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diff --git a/old/smoky10.txt b/old/smoky10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb05451 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/smoky10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2503 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Smoky God by Willis George Emerson + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + + +NB: I have removed running heads and page numbers, have +joined footnotes spread over two or more pages, have moved +footnotes to a position immediately below the paragraph +that refers to them, and have changed footnote numbers +from 1 at the beginning of each note to a sequence of +1-25. I have also enclosed each footnote number in the +text within square brackets and have enclosed each entire +footnote within square brackets as well. + + +Note: I have made the following changes to the text: +PAGE NOTE LINE ORIGINAL CHANGED TO + 97 10 to too + 126 4 Heddekel Hiddekel + 139 1 3 Cratyluo Cratylus + 147 11 tiouous tinuous + 178 18 Los- Los + 180 1 17 Scoreby, Scoresby, + + +THE SMOKY GOD + +OR + +A Voyage to the Inner World + + +BY + +WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON +AUTHOR OF "BUELL HAMPTON," "THE BUILDERS," ETC. + +Copyright, 1908, +By WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON + + +Dedicated +TO +MY CHUM AND COMPANION +BONNIE EMERSON +MY WIFE + + + +CONTENTS + +PART I. AUTHOR'S FOREWORD +PART II. OLAF JANSEN'S STORY +PART III. BEYOND THE NORTH WIND +PART IV. IN THE UNDER WORLD +PART V. AMONG THE ICE PACKS +PART VI. CONCLUSION +PART VII. AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD + + +The Smoky God +Or +A Voyage to the Inner World + + "He is the God who sits in the center, on + the navel of the earth, and he is the interpre- + ter of religion to all mankind." -- PLATO. + + +PART ONE + +AUTHOR'S FOREWORD + +I FEAR the seemingly incredible story which I am about to relate +will be regarded as the result of a distorted intellect +superinduced, possibly, by the glamour of unveiling a +marvelous mystery, rather than a truthful record of the +unparalleled experiences related by one Olaf Jansen, whose +eloquent madness so appealed to my imagination that all +thought of an analytical criticism has been effectually +dispelled. + +Marco Polo will doubtless shift uneasily in his grave at the +strange story I am called upon to chronicle; a story as strange +as a Munchausen tale. It is also incongruous that I, a +disbeliever, should be the one to edit the story of Olaf Jansen, +whose name is now for the first time given to the world, yet who +must hereafter rank as one of the notables of earth. + +I freely confess his statements admit of no rational analysis, +but have to do with the profound mystery concerning the frozen +North that for centuries has claimed the attention of +scientists and laymen alike. + +However much they are at variance with the cosmographical +manuscripts of the past, these plain statements may be relied +upon as a record of the things Olaf Jansen claims to have +seen with his own eyes. + +A hundred times I have asked myself whether it is possible that +the world's geography is incomplete, and that the startling +narrative of Olaf Jansen is predicated upon demonstrable facts. +The reader may be able to answer these queries to his own +satisfaction, however far the chronicler of this narrative may be +from having reached a conviction. Yet sometimes even I am at a +loss to know whether I have been led away from an abstract truth +by the ignes fatui of a clever superstition, or whether +heretofore accepted facts are, after all, founded upon falsity. + +It may be that the true home of Apollo was not at Delphi, but in +that older earth-center of which Plato speaks, where he says: +"Apollo's real home is among the Hyperboreans, in a land of +perpetual life, where mythology tells us two doves flying from +the two opposite ends of the world met in this fair region, the +home of Apollo. Indeed, according to Hecataeus, Leto, the +mother of Apollo, was born on an island in the Arctic Ocean far +beyond the North Wind." + +It is not my intention to attempt a discussion of the theogony of +the deities nor the cosmogony of the world. My simple duty is to +enlighten the world concerning a heretofore unknown portion of +the universe, as it was seen and described by the old Norseman, +Olaf Jansen. + +Interest in northern research is international. Eleven nations +are engaged in, or have contributed to, the perilous work of +trying to solve Earth's one remaining cosmological mystery. + +There is a saying, ancient as the hills, that "truth is stranger +than fiction," and in a most startling manner has this axiom been +brought