Icebergs. Escape of Costa. est danger being that of dividing the mass when striking into it the anchor, and thus causing fragments to fall upon the ship, and overwhelm her with their resistless weight. Dr. Kane mentions the following instance in illustration: "A brawny seaman named Costa was in the act of driving the anchor by main force into the solid ice, when, with a roar like near thunder, a crack ran across the berg and almost at the same instant a segment, like that of a ship, was severed from the rest. One man remained oscillating on the principal mass, a second escaped by seizing the chain-shrouds of the bowsprit; but poor Costa, anchor and all, disappeared in the chasm. By a merciful Providence the sunken fragment had broken off so clearly that when it rose, it scraped against the fractured surface, and brought up its living freight along with it. Caught by the captain, the affrighted man was brought safe on board-a warning against making too free use of ice for anchorage." The ordinary peril is that of running against the mass in the night, or in a fog, which was probably the case with the steamers City of Glasgow and the President. For more than eighty miles we ran upon the edge of ice-fields stretching to an immeasurable distance northward, thus thwarting our commander in his plan of a passage around the north of Ireland. We were not beyond the bergs when night set in, moonless and suggestive of peril to ship and life. Our only hope was in an everwatchful Providence, subordinate to which was the confidence felt in our officers, favored by a smooth sea and a quiet air. The dangers of that night we understood not at the time, and never shall, for we know not how near we approached these frozen mountains; a collision with the small Second Sabbath. St. George's Channel. est of which would have anticipated the after-fate of our noble steamer which with more than two hundred voyagers now lies entombed among the sands of New-Foundland! Our second Sabbath out was passed with far more satisfaction and profit than the former; more than two hundred persons being assembled in the saloon, who listened to an instructive and appropriate discourse from Dr. Stearns, an evening service being held in the same place conducted by Rev. Mr. Dix, of the Episcopal Church. It is questioned whether in any sanctuary on land there was more thoughtful attention given to the exhibition of sacred truth and more devout engagedness in prayer and praise than among the passengers of the Arctic on that holy day. Thoughts went upward to Him who "stills the raging of the sea," to parents and kinspeople in the land of our home, some of whom we were destined never again to meet on earth, while from many a heart arose the fervent prayer that the ocean of life safely traversed, we, with them, might reach in safety the port of celestial rest and peace. On Tuesday night we retired to repose with the western coast of Ireland dimly painted on the horizon, and arose at early dawn to find ourselves doubling Cape Clear, and entering St. George's Channel. The raging storm at departure had been followed by a clear sky, calm sea, and balmy air,—hardly a swell disturbing the surface of the ocean during the past nine days. Rapid was our movement northward, with lofty ranges of hills, cultivated fields, village church spires, safety-inspiring lighthouses, and picturesque dwellings on our right, till the setting sun saw us entering the river Mersey under skillful pilotage, saluting the battery, and at the same time sending to mast-head our national ensign. Arrival at Liverpool. Going ashore in a steam-tug, and leaving trunks and bags to undergo the scrutiny of Custom House officials, we made our way to the Grecian Hotel, when tea and toast over, we retired to our rooms to pass our first night upon the soil of time-honored and world-famed Old England! CHAPTER III. Custom House-English Rail Car-Journey across the Island— London. The stately homes of England! How beautiful they stand O'er all the pleasant land; The deer across the greenwood bound Through shade and sunny gleam, And the swan glides past them with the sound WHAT more unpleasant place to the traveler, especially if in a hurry or nervous, than a Custom House! To part with one's independence even for the briefest period-to put oneself in the power of another and he disposed to display to your annoyance his "little brief authority"-to be obliged to act the polite to one whose only claim upon your distant respect is the badge upon his hat or coat, is bad enough; but to place your keys at his unlimited disposal, to see him thrust his uncouth and often uncleanly hands into your trunk or bag,-pull out article after article of your neatly packed wardrobe,-break open parcels which had been bound with. all care by loved ones at home,-peer into nook and corner in search of something wherewith to illustrate his marvelous tact at detection, or add a few coins to the public treasury, and that in spite of your protestations as an honest man and Christian, that nothing contraband is contained therein, is a trial of patience very hard to bear with fitting composure! But all this falls to the traveler's lot in an ascending scale from America to Italy, though in the latter country Custom House. English Rail Car. less annoying than in France, for beyond the Mediterranean a small fee (not regarded as bribery in that region) will re lease you from the harpey's fangs, which is not the case in the Empire of Napoleon, and far less possible in honest Britain. As we had neither cigars nor reprints, (the two articles of which the English Admiralty Law takes special cognizance), our luggage was quickly passed through the Liverpool Customs, and we at the Rail Road Station, en route across the "tight little island" to the metropolis of her majesty's domain. A few words respecting the vehicle which is to bear us thither. apartments attached to the same locomotive, and differing from each other in upholstering and consequently in comfort and expense, the price increasing by thirds. The two respects, in which an American takes decided exception to European railroad cars, are, that the doors are locked, and thus there are no means of voluntary egress, and there is no medium of communication with Engineer or Conductor while under-way, there being no cord over head as with us. The morning before leaving London, my attention was directed to the following card in the Times paper: << Mr. Editor: I never travel in one of your English cars without a loaded revolver in my pocket. You put me into a car with perhaps one passenger, and the door is then locked. My companion may be a madman or a villain, and may kill me before I can get help, or escape. Self-preservation makes this precaution a duty. (Signed,) 66 AN AMERICAN." In smoothness of motion and conscious safety; in general courtesy of officials and completeness of victualizing arrange |