the beach has much increased, and is breaking heavily, and thumping heavy ice upon it. We had to shift our tents this afternoon, as the sea once or twice washed into them. Cape Grant on this side is a very bad place for a camp, as there is very little space upon which it is possible to put up a tent, as the sharp, jagged, steep talus runs down to the water's edge. The doctor looks the worst of the party, and is very thin and haggard; another day or two of it, I think, would have finished him. We in our tent (Blomkvist, Armitage, and I) are now all right again, only a bit stiff, but both Fisher and Child look hollow-eyed and played out. August 1st, Thursday.-We are still storm-bound. We spend the day in dry 66 August 2d, Friday. There is less wind to-day, but a heavy swell is still running. The beach is much encumbered with ice blocks, and at present it is quite impossible to launch the boat. "Armitage and I walked down, or rather clambered down, to the depot of provisions on the S. E. front of the cape, and added various provisions which we can spare if we find it impossible to attempt to round Cape Mary Harmsworth this season. I find, on a close examination, that our boat is much damaged, but I hope that we may fit her up well enough to try it. The provisions may come in for some unfortunate castaway, possibly for ourselves, some time or other." Great credit must be given to my companions in Franz-Josef Land for the loyal and hearty help they rendered me in my endeavors to increase our geographical and other scientific knowledge of the world, and to whom whatever success the expedition has attained is due. Neither must Mr. Harmsworth, who supplied the greater portion of the expenses connected with the expedition, be forgotten for the part he played in it, rendering it possible for me to carry my plans into deeds. These plans are embodied in the following letter, which was written by Mr. Farmsworth to the secretary of the expedition on the eve of my departure, and was published in the public press: 12 CLARGES STREET, PICCADILLY, W. - To MY DEAR MONTIFIORE, write a few words" on a subject one has at heart very deeply is not 66 sy; but I will be as brief as possle in my explanation of the reans I had in mind when I decided n fitting out the present Polar Expedition. From the time when a youngster I read the story of Franklin I have always been fascinated by the great mystery of the North. Julius von Payer's book and the concluding chapters of Admiral Markham's Sir John Franklin decided me to contribute, to the best of my ability, to the Exploration of Franz-Josef Land, in itself a field for a vast amount of scientific work, and in the opinion of the most distinguished Arctic men the best road to the North Pole. Having, owing to the efforts of yourself, been made aware of Mr. Jackson's wonderful energy and his recent work in the Arctic, I offered him the leadership of the Expedition, and secured an ally in whom I place the utmost confidence. As to Mr. Jackson's chances of reaching the Pole I shall say nothing. For my own part I shall be entirely satisfied if he and his companions add to our knowledge of the geography and the fauna and flora of Franz-Josef Land and the area lying immediately North A CAMP ON THE SHORES OF THE QUEEN VICTORIA SEA. Creak, R.N., of the Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty, Mr. B. Leigh Smith, Sir Leopold McClintock, Admiral Markham, Sir Allen Young, Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., Mr. J. Coles, F.R.A.S., of the Geographical Society, Mr. W. Harkness, F.C.S., of Somerset House, Sir George Thomas, Bart., and Dr. W. H. Neale, and the interest evoked throughout the world, have been very gratifying to all the brave fellows who have elected to be left on Franz-Josef Land for two-perhaps for four or five years. Yours faithfully, (S'g'd.) ALFRED C. HARMSWORTH. I think I may say, without boasting, that the expectations and desires expressed in the above letter have been fully realized. I cannot lay down my pen without stating what sincere pleasure it gave myself and my companions to be in the position to render the timely aid we did to Dr. Nansen and his brave companion, Lieutenant Johansen, which in itself, to me, would be sufficient reward for the weary years spent in the far North. "WERE BUT MY SPIRIT LOOSED UPON THE AIR." W BY LOUISE CHANDLER MOULTON. ERE but my spirit loosed upon the air By some High Power who could Life's chains unbind, Set free to seek what most it longs to find To no proud Court of Kings would I repair: I would but climb, once more, a winding stair, When day was wearing late, and dusk was kind; Content so I but shared his twilight there. Nay! well I know he waits not as of old I could not find him in the old-time place I must pursue him, made by sorrow bold, Through realms unknown, in strange Celestial race, From star to star, until I see his face. HE orchard sloped down the hill-side with tar-papered walls and unsteady stove To the Judge's house to the dusty pipes, and muddy foot-paths where grunt turnpike that bent around the estate like an arm-an arm that ended in a threatening fist where, in Mercer, the road broadened into the square before the court-house and the gray granite jail. The road itself was pretty enough, except where it passed through Mercer's squalid mill suburbs; it kept near the river, wandering across the meadows, and then up and over the hills, through the shadows of button woods and chestnuts; but it lost its prettiness again where, just this side of Old Chester, it held, in a little bend, a cluster of shapeless houses, ing pigs refused to stir to give room to the passer-by. The men who worked in the brick-kilns lived in this settlement, and paid an exorbitant rent to the Judge; their unsightly hovels were not visible from his melancholy old house on the hill, because the road came between them, and then a fringe of elderberries and sumachs, and then the orchard, where the trees, unpruned for many a year, were thick with bunches of twigs and gray with lichen. The brickmakers' village was not beautiful to look upon, but it meant no irony when it named itself "Morrison's Shanty |