•1278 DIRECTIONS FOI! TOUKISTS. 



.<lesci-il)e(l as iai sui-passing any itruviously laid. It is claiiiieil 

 for this new cable that it will ])ossess twice the capacity ot any 

 .existing cable, its couductor being 1200 lbs. per mile ; tlie ave- 

 rage uf other caliles being less than half this weight. The pre- 

 sent cables at Heart's Content, — four in number — tiansniit about 

 twenty woi-ds per minute in each direction, on the duplex 

 principle, or forty in all. Tlie new cable is expected to tr;ins- 

 niit 1:?0 woi'<ls ])er minute. The "Recorder" is to lie super- 

 seik'd by the " Wlieatstone Automatic " instrument, which will 

 .surpass the " Eecordcr" as far as it surpassed the now obsolete 

 " Eetlector.'" Such are the rapid strides made in ocean tele- 

 grapl;y. 



THK OFFICIAI. STAFF. 



The station at Heart's Content gives emjiloyment to between 

 ;30 and 40 persons. The conuuunity made uj) of the electricians 

 an<l ojierators, many of whom are married, constitutes a i)leasant, 

 refined society. They are ])icked men in their i)rofession, well 

 ^educated, intelligent and courteous. Superior talent is needed, 

 and the salaries ])aid are lilieral. Such compensation for the 

 lonely isolated life jiassed in this ictired s^jot is sui-ely called for. 



There is a romantic interest attaching to this spot where the 

 possiViility of wedding two hemispheres in electric bonds was 

 first demonstrated. Mr. Frederick N. Gisborne has the high 

 honour of being the originator and the first practical prime mover 

 in the great enterprise which first established telegraphic com- 

 munication between the Old AVorld and the New. But it was 

 the heroic perse\'erance, the dauntless coxxrage and indomitable 

 xMiergy of Mr. (Jyrus Field that, after thirteen loug years of effort, 

 won the final triumph in 1866, and completed the work. The 

 services rendeied to tlie cause of civilization by these two men 

 are incalculable, From that date till the present hour thought 

 lias been flying on the lightning's pinions between east and west. 

 In this secluded spot these men carry on the work, summer and 

 winter, day and night, interpreting the mystic hieroglyphics 

 .sci'awlccl on the slender strip of paper. The messages make a 