home to me within the last fortnight. + +It was just two o'clock in the morning when I was aroused from a +restful sleep by the vigorous ringing of my door-bell. The +untimely disturber proved to be a messenger bearing a note, +scrawled almost to the point of illegibility, from an old +Norseman by the name of Olaf Jansen. After much deciphering, I +made out the writing, which simply said: "Am ill unto death. +Come." The call was imperative, and I lost no time in making +ready to comply. + +Perhaps I may as well explain here that Olaf Jansen, a man who +quite recently celebrated his ninety-fifth birthday, has for the +last half-dozen years been living alone in an unpretentious +bungalow out Glendale way, a short distance from the business +district of Los Angeles, California. + +It was less than two years ago, while out walking one afternoon +that I was attracted by Olaf Jansen's house and its homelike +surroundings, toward its owner and occupant, whom I afterward +came to know as a believer in the ancient worship of Odin +and Thor. + +There was a gentleness in his face, and a kindly expression in +the keenly alert gray eyes of this man who had lived more than +four-score years and ten; and, withal, a sense of loneliness +that appealed to my sympathy. Slightly stooped, and with his +hands clasped behind him, he walked back and forth with slow and +measured tread, that day when first we met. I can hardly say what +particular motive impelled me to pause in my walk and engage him +in conversation. He seemed pleased when I complimented him on the +attractiveness of his bungalow, and on the well-tended vines and +flowers clustering in profusion over its windows, roof and wide +piazza. + +I soon discovered that my new acquaintance was no ordinary +person, but one profound and learned to a remarkable degree; a +man who, in the later years of his long life, had dug deeply into +books and become strong in the power of meditative silence. + +I encouraged him to talk, and soon gathered that he had resided +only six or seven years in Southern California, but had passed +the dozen years prior in one of the middle Eastern states. Before +that he had been a fisherman off the coast of Norway, in the +region of the Lofoden Islands, from whence he had made trips +still farther north to Spitzbergen and even to Franz Josef Land. + +When I started to take my leave, he seemed reluctant to have me +go, and asked me to come again. Although at the time I thought +nothing of it, I remember now that he made a peculiar remark as I +extended my hand in leave-taking. "You will come again?" he +asked. "Yes, you will come again some day. I am sure you will; +and I shall show you my library and tell you many things of +which you have never dreamed, things so wonderful that it may be +you will not believe me." + +I laughingly assured him that I would not only come again, but +would be ready to believe whatever he might choose to tell me of +his travels and adventures. + +In the days that followed I became well acquainted with Olaf +Jansen, and, little by little, he told me his story, so +marvelous, that its very daring challenges reason and belief. +The old Norseman always expressed himself with so much +earnestness and sincerity that I became enthralled by his strange +narrations. + +Then came the messenger's call that night, and within the hour I +was at Olaf Jansen's bungalow. + +He was very impatient at the long wait, although after being +summoned I had come immediately to his bedside. + +"I must hasten," he exclaimed, while yet he held my hand in +greeting. "I have much to tell you that you know not, and I will +trust no one but you. I fully realize," he went on hurriedly, +"that I shall not survive the night. The time has come to join +my fathers in the great sleep." + +I adjusted the pillows to make him more comfortable, and assured +him I was glad to be able to serve him in any way possible, for I +was beginning to realize the seriousness of his condition. + +The lateness of the hour, the stillness of the surroundings, the +uncanny feeling of being alone with the dying man, together with +his weird story, all combined to make my heart beat fast and loud +with a feeling for which I have no name. Indeed, there were many +times that night by the old Norseman's couch, and there have been +many times since, when a sensation rather than a conviction took +possession of my very soul, and I seemed not only to believe in, +but actually see, the strange lands, the strange people and the +strange world of which he told, and to hear the mighty orchestral +chorus of a thousand lusty voices. + +For over two hours he seemed endowed with almost superhuman +strength, talking rapidly, and to all appearances, rationally. +Finally