ve that the picture which I have
described as having hung at the end of his bed had been cut out of its
frame, as with a knife, and was gone. With this last link in a strange
chain of evidence I close my diary of the voyage of the Pole-Star.

[NOTE by Dr. John M'Alister Ray, senior.--I have read over the strange
events connected with the death of the Captain of the Pole-Star, as
narrated in the journal of my son. That everything occurred exactly as
he describes it I have the fullest confidence, and, indeed, the
most positive certainty, for I know him to be a strong-nerved and
unimaginative man, with the strictest regard for veracity. Still, the
story is, on the face of it, so vague and so improbable, that I was long
opposed to its publication. Within the last few days, however, I have
had independent testimony upon the subject which throws a new light
upon it. I had run down to Edinburgh to attend a meeting of the British
Medical Association, when I chanced to come across Dr. P----, an old
college chum of mine, now practising at Saltash, in Devonshire. Upon my
telling him of this experience of my son's, he declared to me that he
was familiar with the man, and proceeded, to my no small surprise, to
give me a description of him, which tallied remarkably well with that
given in the journal, except that he depicted him as a younger man.
According to his account, he had been engaged to a young lady of
singular beauty residing upon the Cornish coast. During his absence at
sea his betrothed had died under circumstances of peculiar horror.]

F. HABAKUK JEPHSON'S STATEMENT.

In the month of December in the year 1873, the British ship Dei Gratia
steered into Gibraltar, having in tow the derelict brigantine Marie
Celeste, which had been picked up in latitude 38 degrees 40', longitude
17 degrees 15' W. There were several circumstances in connection with
the condition and appearance of this abandoned vessel which excited
considerable comment at the time, and aroused a curiosity which has
never been satisfied. What these circumstances were was summed up in an
able article which appeared in the Gibraltar Gazette. The curious can
find it in the issue for January 4, 1874, unless my memory deceives me.
For the benefit of those, however, who may be unable to refer to the
paper in question, I shall subjoin a few extracts which touch upon the
leading features of the case.

"We have ourselves," says the anonymous writer in the Gaz