LXVII. THE ATLANTIC OCEAN AND THE TELEGRAPH. pla-teau', a table land; Hochebene. spec ́-i-men, sample; Probe. ap-pa-ra'-tus, a set of instruments; Apparat. mi-cros'-co-pist, one skilled in the use of the microscope; Mikroskopiker. by their respective government, each by its own government; sub-ma-rine', under water in the sea; unterseeisch. con-grat ́-u-la-tion, expression of joy; Beglückwünschung. pre-cis'-ion, exactness; Genauigkeit. 1. The Atlantic Ocean stretches from the Arctic Circle on the north to the Antarctic Circle on the south, a distance of 9000 miles. Its breadth varies from 1200 miles between the coasts of Greenland and Norway, to 3500 miles from the peninsula of Florida to Cape Verde, on the western coast of Africa. Humboldt compares the bed of the Atlantic to a long, deep valley, which may be said to extent from pole to pole. 2. The North Atlantic varies in depth from 6000 to 25,000 feet. The deepest part, says Lieutenant Maury, is probably between the Bermudas and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland; but how deep it may be yet remains for the sounding-line to determine. 3. Between Newfoundland and Ireland the bed of the Atlantic is so remarkably level, that it has received the name of the Telegraphic Plateau. In making soundings for the telegraphic cable across this plateau, various specimens of the bottom were brought up, by means of an apparatus attached to the sounding-line. These were submitted to the celebrated microscopist, Professor Ehrenberg, and were found to consist of minute shells, perfect in form, some of them quite fresh, and having the remains of the animal in them, showing that in this part of the Atlantic there are no currents to disturb the bottom of the sea. 4. In these still and quiet waters at the bottom of the Atlantic, it was decided to lay the telegraphic cable-the distance from land to land being about 1600 miles. 5. In the summer of 1857, the Agamemnon of the British navy and the Niagara of the American navy were assigned by there respective governments to the duty of receiving on board and laying the submarine Atlantic cable. After several unsuccessful attempts in 1857 and 1858, the vessels met in mid-ocean, joined cables, and set out, the Niagara for her terminus in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and the Agamemnon for hers in Valencia Harbor. On the 5th of August, 1858, the cable was successfully landed on both shores; and a week afterwards, messages of congratulation were flashed across the ocean between the Queen of England and the President of the United States. 6. But soon the cable ceased to conduct the electrical current, and from the above time to 1865 no fresh attempt was made. In this year the Great Eastern, the largest ship ever built, sailed from Valencia with a new cable, but when 1186 miles of the same had been laid, it broke and sunk into the ocean. During the following winter a new cable was made and successfully paid out. On the 1st of August, 1866, political and commercial telegrams were sent from New York to London. Since that time several other cables have been laid, and messages can now be sent with great distinctness and precision. LXVIII. AN INDIAN STRATAGEM. Selected. strat'-a-gem, a plan for deceiving an enemy; Kriegslist. av'-e-nue, an entrance; Zugang. com-mu ́-ni-cate, to impart; mitteilen. de-sert', to leave without permission; davonlaufen. fore-bod'-ing, an inward conviction of some coming misfortune; Ahnung. cir-cu-i-tous, going around in a circle; umkreisend. cop'-pice, brushwood; Gebüsch. cor-re-spond'-ent, conformable; übereinstimmend. 1. During the war of the American revolution, a regiment of foot soldiers was stationed upon the confines of an extensive savanna in the southern part of the Union. Its particular office was to guard every avenue of approach to the main army. The sentinels, whose posts penetrated into the woods, were supplied from the ranks; but they were perpetually surprised upon their posts by the Indians, and borne off their stations, without communicating any alarm, or being heard of afterwards. 2. One morning, the sentinels having been stationed as usual over night, the guard went at sunrise to relieve a post which extended a considerable distance into the wood. The sentinel was gone. The surprise was great; but the circumstance had occurred before. They left another man, and departed, wishing him better luck. "You need not be afraid," said the man, with warmth; "I shall not desert.” 66 3. The sentinels were replaced every four hours, and, at the appointed time, the guard again marched to relieve the post. To their inexpressible astonishment, the man was gone. They searched round the spot, but no traces of him could be found. It was now more necessary than ever that the station should not remain unoccupied; they left another man, and returned to the guard-house. 4. The superstition of the soldiers was awakened, and terror ran through the regiment. The colonel, being apprised of the occurrence, signified his intention to accom pany the guard when they relieved the sentinel they had left. At the appointed time, they all marched together; and again, to their unutterable wonder, they found the post vacant, and the man gone. 5. Under these circumstances, the colonel hesitated whether he should station a whole company on the spot, or whether he should again submit the post to a single sentinel. The cause of these repeated disappearances of men whose courage and honesty were never suspected must be discovered; and it seemed not likely that this discovery. could be obtained by persisting in the old method. 6. Three brave men were now lost to the regiment, and to assign the post to a fourth seemed nothing less than giving him up to destruction. The poor fellow whose turn it was to take the station, though a man in other respects of incomparable resolution, trembled from head to foot. 7. "I must do my duty," said he to the officer; "I know that; but I should like to lose my life with more credit. "I will leave no man," said the colonel, "against his will.” A man immediately stepped from the ranks, and desired to take the post. Every mouth commended his resolution. and you shall At all events, I will fire my 8. "I will not be taken alive," said he, hear of me at the least alarm. piece if I hear the least noise. falls, you shall hear my musket. nothing is the matter; but you must take the chance as the condition of the discovery." 9. The colonel applauded his courage, and told him he would do right to fire upon the least noise that he could not satisfactorily explain. His comrades shook hands with him, and left him with a melancholy foreboding. The company marched back, and waited the event in the guard-house. 10. An hour had now elapsed, and every ear was upon the rack for the discharge of the musket, when, upon a sudden, the report was heard. The guard immediately marched, accompanied, as before, by the colonel and some of the most experienced officers of the regiment. 11. As they approached the post, they saw the man advancing towards them, dragging another man on the ground by the hair of his head. When they came up to him, it appeared to be an Indian whom he had shot. An explanation was immediately required. 12. "I told you, colonel," said the man, "that I should fire if I heard the least noise. That resolution I took has saved my life. I had not been long at my post when I heard a rustling at some short distance; I looked, and saw a wild hog, such as are common in the woods, crawling along the ground, and seemingly looking for nuts under the trees, among the leaves. 13. "As these animals are so very common, I ceased to consider it seriously, but kept my eyes fixed upon it, and marked its progress among the trees: still there was no need to give the alarm. It struck me, however, as somewhat singular to see this animal making, by a circuitous passage, for a thick grove immediately behind my post, I therefore kept my eye more constantly fixed upon it, and, as it was now within a few yards of the coppice, I hesitated whether I should fire. 14. " 'My comrades, thought I, will laugh at me for alarming them by shooting a pig. I had almost resolved to let it alone, when, just as it approached the thicket, I thought I observed it give an unusual spring. I no longer hesitated: I took my aim, discharged my piece, and the animal was immediately stretched before me, with a groan which I thought to be that of a human creature. 15. "I went up to it, and judge my astonishment when I found that I had killed an Indian. He had enveloped himself with the skin of one of these wild hogs so artfully and completely, his hands and his feet were so entirely concealed in it, and his gait and appearance were so exactly |