he gave into my hands certain data, drawings and crude +maps. "These," said he in conclusion, "I leave in your hands. If +I can have your promise to give them to the world, I shall die +happy, because I desire that people may know the truth, for then +all mystery concerning the frozen Northland will be explained. +There is no chance of your suffering the fate I suffered. They +will not put you in irons, nor confine you in a mad-house, +because you are not telling your own story, but mine, and I, +thanks to the gods, Odin and Thor, will be in my grave, and so +beyond the reach of disbelievers who would persecute." + +Without a thought of the farreaching results the promise +entailed, or foreseeing the many sleepless nights which the +obligation has since brought me, I gave my hand and with +it a pledge to discharge faithfully his dying wish. + +As the sun rose over the peaks of the San Jacinto, far to the +eastward, the spirit of Olaf Jansen, the navigator, the explorer +and worshiper of Odin and Thor, the man whose experiences and +travels, as related, are without a parallel in all the world's +history, passed away, and I was left alone with the dead. + +And now, after having paid the last sad rites to this strange man +from the Lofoden Islands, and the still farther "Northward Ho!", +the courageous explorer of frozen regions, who in his declining +years (after he had passed the four-score mark) had sought an +asylum of restful peace in sun-favored California, I will +undertake to make public his story. + +But, first of all, let me indulge in one or two reflections: + +Generation follows generation, and the traditions from the misty +past are handed down from sire to son, but for some strange +reason interest in the ice-locked unknown does not abate with the +receding years, either in the minds of the ignorant or the +tutored. + +With each new generation a restless impulse stirs the hearts of +men to capture the veiled citadel of the Arctic, the circle of +silence, the land of glaciers, cold wastes of waters and winds +that are strangely warm. Increasing interest is manifested in the +mountainous icebergs, and marvelous speculations are indulged in +concerning the earth's center of gravity, the cradle of the +tides, where the whales have their nurseries, where the magnetic +needle goes mad, where the Aurora Borealis illumines the night, +and where brave and courageous spirits of every generation dare +to venture and explore, defying the dangers of the "Farthest +North." + +One of the ablest works of recent years is "Paradise Found, or +the Cradle of The Human Race at the North Pole," by William F. +Warren. In his carefully prepared volume, Mr. Warren almost +stubbed his toe against the real truth, but missed it +seemingly by only a hair's breadth, if the old Norseman's +revelation be true. + +Dr. Orville Livingston Leech, scientist, in a recent article, +says: + +"The possibilities of a land inside the earth were first +brought to my attention when I picked up a geode on the +shores of the Great Lakes. The geode is a spherical and +apparently solid stone, but when broken is found to be hollow and +coated with crystals. The earth is only a larger form of a geode, +and the law that created the geode in its hollow form undoubtedly +fashioned the earth in the same way." + +In presenting the theme of this almost incredible story, as told +by Olaf Jansen, and supplemented by manuscript, maps and crude +drawings entrusted to me, a fitting introduction is found in the +following quotation: + +"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the +earth was without form and void." And also, "God created man in +his own image." Therefore, even in things material, man must be +God-like, because he is created in the likeness of the Father. + +A man builds a house for himself and family. The porches or +verandas are all without, and are secondary. The building is +really constructed for the conveniences within. + +Olaf Jansen makes the startling announcement through me, an +humble instrument, that in like manner, God created the earth for +the "within" -- that is to say, for its lands, seas, rivers, +mountains, forests and valleys, and for its other internal +conveniences, while the outside surface of the earth is merely +the veranda, the porch, where things grow by comparison but +sparsely, like the lichen on the mountain side, clinging +determinedly for bare existence. + +Take an egg-shell, and from each end break out a piece as large +as the end of this pencil. Extract its contents, and then you +will have a perfect representation of Olaf Jansen's earth. The +distance from the inside surface to the outside surface, +according to him, is about three hundred miles. The center