scalped, weltering in his own gore, and faint with the loss of blood. 7. Suffice it to say, he was yet alive. They carried him to the fort, where the first dressings were performed. A suppuration immediatly took place, and he was soon conveyed to the hospital at Albany, where in a few weeks he entirely recovered, and was able to return to his duty. 8. This worthy officer owed his life, probably, to the fidelity of this sagacious dog. His tongue, which the gentleman afterwards declared gave him the most exquisite pleasure, clarified the wound in the most effectual manner, and his perseverance brought that assistance, without which he must have soon perished. 9. "My dog, the trustiest of his kind, CHAPTER XIX. VOLCANOES OF ICELAND. Abridged from the Encyclopedia. 1. Iceland is noted for volcanoes, which seem to be more furious there than in any other part of the world. They begin with a subterranean rumbling noise, with a roaring and cracking in the place from whence the fire is to burst forth. Fiery meteors also precede the eruption of fire, and sometimes shocks of earthquake. 2. The drying up of small lakes, streams and rivulets, is also considered as a sign of an approaching eruption; but the immediate forerunner is the bursting of the mass of ice on the mountains. Flames then issue from the earth, and lightning and fire-balls from the smoke, and stones and ashes are thrown to a vast distance. In 1755, a stone of two hundred and ninety pounds weight, was thrown twenty-four miles. 3. The most tremendous eruption ever known, was in 1783. Its first sign was perceived on the first of June, by a trembling of the earth in the western part of the province of Shapterfall: it continued and increased till the eleventh day, when the inhabitants quitted their houses, and lay in tents. A continual smoke was seen to arise out of the earth, in the northern parts of the isle, and three fire-spouts broke forth in different places. 4. These spouts of fire ascended to a vast hight, so as to be visible at the distance of two hundred miles. Immense quantities of ashes, sand, and other substances, were cast up and spread over the country. The atmosphere was so filled with them, as to be rendered dark, and great damage was done by the pumice-stones, which fell, red-hot, in large quantities. 5. The shower continued for many days. The fire sometimes appeared in a continual stream, and sometimes in flashes, with a noise like thunder, which lasted the whole summer. At the same time fell vast quantities of rain, impregnated with acid and salts, which corroded the face and hands of people; in other places there fell showers of hail, which did much damage. In places near the fire, the grass and every green thing was destroyed, being covered with a crust of a sulphurous and sooty matter. 6. Such thick vapors were raised by this conflict of adverse elements, that the sun was obscured, and appeared like blood; and the whole face of nature appeared to be changed. This dreadful scene lasted several days, and the whole country was laid waste. The inhabitants fled to the utmost parts of the isle, to escape the terrible conflagration. 7. On the first eruption of fire, the river Skapta was considerably augmented, but on the eleventh day, the waters were dried up. The next day, a prodigious stream of red-hot lava was discharged from the earth, and ran down the channel which the river had left, and overflowing the banks, rose to a great hight, and spread desolation over the whole adjacent country. 8. The fiery stream then ascended the channel, and mounting high, ít destroyed the village of Ruland, though situated on a hill, consuming the houses and every thing that stood in its way. It spread, till it had converted a tract of thirty-six miles of country into a sea of fire. It then changed its course to the south, and after filling the channel of the Skapta for six miles, it burst upon a wide plain, carrying flaming wood on its surface, and overwhelming the earth with torrents of liquid fire. 9. It continued thus to spread, from June twelfth to August thirteenth, when it ceased to extend itself, but continued to burn. When any part of the surface acquired a crust by cooling, it was soon broken by the mass of fire below, and then tumbling among the melted substance, it was tossed about with prodigious noise and crackling, and small spouts of fire were continually shooting into the air. 10. When it left the channel of the Skapta, this mass of fire was four hundred feet in depth. It ran in every direction where it could find a vent, and destroyed a number of villages. In one place, it came to a cataract of the river, of fourteen fathoms high, where it fell with a tremendous noise and terrible convulsions. In another, it stopped up the channel of a river, filled a large valley, and destroyed two villages, though it approached no nearer than six hundred feet. 11. Other villages were inundated by the waters of rivers driven from their channels by the fiery torrent. At last, having filled all the valleys to the south, it changed its course to the north, and spread over a tract of country forty-eight miles in length, and thirty-six in breadth. It dried up several rivers, and formed lakes of fire. At last, on the sixteenth of August, the eruption ceased. 12. The whole extent of ground, on three sides covered by this dreadful inundation, was computed to be ninety miles long, and twenty-four broad; and the depth of lava, from one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet. Twelve rivers were dried up; twenty villages destroyed, and a considerable number of people. The extent of ground covered on the north, was not ascertained. Some hills were melted down; others covered, and the whole had the appearance of a sea of red-hot melted metal. 