... I am reluctant to close my notice of this discovery of an open sea
without adding that the details of Mr. Morton's narrative harmonized
with the observations of all our party. I do not propose to discuss here
the causes or conditions of this phenomenon. How far it may
extend--whether it exist simply as a feature of the immediate region, or
as part of a great and unexplored area communicating with the Polar
basin, and what may be the argument in favor of one or the other
hypothesis, or the explanation which reconciles it with established
laws--may be questions for men skilled in scientific deductions. Mine
has been the more humble duty of recording what we saw. Coming as it
did, a mysterious fluidity in the midst of vast plains of solid ice, it
was well calculated to arouse emotions of the highest order; and I do
not believe there was a man among us who did not long for the means of
embarking upon its bright and lonely waters.
[Footnote 68: A traveller, explorer, and writer of high merit; a native
of Philadelphia, and a Surgeon in the Navy. His early death was much
deplored.]
* * * * *
=_Bayard Taylor, 1825-._= (Manual, pp. 505, 523, 531.)
From "Eldorado."
=_273._= MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA.
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