of +gravity is not in the center of the earth, but in the center of +the shell or crust; therefore, if the thickness of the earth's +crust or shell is three hundred miles, the center of gravity is +one hundred and fifty miles below the surface. + +In their log-books Arctic explorers tell us of the dipping of the +needle as the vessel sails in regions of the farthest north +known. In reality, they are at the curve; on the edge of the +shell, where gravity is geometrically increased, and while the +electric current seemingly dashes off into space toward the +phantom idea of the North Pole, yet this same electric current +drops again and continues its course southward along the inside +surface of the earth's crust. + +In the appendix to his work, Captain Sabine gives an account of +experiments to determine the acceleration of the pendulum in +different latitudes. This appears to have resulted from the joint +labor of Peary and Sabine. He says: "The accidental discovery +that a pendulum on being removed from Paris to the neighborhood +of the equator increased its time of vibration, gave the first +step to our present knowledge that the polar axis of the globe is +less than the equatorial; that the force of gravity at the +surface of the earth increases progressively from the equator +toward the poles." + +According to Olaf Jansen, in the beginning this old world of ours +was created solely for the "within" world, where are located the +four great rivers -- the Euphrates, the Pison, the Gihon and the +Hiddekel. These same names of rivers, when applied to streams on +the "outside" surface of the earth, are purely traditional from +an antiquity beyond the memory of man. + +On the top of a high mountain, near the fountain-head of these +four rivers, Olaf Jansen, the Norseman, claims to have discovered +the long-lost "Garden of Eden," the veritable navel of the earth, +and to have spent over two years studying and reconnoitering in +this marvelous "within" land, exuberant with stupendous plant +life and abounding in giant animals; a land where the people live +to be centuries old, after the order of Methuselah and other +Biblical characters; a region where one-quarter of the "inner" +surface is water and three-quarters land; where there are large +oceans and many rivers and lakes; where the cities are +superlative in construction and magnificence; where modes of +transportation are as far in advance of ours as we with our +boasted achievements are in advance of the inhabitants of +"darkest Africa." + +The distance directly across the space from inner surface to +inner surface is about six hundred miles less than the recognized +diameter of the earth. In the identical center of this vast +vacuum is the seat of electricity -- a mammoth ball of dull red +fire -- not startlingly brilliant, but surrounded by a white, +mild, luminous cloud, giving out uniform warmth, and held in its +place in the center of this internal space by the immutable law +of gravitation. This electrical cloud is known to the people +"within" as the abode of "The Smoky God." They believe it to be +the throne of "The Most High." + +Olaf Jansen reminded me of how, in the old college days, we were +all familiar with the laboratory demonstrations of centrifugal +motion, which clearly proved that, if the earth were a solid, the +rapidity of its revolution upon its axis would tear it into a +thousand fragments. + +The old Norseman also maintained that from the farthest points of +land on the islands of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land, flocks +of geese may be seen annually flying still farther northward, +just as the sailors and explorers record in their log-books. No +scientist has yet been audacious enough to attempt to explain, +even to his own satisfaction, toward what lands these winged +fowls are guided by their subtle instinct. However, Olaf Jansen +has given us a most reasonable explanation. + +The presence of the open sea in the Northland is also explained. +Olaf Jansen claims that the northern aperture, intake or hole, so +to speak, is about fourteen hundred miles across. In connection +with this, let us read what Explorer Nansen writes, on page 288 +of his book: "I have never had such a splendid sail. On to the +north, steadily north, with a good wind, as fast as steam and +sail can take us, an open sea mile after mile, watch after watch, +through these unknown regions, always clearer and clearer of ice, +one might almost say: 'How long will it last?' The eye always +turns to the northward as one paces the bridge. It is gazing into +the future. But there is always the same dark sky ahead which +means open sea." Again, the Norwood Review of England, in its +issue of May 10, 1884, says: "We do