May the Lord, who alone knows the rifts and rocks
of this marvellous coast, bring us safely thither, and guide me aright
amid the difficulties of the present situation there! These people
have learned no wisdom or thrift, in spite of all the love and
patience shown them, and they have made the past winter a most trying
time for their devoted missionaries.
The mirage yesterday and to-day is a wonderful freak of nature. At
times, nothing can be seen as it really is. Icebergs and islands are
flattened to one dead level, or doubled, so as to appear now like long
bridges, now like high towers. The rapid changes in the appearance of
solid masses are marvellous. All day we have been slowly sailing
westward, new prospects of distant hills ever opening up as we passed
headland after headland. Presently the barren rocks began to be
clothed with firs here and there, but the lifelessness of the scene
was striking. Once we caught sight of two or three Eskimo tents on a
little island, but no human beings were visible. Only a solitary
grampus made the circuit of our ship.
At length we round the last cape, and enter Zoar Bay. Presently we
come in sight of the station buildings between the fir-clad slope and
the shore.
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