ea broke from the bottom, and our greatest anxiety for the
safety of the vessel was at this point. The sea was there
breaking with tremendous violence, but that heaven-favored
bark passed through untouched, — the sea became smooth

29

before her, and she loft a shining track behind. Now, here
was the miracle. I looked on this with wonder, awe and
admiration, and not without hope. When she approached
a little nearer, I could see one man lashed at the helm
and two men forward lashed by each of the fore-shrouds, and
by each man a large cask standing on end. We could also
see that the two men Were making great exertions with
their arms, as if throwing something up in the wind. The
vessel had now passed the most dangerous place, and her
safety seemed certain, — I could breathe much freer than [
had done for some minutes. Another half-mile brought her
to the beach, and her bow struck the sand. From this spot
to the high bank was about fifty or sixty yards over a fiat
beach, which was always dry except in heavy gales, but was
now covered over with water. A number of heavy seas
would roll together over the beach, and then recede, leaving
it dry. Over this space myself and the men were extended
with a rope leading from the bank down to the vessel's bow,
on which we held to keep the sea from washing us away ;
and when the great body of water receded, we could approach
as near as the jib-boom end, from which, one by one. the
crew lowered themselves by a rope into our arms, and we
passed them in safety to the bank. They were all entire
strangers. The captain was a praying man, and indeed a
clever man ; his first act after getting on shore was to go aside
with me and return thanks to his Maker for their miraculous
preservation.

He then told me his story. The Schooner was the Arno,
Oapt, Higgins, with twelve men, from the Quero Bank,
where they had been fishing. They left the Bank at the
commencement of the gale. He had lost all his head sails
when at daylight this morning he made the land dead under
his lee, with the gale blowing right on shore. The vessel
having no head-sail, he could do nothing with her on a wind.

• 30

He let go his anchor in twenty fathoms of water, payed out
three hundred fathoms of hemp cable, and brought the vessel
head to wind. In that tremendous sea he held on until noon,
when, seeing no prospect of the gale abating, he cut his -cable
and put the vessel before the wind, preferring to run her
on shore before night to riding there and foundering at her
anchor. He lashed himself to the helm, sent all his men
below but two, and nailed up the cabin-doors. He had two
large casks placed near the fore-shrouds and lashed there.
He then directed his two best men to station themselves there
and lash themselves firmly to the casks, which were partly
filled with blubber and oil from the fish. They had each a
wooden ladle of about two feet long, and with those ladles
they dipped up the blubber and oil and threw it up in the air
as high as they could. The great violence of the wind carried
it far to leeward, and, spreading over the water, made its sur
face smooth before her and left a shining path behind ; and
although the sea would rise very high, yet the top of it was
smooth, and never broke where the oil was. It was raging,
pitching and breaking close to her on each side, but not a
barrel of water fell upon her deck the whole distance. The
vessel was so old and tender that she went all to pieces in a
very short time after the crew, with their clothing and pro-
visions, were saved.

Thus was preserved in a most miraculous manner this crew
of good men ; and although the finger of God was seen and
felt in this circumstance, yet it was brought about by natural
means. I had often heard of oil smoothing the face of turbid
waters, but I could hardly have believed that under the pre-
sent circumstances, — even had I known that the oil was used
as the means to produce such an effect, — that it would have
been possible to subdue and smoothen so very rough and
boisterous a surface.

S-A.B3L.E ISH, .A. INT ID

& $aem.

BY THE HONORABLE JOSEPH HOWE.

Dark Isle of mourning ! — aptly art thou named,

For thou hast been the cause of many a tear ;
For deeds of treacherous strife too justly famed,
The Atlantic's charnel — desolate and drear ;
A thing none love, though wand'ring thousands fear,-
If for a moment rests the Muse's wing
Where through the waves thy sandy wastes appear,
'Tis that she may one strain of horror sing,
Wild as the dashing waves that tempests o'er thee fling.

The winds have been thy minstrels — the rent shrouds

Of hapless barks, twanging at dead of night,
Thy favorite harp-strings — the 6hriek of crowds,
Clinging around them fiercely in their fright,
The song in which thou long hast had delight,
Dark child of ocean, at thy feasts of blood ;
When mangled forms, shown by heaven's lurid light,
Rose to thy lip upon the swelling flood,
While Death, with horrid front, beside thee smiling stood.

Aa lurks the hungry tiger for his prey,

Low crouch'd to earth, with well-dissembled mien,
Peace in his eye — the savage wish to slay
Rankling around his heart — so thou art seen
Stretch'd harmlessly on oeean's breast of green,
When winds are hush'd, and sleeps the placid wave
Beneath the evening ray, whose glittering sheen
Gilds the soft swells thy arid folds that lave,
Unconscious that they cling around a yawning grave.

The fascination of the syren's song,

The shadow of the fatal Upas-tree ;
The serpent's eye that lures the bird along
To certain doom, — less deadly are than thee,
Even in thy hours of calm serenity,
When on thy sands the lazy seals repose,
And steeds, unbridled, sporting carelessly,
Crop the rank grass that on thy bosom grows,
While round the timid hare lus glance of caution throws.