not admit that there is ice +up to the Pole -- once inside the great ice barrier, a new +world breaks upon the explorer, the climate is mild like that of +England, and, afterward, balmy as the Greek Isles." + +Some of the rivers "within," Olaf Jansen claims, are larger than +our Mississippi and Amazon rivers combined, in point of volume of +water carried; indeed their greatness is occasioned by their +width and depth rather than their length, and it is at the mouths +of these mighty rivers, as they flow northward and southward +along the inside surface of the earth, that mammoth icebergs are +found, some of them fifteen and twenty miles wide and from forty +to one hundred miles in length. + +Is it not strange that there has never been an iceberg +encountered either in the Arctic or Antarctic Ocean that is not +composed of fresh water? Modern scientists claim that freezing +eliminates the salt, but Olaf Jansen claims differently. + +Ancient Hindoo, Japanese and Chinese writings, as well as the +hieroglyphics of the extinct races of the North American +continent, all speak of the custom of sun-worshiping, and it is +possible, in the startling light of Olaf Jansen's revelations, +that the people of the inner world, lured away by glimpses of the +sun as it shone upon the inner surface of the earth, either from +the northern or the southern opening, became dissatisfied with +"The Smoky God," the great pillar or mother cloud of electricity, +and, weary of their continuously mild and pleasant atmosphere, +followed the brighter light, and were finally led beyond the ice +belt and scattered over the "outer" surface of the earth, +through Asia, Europe, North America and, later, Africa, Australia +and South America. [1] + +[1 The following quotation is significant; "It follows +that man issuing from a mother-region still undetermined but +which a number of considerations indicate to have been in the +North, has radiated in several directions; that his migrations +have been constantly from North to South." -- M. le +Marquis G. de Saporta, in Popular Science Monthly, October, +1883, page 753.] + +It is a notable fact that, as we approach the Equator, the +stature of the human race grows less. But the Patagonians of +South America are probably the only aborigines from the center of +the earth who came out through the aperture usually designated as +the South Pole, and they are called the giant race. + +Olaf Jansen avers that, in the beginning, the world was created +by the Great Architect of the Universe, so that man might dwell +upon its "inside" surface, which has ever since been the +habitation of the "chosen." + +They who were driven out of the "Garden of Eden" brought their +traditional history with them. + +The history of the people living "within" contains a narrative +suggesting the story of Noah and the ark with which we are +familiar. He sailed away, as did Columbus, from a certain port, +to a strange land he had heard of far to the northward, +carrying with him all manner of beasts of the fields and fowls of +the air, but was never heard of afterward. + +On the northern boundaries of Alaska, and still more frequently +on the Siberian coast, are found boneyards containing tusks of +ivory in quantities so great as to suggest the burying-places of +antiquity. From Olaf Jansen's account, they have come from the +great prolific animal life that abounds in the fields and +forests and on the banks of numerous rivers of the Inner World. +The materials were caught in the ocean currents, or were carried +on ice-floes, and have accumulated like driftwood on the Siberian +coast. This has been going on for ages, and hence these +mysterious bone-yards. + +On this subject William F. Warren, in his book already cited, +pages 297 and 298, says: "The Arctic rocks tell of a lost +Atlantis more wonderful than Plato's. The fossil ivory beds of +Siberia excel everything of the kind in the world. From the +days of Pliny, at least, they have constantly been undergoing +exploitation, and still they are the chief headquarters of +supply. The remains of mammoths are so abundant that, as Gratacap +says, 'the northern islands of Siberia seem built up of crowded +bones.' Another scientific writer, speaking of the islands of New +Siberia, northward of the mouth of the River Lena, uses this +language: 'Large quantities of ivory are dug out of the ground +every year. Indeed, some of the islands are believed to be +nothing but an accumulation of drift-timber and the bodies of +mammoths and other antediluvian animals frozen together.' From +this we may infer that, during the years that have elapsed since +the Russian conquest of Siberia, useful tusks from more than +twenty thousand mammoths have been collected." + +But