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Page 14
A philosopher, do you say? Fie! don't call names: I am a bricklayer. I
know that such distance as human beings can climb to is but a small
matter. I see things as they are. I do not fancy that it is more
difficult to stand on a steeple than on a stool, or that it is more
difficult to hold on by a rope at one height than at another. I
observe that men and their affairs, when viewed from a steeple, are
very insignificant; but the same insight into things teaches me, when
I am among them myself, to pull off my cap and be affable. I know that
the things of earth change according to distance, but that the things
of heaven are unchangeable. And all I have got further to say is, that
I am quite sensible that although when up in the air I am a sign and a
marvel to the people below, when down among themselves I am but plain.
STEEPLE JACK.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] See article, 'A Child's Toy,' in No. 418.
FOOD OF THE ARCTIC REGIONS--FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION.
A certain class of reasoners have argued themselves into the belief
that, setting all other considerations aside, Sir John Franklin and
his companions must have necessarily perished ere now from _lack of
food_. When the four years, or so, of provisions he took out with him
for the large crews of the vessels were all consumed, how, say they,
would it be possible for so great a number of men to obtain food
sufficient to support life in those awfully desolate regions? Let us
examine the question a little.
Men in very cold climates certainly require a much larger amount of
gross animal food than in southern latitudes--varying, of course, with
their particular physical constitutions. Now, let us grant--though we
do not positively admit it--that, however the provisions taken from
England may have been economised, they have, nevertheless, all been
consumed a couple of years ago, with the exception of a small quantity
of preserved meats, vegetables, lemon-juice, &c. kept in reserve for
the sick, or as a resource in the last extremity. As to spirits, we
have the testimony of all arctic explorers, that their regular
supply and use, so far from being beneficial, is directly the
reverse--weakening the constitution, and predisposing it to scurvy and
other diseases; and that, consequently, spirits should not be given at
all, except on extraordinary occasions, or as a medicine. Sir John
Ross, in his search of the North-West Passage in 1829, and following
years, early stopped the issue of spirits to his men, and with a most
beneficial result. Therefore, the entire consumption of the stock of
spirits on board Sir John Franklin's ships must not be regarded as a
deficiency of any serious moment.
We shall then presume, that for upwards of two years the adventurers
have been wholly dependent on wild animals, birds, and fish for their
support. Here it becomes an essential element of consideration to form
some approximate idea of the particular locality in which the missing
expedition is probably frozen. Captain Penny tracked it up Wellington
Strait and thence into Victoria Channel--a newly-discovered lake or
sea of unknown extent, which reaches, for anything that can be
demonstrated to the contrary, to the pole. It has long been noticed,
that the mere latitude in the arctic regions is far from being a
certain indication of the degree of cold which might naturally be
expected from a nearer approach to the pole. For instance, cold is
more intense in some parts of latitude 60 degrees than in 70 or 77
degrees; but this varies very much in different districts of the
coast, and in different seasons; and we may remark in passing, that
whenever there is a particularly mild winter in Britain, it is the
reverse in the arctic regions; and so _vice vers�_. The astonishment
of Captain Penny on discovering the new polar sea in question was
heightened by the fact, that it possessed a much warmer climate than
more southern latitudes, and that it swarmed with fish, while its
shores were enlivened with animals and flocks of birds. Moreover,
_trees_ were actually floating about: how they got there, and whence
they came, is a mysterious and deeply-interesting problem. Somewhere
in this sea Sir John Franklin's ships are undoubtedly at this moment.
We say the ships are; for we do not for one moment believe that they
have been sunk or annihilated. It is not very likely that any icebergs
of great magnitude would be tossing about this inland sea in the
summer season--in winter its waters would be frozen--and in navigating
it, the ships would, under their experienced and judicious commander,
pursue their unknown way with extreme caution and prudence. It is more
probable that they were at length fast frozen up in some inlet, or
that small floating fields of ice have conglomerated around them, and
bound them in icy fetters to the mainland. Or it may be that Franklin
sailed slowly along this mystic polar sea, until he reached its
extremity and could get no farther; and that extremity would actually
seem to be towards the Siberian coasts. One thing is quite
certain--namely, that so far as Captain Penny's people were able to
penetrate the channel--several hundred miles--there was no indication
whatever that up to that point Franklin had met with any serious
calamity, or that he had suffered from a fatal deficiency of the
necessaries of life.
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