But when thy aspect changes, — when the storm

Sweeps o'er the wide Atlantic's heaving breast ;
When, hurrying on in many a giant form,

The broken waters by the winds are pressed, —
Roaring like fiends of hell which know no rest.
And guided by the lightning's fitful flash ;
Who dares look on thee then, in terror drest,
As on thy length'ning beach the billows dash,
Shaking the heavens themselves with one long deafening crash

The winds are but thy blood-hounds, that do force

The prey into thy toils, — the insidious stream,
That steadily pursues its noiseless course,
Warmed by the glow of many a tropic beam,
To seas where northern blasts more rudely scream,
Is thy perpetual Almoner ; and brings
All that to man doth rich and lovely seem, —
Earth's glorious gifts — its fair and holy things,
And round thy dreary shores its spoil profusely flings.

u

The stateliest stems the Northern forest yield*,
The richest produce of each Southern shore,
The gather'd harvests of a thousand fields,
Earn'd by man's sweat or paid for by his gore, —
The splendid robes the cavern'd monsters wore,
The gold that sparkled in Potosi's mine,
The perfumed spice the Eastern Islands bore,
The gems whose rays like morning's sunbeams shine, —
All, all — insatiate Isle — these treasures all are thine.

But what are these, compared with the rich spoil*
Of human hearts with fond affections stored, —
Of manly forms o'crtaken by thy toils, —

Of glorious spirits, 'mid thy sands outpoured.
Thousands who 've braved war's desolating sword,
Who 've walked through earth's worst perils undismayed,
Now swell the treasures of thy ample hoard, —
Deep in thy vaults their whit'ning bones are laid,
While many a burning tear is to their mem'ries paid.

And oft, as though you sought to mock man's eye,

Thy shifting sands their treasured spoils disclose ;
Then may we some long-missing wreck descry, —
Some broken mast, that once so proudly rose
Above the peopled deck, — some toy, that shows
The fate of her upon whose breast it hung,
But who now sleeps in undisturbed repose,
Where by the waves her beauteous form was flung, —
May peace be with her manes, the lovely and the young !

Why does the Father, at the dawn of day,

Fly from his feverish couch and horrid dreams.
And up the mountain-side pursue his way,
And turn to gaze upon the sea, which seems
Blent with the heavens, until the gorgeous beams
Of the bright sun each cloud and wave reveal ?
Whence comes the tear that o'er that pale cheek streams,
As, tired with gazing, to the earth he kneels,
And pours in prayer to God the anguish that he feels ?

34

Why docs the matron heave that constant sigh %

Why docs she start at every distant sound fi
Ilcr cheerful fire is blazing 'ncath her eye, —
Her fair and happy children sporting round,
Appealing to her heart at every bound, —
'While on her lap one rose-lipped babe reclines,
And looks into her face with joy profound ;
Bnt yet the mother secretly repines,
And through a tearful eye her spirit dimly shines.

Why does the Maiden shun the giddy throng,

And find no pleasure in the festive hour ?
Strange that the mazy dance and choral song

O'er one so young should hold no spell of power I
Why droops her head, as in her fairy bower
Her lute is only tuned to sorrow's strain !
Is there no magic in the perfumed flower,
To lure her thoughts from off the bounding main >
Oh ! when shall joy return to that pure breast again T

Canst thou not read these riddles, gloomy Isle !
Say, when shall that old man behold his boy I
When shall a father's voice, a father's smile,
Wake in that mother's heart the throb of joy ?
When shall glad thoughts that maiden's hours cmploy
Whcn shall her lover spring to her embrace 1
— 'Ask of the winds, accustomed to destroy,—
Ask of the waves, which know their resting-place, —
And they in my deep caves their early graves may trace.'

farewell, dark Isle ! The muse must spread her wing

To seek for brighter themes in scenes more fair ;
Too happy if the strain she strove to sing
Shall warn the sailor of thy deadly snare.
Oh ! would the gods but hear her fervent prayer,
The fate of famed Atlantis should be thine, —
No longer crouching in thy dangerous lair,
But sunk far down beneath the 'whelming brine,
Known but to History's page, or in the Poet's line.

MOLLUSCA OF SABLE ISLAND,

SO FAR AS ASCERTAINED UP TO 1858.

FROM MS. J. WILLIS, NATIONAL SCHOOL, HALIFAX.

Anomia Ephippium,
" Squamula,
Astartc Sulcata,

u Castanea,
Anatina Leana,
Buccinum Undatura,

" Trivittatum,
Crepidula Convexa,
" Eomicata,
Cardium Edule,
Coronula Balasnaris,
" Diadema,
Cyprinus Islandicus,
Cytheria Convexa,
Echinus Granulatus,
Echinarachnius Parma,
Fusus Decemcostatus,

'* Ventricosus,
Glycimeris Siliqua,
Helix Subglobosa,
Mytilus Borealis,
Modiola Americana,

" Plicatula,
Mactra Gigantea,
Mya Arenaria,
Natica Clausa,

" Heros,
Phoals Dactylus,
Pecten Magellanicus,

" Islandicus,

" Concentricus,

Eostellaria Occidentalism,
Solen Ensis,
Saxicava Rugosa,
Spirula Peronii,
" Sperellum,

Serpula ,

Venus Mercenaria.

DRIFT-SHELLS.

Ostrea Borealis,

Cardium Virgmana, W. Indies

and S. States.
Strombus Pugilis, W, Indies.
Columbella Mcrcatoria, W.

Indies.
Oliva Porphyria Panama.

CRUSTACEA.

There are three varieties of
Crab, and the common Lobster,
which often attains an immense
size ; a claw in my possession
measuring fifteen inches in
length, and five inches across
the broadest part.

Besides the above, there are a
number of minute species, as
the Shrimp, Sand-hoppers, &c,
some of which are so minute
as to be scarcely visible to the
naked eye.

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