now for the story of Olaf Jansen. I give it in detail, as set +down by himself in manuscript, and woven into the tale, just as +he placed them, are certain quotations from recent works on +Arctic exploration, showing how carefully the old Norseman +compared with his own experiences those of other voyagers to the +frozen North. Thus wrote the disciple of Odin and Thor: + + + +PART TWO + +OLAF JANSEN'S STORY + +MY name is Olaf Jansen. I am a Norwegian, although I was born in +the little seafaring Russian town of Uleaborg, on the eastern +coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, the northern arm of the Baltic Sea. + +My parents were on a fishing cruise in the Gulf of Bothnia, and +put into this Russian town of Uleaborg at the time of my birth, +being the twenty-seventh day of October, 1811. + +My father, Jens Jansen, was born at Rodwig on the Scandinavian +coast, near the Lofoden Islands, but after marrying made his home +at Stockholm, because my mother's people resided in that city. +When seven years old, I began going with my father on his fishing +trips along the Scandinavian coast. + +Early in life I displayed an aptitude for books, and at the age +of nine years was placed in a private school in Stockholm, +remaining there until I was fourteen. After this I made regular +trips with my father on all his fishing voyages. + +My father was a man fully six feet three in height, and weighed +over fifteen stone, a typical Norseman of the most rugged sort, +and capable of more endurance than any other man I have ever +known. He possessed the gentleness of a woman in tender little +ways, yet his determination and will-power were beyond +description. His will admitted of no defeat. + +I was in my nineteenth year when we started on what proved to be +our last trip as fishermen, and which resulted in the strange +story that shall be given to the world,-- but not until I have +finished my earthly pilgrimage. + +I dare not allow the facts as I know them to be published while I +am living, for fear of further humiliation, confinement and +suffering. First of all, I was put in irons by the captain of the +whaling vessel that rescued me, for no other reason than that I +told the truth about the marvelous discoveries made by my father +and myself. But this was far from being the end of my tortures. + +After four years and eight months' absence I reached Stockholm, +only to find my mother had died the previous year, and the +property left by my parents in the possession of my mother's +people, but it was at once made over to me. + +All might have been well, had I erased from my memory the story +of our adventure and of my father's terrible death. + +Finally, one day I told the story in detail to my uncle, Gustaf +Osterlind, a man of considerable property, and urged him to fit +out an expedition for me to make another voyage to the strange +land. + +At first I thought he favored my project. He seemed interested, +and invited me to go before certain officials and explain to +them, as I had to him, the story of our travels and discoveries. +Imagine my disappointment and horror when, upon the conclusion of +my narrative, certain papers were signed by my uncle, and, +without warning, I found myself arrested and hurried away to +dismal and fearful confinement in a madhouse, where I remained +for twenty-eight years -- long, tedious, frightful years of +suffering! + +I never ceased to assert my sanity, and to protest against the +injustice of my confinement. Finally, on the seventeenth of +October, 1862, I was released. My uncle was dead, and the friends +of my youth were now strangers. Indeed, a man over fifty years +old, whose only known record is that of a madman, has no friends. + +I was at a loss to know what to do for a living, but +instinctively +turned toward the harbor where fishing boats in great numbers +were +anchored, and within a week I had shipped with a fisherman by the +name of Yan Hansen, who was starting on a long fishing cruise to +the Lofoden Islands. + +Here my earlier years of training proved of the very greatest +advantage, especially in enabling me to make myself useful. This +was but the beginning of other trips, and by frugal economy I +was, in a few years, able to own a fishing-brig of my own. For +twenty-seven years thereafter I followed the sea as a fisherman, +five years working for others, and the last twenty-two for +myself. + +During all these years I was a most diligent student of books, as +well as a hard worker at my business, but I took great care not +to mention to anyone the story concerning the discoveries made by +my father and myself. Even at this late day I would be fearful of +having any one see or know the things I am writing, and the +records +and maps I have in my keeping. When my days on earth are +finished, +I shall leave maps and records that will enlighten and, I hope, +benefit mankind. + +The memory of my long confinement with maniacs, and all the +horrible anguish and sufferings are too vivid to warrant my +taking further chances. + +In 1889 I sold out my fishing boats, and found I had accumulated +a fortune quite sufficient to keep me the remainder of my life. I +then came to America. + +For a dozen years my home was in Illinois, near Batavia, where I +gathered most of the books in my present library, though I +brought many choice volumes from Stockholm. Later, I came to Los +Angeles, arriving here March 4, 1901. The date I well remember, +as it was President McKinley's second inauguration day. I bought +this humble home and determined, here in the privacy of my own +abode, sheltered by my own vine and fig-tree, and with my books +about me, to make maps and drawings of the new lands we had +discovered, and also to write the story in detail from the time +my father and I left Stockholm until the tragic event that parted +us in the Antarctic Ocean. + +I well remember that we left Stockholm in our fishing-sloop on +the third day of April, 1829, and sailed to the southward, +leaving Gothland Island to the left and Oeland Island to the +right. A few days later we succeeded in doubling Sandhommar +Point, and made our way through the sound which separates Denmark +from the Scandinavian coast. In due time we put in at the town of +Christiansand, where we rested two days, and then started around +the Scandinavian coast to the westward, bound for the Lofoden +Islands. + +My father was in high spirit, because of the excellent and +gratifying returns he had received from our last catch by +marketing at Stockholm, instead of selling at one of the +seafaring towns along the Scandinavian coast. He was especially +pleased with the sale of some ivory tusks that he had found on +the west coast of Franz Joseph Land during one of his northern +cruises the previous year, and he expressed the hope that this +time we might again be fortunate enough to load our little +fishing-sloop with ivory, instead of cod, herring, mackerel and +salmon. + +We put in at Hammerfest, latitude seventy-one degrees and forty +minutes, for a few days' rest. Here we remained one week, laying +in an extra supply of provisions and several casks of +drinking-water, and then sailed toward Spitzbergen. + +For the first few days we had an open sea and a favoring wind, +and then we encountered much ice and many icebergs. A vessel +larger than our little fishing-sloop could not possibly have +threaded its way among the labyrinth of icebergs or squeezed +through the barely open channels. These monster bergs presented +an endless succession of crystal palaces, of massive cathedrals +and fantastic mountain ranges, grim and sentinel-like, immovable +as some towering cliff of solid rock, standing; silent as a +sphinx, resisting the restless waves of a fretful sea. + +After many narrow escapes, we arrived at Spitzbergen on the 23d +of June, and anchored at Wijade Bay for a short time, where we +were quite successful in our catches. We then lifted anchor and +sailed through the Hinlopen Strait, and coasted along the +North-East-Land.[2] + +[2 It will be remembered that Andree started on his fatal +balloon voyage from the northwest coast of Spitzbergen.] + +A strong wind came up from the southwest, and my father said that +we had better take advantage of it and try to reach Franz Josef +Land, where, the year before he had, by accident, found the ivory +tusks that had brought him such a good price at Stockholm. + +Never, before or since, have I seen so many sea-fowl; they were +so numerous that they hid the rocks on the coast line and +darkened the sky. + +For several days we sailed along the rocky coast of Franz Josef +Land. Finally, a favoring wind came up that enabled us to make +the West Coast, and, after sailing twenty-four hours, we came to +a beautiful inlet. + +One could hardly believe it was the far Northland. The place was +green with growing vegetation, and while the area did not +comprise more than one or two acres, yet the air was warm and +tranquil. It seemed to be at that point where the Gulf Stream's +influence is most keenly felt.