Various

“ When the land first revealed itself to the explorers, it was too late in the season to leave the ship for purposes of exploration, and so the Tegetthoff remained close by it, still fast in the ice, all through the succeeding winter, during which one disturbing thought troubled the minds of all on board, the fear, namely, that the vessel might drift away again from the land, and all the hopes of the expedition end in nothing. ”

“ I knew now why it gratified her so much to believe that her lover had not sought her for her money's sake. Any one but herself would have thought it natural enough that she should be sought for her own sake. ”

“ How shall I describe Lilian Farrar? I have described her! A child of light, 'beautiful with all the soul's expansion'—the expression of her face ever varying with the dainty colouring of her graceful poetic thoughts. ”

“ Our old friend, Samuel Smiles, now a veteran in literature, who has been indefatigable in writing of the power of Self-help, has, as one of his late exploits, narrated in a most amusing and instructive manner the Life of a Scotch Naturalist, Thomas Edward, who at an advanced age modestly occupies the position of a working shoemaker in Banff. This is a curious and interesting book. Few persons would have taken the trouble that Mr Smiles has done to narrate the efforts in pursuit of a knowledge of Nature of so very obscure and poor a man as is the hero of his remarkable biography. ”

“ At a time when the attention of this country is again being specially directed to the question of Arctic exploration, it becomes interesting to take note of what other nations have recently achieved in the region of Polar discovery. It is not too much to say that it is with justice that England considers herself in the van as yet of Arctic enterprise; but we have little hesitation in affirming that the expedition the story of which is told in the two volumes under notice, [A] is worthy of ranking side by side with the most memorable of our own voyages of discovery ”

“ Sawing the ice and blasting with powder, both above and below the surface, alike proved fruitless. Fissures that had been made with great toil, froze again as soon as made; and when the vessel tried to steam against the ice, it was unable so much as to set the floe in motion. The Tegetthoff was now entirely at the mercy of the terrible foe by which she was beset on all sides.
It might be supposed by such as are only imperfectly acquainted with the Arctic regions, that the ship thus firmly locked in the ice would be safe at least from immediate danger. ”

“ After putting my small belongings into something like order, I proceeded to make the best of myself for presentation to 'Miss Farrar.' It was the first time I had seen myself from head to foot as I now did in the large cheval glass, and I gazed not a little curiously, as well as anxiously and critically, at the tout ensemble. What should I look like to a lover, who I knew was an admirer of women's beauty in the way a good man can admire it? ”

“ Quitting the premises, the visitor is still pursued by the prevailing occupation. Carts are coming and going, all carrying the one universal load—toys; while at every cottage door are seated some of the inmates, busily engaged with their own special branch of the trade; mothers singing to the children on their knee while they yet deftly carve a cow or a goat; old men and women whittling away, the ground at their feet strewed with the chips and shavings ”

“ They grow in abundance in the district, and are the main source of its prosperity. But with this prosperity the steady and industrious habits of the people themselves have also much to do. The youngest members of a family begin to work as soon as they are able to do so; and this regular occupation is continued through{62} life till the trembling fingers can no longer hold the carving-tools.
As a rule the inhabitants of St Ulrich are simple and domestic in their tastes; they are fond of flowers, and their little gardens are carefully cultivated, and gay with bright colouring. ”

“ The Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers contains a description of Frisbie's Mechanical Fire-feeder—a contrivance which economises fuel, increases heat, and saves trouble when applied to the fireplace of a steam-engine or furnace. Underneath the fireplace is a mechanism which carries a movable hopper; the hopper is filled with coal, and by the turning of a winch, is raised until the fresh coal is pressed against the bottom of the fire. The smoke, having to rise through an existing fire, is nearly all consumed ”

“ Expecting no one to make such extraordinary sacrifices, we would say: Look, ye misspenders of idle time, ye wasters of existence, ye thriftless dram-drinkers, ye vacant-minded street loungers, what was done by one as poor, if not poorer, than yourselves! ”

“ There are no signs of poverty anywhere visible; the people look healthy, happy, well fed and well clad, and their houses roomy and clean. Let us see how this pleasant state of matters has been brought about.
Wood-carving is the chief occupation of many a mountain village both in the Tyrol and in Switzerland; but in no place has it been carried to greater{61} perfection or been entered into more thoroughly by the inhabitants than at St Ulrich. One branch of it indeed, the manufacture of wooden toys, particularly dolls, may be considered almost a speciality of the district ”

“ But he is like Arthur, and does not care about the money; he is a great deal more troubled about having lost the old man's good-will. Arthur says that he lives in an old tumble-down house—which is all he possesses of his own—with one servant, in the poorest way, and very rarely visits anywhere but here. Even here he does not come half often enough to please us, we all like him so much. Strange that both Arthur and he should commence life with large expectations, and both find themselves penniless ”

“ This new locomotive has, at its rear, a drum wound round with a chain, and is provided with self-acting grips, which descend at the proper moment, and biting the sides of the rails, after the manner of a vice, so fix the locomotive to the spot that it becomes a stationary engine. Some of the wagons are fitted with similar grips, to prevent the train from running back during the ascent. When preparing to mount a hill, the free end of the chain is made fast to the foremost wagon; the locomotive moves on the whole length of the chain and fixes itself ”

