American Scenery, Vol. 2 (of 2): or, Land, lake, and river illustrations of transatlantic natureWillis, Nathaniel Parker
General
American Scenery, Vol. 2 (of 2): or, Land, lake, and river illustrations of transatlantic nature
Willis, Nathaniel Parker
United States -- Description and travel
Very much the same sort of incredulity with which one reads a
traveller’s account of the deliciousness of the Russian summer comes
over him, (_malgré_ all the information to the contrary,) when it is
proposed to him to admire any thing so near the cradle of the east wind
as Penobscot River. We know, indeed, that spring visits that region of
the world—as far, at least, as the British boundary line. We could be
made, upon reflection, to presume that the grass grows, and the sun
shines there—the farmers are warm in haying-time, and the flowers come
to maturity in season for the bees to provide against winter; but, in
point of fact, when Penobscot River is mentioned, we shudder at our
remembrance of the acrid blasts that have swept over us from that
quarter, and image the scenery forth-drest in the drapery so well
described by the captain of the Penobscot whaler—a fog so thick, that
having driven his jack-knife into it on the eve of sailing for the
Pacific, he found it sticking in the same spot on his return from a
three years’ cruise.
There _is_ beautiful scenery in Maine, however; and Mr. Doughty, from
one of whose pictures the accompanying drawing was taken, made a tour in
search of it, and filled a portfolio with sketches which (the most of
them) might belong to any Tempo for their summer look. They were taken
from the neighbourhood of Desert Rock, and within view of Mount Desert,
(shown in the drawing,) though the names of their neighbours sound
unpromising.
Such spots as this are expected, like the knife-grinder, to have a story
to tell, and this, unlike the knife-grinder, answers to expectation. The
Light-house in the foreground stands upon a rock, about twelve miles
from land; and near it lies a low reef, hidden at high tides, with a
channel between it and the loftier rock. Some years before the erection
of the Light-house, a homeward-bound vessel ran upon the breakers in a
storm, and went to pieces. The storm having just commenced, and the sea
not running as yet very high, several of the crew succeeded in getting
upon the rock, where they found a partial shelter under a projecting
shelf to leeward. The storm increased in violence, and after three days
of unintermitted fury, during which they had seen no friendly sail even
in the distance, the miserable survivors, perishing with hunger,
abandoned themselves to despair. On the fourth night, they were crowded
together in their narrow place of shelter, their eyes fixed on the black
darkness covering the sea, when a vivid flash of lightning revealed to
them a large ship careering straight for the rock, and apparently in
complete ignorance of the danger. In the same instant all was black
again, and they waited in the most breathless agony for the shock. A
minute elapsed, and simultaneously, with a gleam that made the whole sea
as bright as day, the ship appeared on the crest of a mountain-wave
bounding over the reef, and with one cry from the man at the helm, as he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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