133 THE LAST CRUISE OF THE MIRANDA. 



when brought aboard, was almost exhausted with his efforts, 

 and was badly bruised. From him we learned that the 

 schooner was called the Dora M. French, and that she hailed 

 from Bangor, Me. The captain, the steward, and two sailors 

 had gone down with the ship. 



The Portia had also suffered considerable damage. Her 

 f oretopmast was dislodged and forty feet of rail lost. A hole was 

 stove in the starboard bow just below the water-line, and the 

 forward compartment filled with water. However, the damage 

 was not serious enough to endanger her in any way. For an 

 hour or so she lay to, and then slowly steamed onward on her 

 way. Meantime her boats had been busy among the debris 

 of the schooner, but not a vestige of the crew could be 

 found. 



At last, early on the following morning of September 11, 

 we reached New York, and our remarkable trip was over. 

 Within the short space of barely two months we certainly had 

 experienced an extraordinary series of adventures. " Sweet 

 is the pleasure after pain," and it is pleasant now to look back 

 over the hardships and varied experiences that we encoun- 

 tered. Indeed, to have stood even at the outposts of the 

 great and wonderful Arctic regions is ample compensation for 

 the dangers and hardships that had been experienced. It is 

 impossible to describe the beauties and revelations of these 

 little-known regions — so different from the beaten paths of 

 the ordinary traveller, or from any common experiences — that 

 words are lacking in our vocabulary for any adequate descrip- 

 tion. Even the camera can do but scant justice ; true, in a 

 certain sense, but reducing vast expanses and towering ice- 

 bergs and glaciers and snow-capped mountains to such micro- 

 scopic proportions as to give but faint ideas of the real 

 grandeur and impressiveness of Arctic scenery. Longfellow, 

 in one of his finest ballads, tells how the noble Count Ar- 

 noldos, standing on the shore, beholds a stately galley steer- 