“ The art is said to have been introduced into the valley about the beginning of the last century, since which time it has been the principal employment of the inhabitants, male and female, young and old alike; for ancient grandfathers and grandmothers may be seen steadily pursuing the vocation that has been theirs from their earliest years; and as soon as the little boys or girls can be safely trusted with knives, they begin their rude endeavours to carve the form of some animal or toy which is the peculiar line of their family. ”

“ At night, officers and men always slept with their clothes on, ready to rush on deck whenever the ice was heard beginning to groan and heave; and this state of things continued for one hundred and thirty days, the whole of that period being one of almost constant darkness.
The first winter passed by the expedition in their icy prison was at best but a time of gloom, though all on board combined to render each other's lot as little wearisome as possible. The conduct of the crew throughout the enterprise was exemplary and praiseworthy ”

“ In cases of sudden peril, a moment or two of calm thought on the part of one person, has frequently been the means of saving not only his own but the lives of his fellow-creatures. In the case of a theatre on fire, or in a runaway carriage, he (or she) who has the presence of mind to sit still, has the best chance of saving his (or her) life. ”

“ Small coal (dross) is placed in a hopper at the near end of the furnace, and rests upon and is gradually carried into the interior and on to the far end (where it is dropped as clinkers) by closely connected parallel bars which traverse the furnace from end to end and slowly revolve round a 'drum.' The strength of the fire is regulated by a door, which may be raised or lowered by a winch, to admit of a greater or less supply of fuel, as necessity may indicate. ”

“ It is well known that the getting-up and performance of theatricals have been found a source of great beneficial occupation and amusement during winters passed in the Arctic regions, where it is a matter of prime importance that the spirits of the men should be kept as even and jolly as possible. But there were several reasons why the crew of the Tegetthoff were compelled to forego such recreations. ”

“ He wishes it to be understood that all he means to affirm is, that the Pole is impracticable by the route taken by the Alert and Discovery, and with the present existing scientific appliances.
Impracticable the North Pole may perhaps ever remain, if the state of the ice encountered by our expedition and by Lieutenant Payer be its normal one. But of this we have as yet no certain proof; nor yet, in spite of our author's well-reasoned conclusions, that in some seasons an open sea may not exist. ”

“ Animal life is abundant, bears and seals and Arctic birds in great variety, vast numbers being found by the explorers in many parts. No trace of human beings was anywhere discovered, and Lieutenant Payer believes the region to be uninhabitable by man. By the geological formation of the islands, which seem to be of volcanic origin, the explorer was reminded of the north-east coast of Greenland. A third and final sledge-journey was made by which the north-west coasts of M'Clintock Island were visited. ”

“ The proper form for a kite is that of a hemisphere with the convex side to the wind: no wings and a light tail. The string should be fastened a little above the centre. A kite thus constructed will, as is stated by Dr Joule of Manchester, 'stand in the air with almost absolute steadiness. He found that by pulling strings fastened to the right and left sides of the horizontal bow, the kite could be made to fly thirty degrees or more from the direction of the wind, and hence that it would be possible to use it in bringing a vessel to windward. ”

“ The party comprised six men and three dogs; but as Lieutenant Payer contemplated making his second journey the most important one, he reserved the pick of the crew for it. It will be understood that it required no little courage and patient endurance on the part of the handful of men engaged in this first sledge-journey across the desolate wastes of ice, when it is stated that their physical condition was very far from being perfect. ”

“ Sallying out at nine o'clock at night, when his day's work was over, with his gun and some insect boxes and bottles, and putting a piece of oat-cake in his pocket for supper, he scoured the country as long as it was daylight for any living thing that came in his way. ”

“ The Brenner Railway, by which trains cross from Tyrol into Italy, has a rise of one foot in forty: on railway lines generally one foot in eighty may be taken as an available gradient: hence it will be understood that a locomotive able to run straight up hill without miles of zigzag will admit of much economy in railway construction. ”

“ He was a thoroughly original student of nature. He learned everything by personal observation. Nothing but a degree of enthusiasm amounting to fanaticism could have impelled him to endure cold, wet, hunger, want of sleep, in order to add to his stock of facts. ”

“ It is a most curious sight to watch them at work. They use no models, and work entirely by rule of thumb; long practice having made them so perfect that they turn out the tiny articles without the slightest hesitation, every one as precisely alike as if they had been cast in a mould. ”

“ The scientific men of Banff fought shy of the native shoemaker.'
It is pleasing to know that Thomas Edward is still in the land of the living, and though broken down in health, is cheerful, contented, and able to a certain extent for his accustomed duties. Latterly, he has in many ways derived comfort and assistance from his grown-up daughters. His searches after strange sorts of animals are at an end. ”

“ To measure any distance on a map, we are told it is only necessary to hold the instrument upright, and run the wheel along the line between two places, or the course of a river, or the sinuosities of a coast, and the indicating fly denotes the number of miles or parts of a mile. ”

“ When first offered for sale, the price was fourpence a carat; now it is from fifteen to twenty shillings. These pieces of carbonite being firmly set in a 'crown,' form a drill which, when driven by steam, will pierce the very hardest of rocks. According to the nature of the rock, the progress will be from one inch to two and a half inches a minute, which in ten hours would amount to a considerable number of feet. The wear of the carbonite is so small that in boring quartz, which is not a soft rock, to a depth of thirty feet, not more than one sixty-fourth of an inch would be worn off. ”