13. After this eruption, two new isles rose from the sea. One in February 1784, rose about one hundred miles southwest of Iceland. It was about three miles in circumference, and a mile in hight. It burnt with great violence, sending forth prodigious quantities of sand and pumice-stones. Both isles have since disappeared. MR. PRESIDENT, 1. The great events on which my resignation depended, having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself before them, to surrender into their hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country. 2. Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded to the United States, of becoming a respectable nation, I resign, with satisfaction, the appointment I accepted with diffidence; a diffidence my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. in 3. The successful termination of the war, has verified the most sanguine expectations; and my gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous contest. 4. While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings, not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the war. 5. It was impossible that the choice of confidential officers to compose my family, should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to recommend in particular those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress. 6. I consider it as an indispensable duty, to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping. 7. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theater of action; and, bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life. December 23, 1783. G. WASHINGTON. CHAPTER XXI. SINGULAR INSTANCE OF PATRIOTISM. 1. Edward the third, king of England, after the battle of Cressy, laid siege to Calais. He had fortified his camp in so impregnable a manner, that all the efforts of France proved ineffectual to raise the siege, or throw succors into the city. The citizens, however, under the conduct of Count Vienne, their gallant governor, made an admirable defense. 2. Day after day the English effected many a breach, which they repeatedly expected to storm by morning; but when morning appeared, they wondered to behold new ramparts nightly raised, erected out of the ruins which the day had made. 3. France had now put her sickle into her second harvest, since Edward, with his victorious army, set down before the town. The eyes of all Europe were intent on the issue. The English made their approaches and attacks without remission, but the citizens were as obstinate in repelling all their efforts. 4. At length, famine did more for Edward than arms. the citizens had devoured the lean carcasses of their half-starAfter ved cattle, they tore up old foundations and rubbish, in search of vermin; they fed on boiled leather, and the weeds of exhausted gardens: and a morsel of damaged corn was accounted matter of luxury. 5. In this extremity, they resolved to attempt the enemy's camp. They boldly sallied forth; the English joined battle, and, after a long and desperate engagement, Count Vienne was taken prisoner; and the citizens who survived the slaughter, retired within their gates. 6. On the captivity of their governor, the command devolved upon Eustace Saint Pierre, the mayor of the town, a man of mean birth, but of exalted virtue. Eustace soon found himself under the necessity of capitulating, and offered to deliver to Edward the city, with all the possessions and wealth of the inhabitants, provided he would permit them to depart with life and liberty. 7. As Edward had long since expected to ascend the throne of France, he was exasperated to the last degree against these people, whose sole valor had defeated his warmest hopes; he therefore determined to take an exemplary revenge, though he wished to avoid the imputation of cruelty. 8. He answered, by Sir Walter Mauney, that they all deserved capital punishment, as obstinate traitors to him, their true sovereign; that, however, in his wonted clemency, he consented to pardon the bulk of the plebeians, provided they would deliver up to him six of their principal citizens, with halters about their necks, as victims of due atonement for that spirit of rebellion, with which they had inflamed the common people. 9. All the remains of this desolate city were convened in the great square, and like men arraigned at a tribunal from whence there was no appeal, expected with throbbing hearts the sentence of their conqueror. When Sir Walter had declared his message, consternation and pale dismay were impressed on every face; each looked upon death as his own inevitable lot; for how should they desire to be saved at the price proposed? Whom had they to deliver up, save parents, brothers, kindred, or valiant neighbors, who had so often exposed their lives in their defense? 10. To a long and dead silence, deep sighs and groans sueceeded, till Eustace Saint Pierre, ascending a little eminence, thus addressed the assembly: "My friends and fellow-citizens, you see the condition to which we are reduced; we must either submit to the terms of our cruel and ensnaring conqueror, or yield up our tender infants, our wives, and chaste daughters, to the bloody and brutal lusts of the violating soldiery. 11. "We well know what the tyrant intends by his specious offers of mercy. It does not satiate his vengeance to make us merely miserable; he would also make us criminal; he would make us contemptible: he will grant us life on no condition, save that of our being unworthy of it. Look about you, my friends, and fix your eyes on the persons whom you wish to deliver up, as the victims of your own safety. 12. "Which of these would you appoint to the rack, the ax, |