[3] + +[3 Sir John Barrow, Bart., F.R.S., in his work entitled +"Voyages of Discovery and Research Within the Arctic Regions," +says on page 57: "Mr. Beechey refers to what has +frequently been found and noticed -- the mildness of the +temperature on the western coast of Spitzbergen, there being +little or no sensation of cold, though the thermometer might be +only a few degrees above the freezing-point. The brilliant and +lively effect of a clear day, when the sun shines forth with a +pure sky, whose azure hue is so intense as to find no parallel +even in the boasted Italian sky."] + +On the east coast there were numerous icebergs, yet here we were +in open water. Far to the west of us, however, were icepacks, and +still farther to the westward the ice appeared like ranges of low +hills. In front of us, and directly to the north, lay an open +sea.[4] + +[4 Captain Kane, on page 299, quoting from Morton's +Journal on Monday, the 26th of December, says: "As far as +I could see, the open passages were fifteen miles or more wide, +with sometimes mashed ice separating them. But it is all small +ice, and I think it either drives out to the open space to the +north or rots and sinks, as I could see none ahead to the +north."] + +My father was an ardent believer in Odin and Thor, and had +frequently told me they were gods who came from far beyond the +"North Wind." + +There was a tradition, my father explained, that still farther +northward was a land more beautiful than any that mortal man had +ever known, and that it was inhabited by the "Chosen."[5] + +[5 We find the following in "Deutsche Mythologie," +page 778, from the pen of Jakob Grimm; "Then,the sons of +Bor built in the middle of the universe the city called Asgard, +where dwell the gods and their kindred, and from that abode +work out so many wondrous things both on the earth and in the +heavens above it. There is in that city a place called +Illidskjalf, and when Odin is seated there upon his lofty throne +he sees over the whole world and discerns all the actions of +men."] + +My youthful imagination was fired by the ardor, zeal and +religious fervor of my good father, and I exclaimed: "Why not +sail to this goodly land? The sky is fair, the wind favorable +and the sea open." + +Even now I can see the expression of pleasurable surprise on his +countenance as he turned toward me and asked: "My son, are you +willing to go with me and explore -- to go far beyond where man +has ever ventured?" I answered affirmatively. "Very well," he +replied. "May the god Odin protect us!" and, quickly adjusting +the sails, he glanced at our compass, turned the prow in due +northerly direction through an open channel, and our voyage had +begun.[6] + +[6 Hall writes, on page 288: "On the 23rd of +January the two Esquimaux, accompanied by two of the seamen, went +to Cape Lupton. They reported a sea of open water extending +as far as the eye could reach."] + +The sun was low in the horizon, as it was still the early summer. +Indeed, we had almost four months of day ahead of us before the +frozen night could come on again. + +Our little fishing-sloop sprang forward as if eager as ourselves +for adventure. Within thirty-six hours we were out of sight of +the highest point on the coast line of Franz Josef Land. "We +seemed to be in a strong current running north by northeast. +Far to the right and to the left of us were icebergs, but our +little sloop bore down on the narrows and passed through channels +and out into open seas -- channels so narrow in places that, had +our craft been other than small, we never could have gotten +through. + +On the third day we came to an island. Its shores were washed by +an open sea. My father determined to land and explore for a day. +This new land was destitute of timber, but we found a large +accumulation of drift-wood on the northern shore. Some of the +trunks of the trees were forty feet long and two feet in +diameter.[7] + +[7 Greely tells us in vol. 1, page 100, that: +"Privates Connell and Frederick found a large coniferous tree on +the beach, just above the extreme high-water mark. It was nearly +thirty inches in circumference, some thirty feet long, and had +apparently been carried to that point by a current within a +couple of years. A portion of it was cut up for fire-wood, and +for the first time in that valley, a bright, cheery camp-fire +gave comfort to man."] + +After one day's exploration of the coast line of this island, we +lifted anchor and turned our prow to the north in an open +sea.[8] + +[8 Dr. Kane says, on page 379 of his works: "I +cannot imagine what becomes of the ice. A strong current sets in +constantly to the north; but, from altitudes of more than five +hundred feet, I saw only narrow strips of ice, with great spaces +of open water, from ten to fifteen miles in breadth, between +them. It must, therefore, either go to an open space in the +north, or dissolve."] + +I remember that neither my father nor myself had tasted food for +almost thirty hours. Perhaps this was because of the tension of +excitement about our strange voyage in waters farther north, my +father said, than anyone had ever before been. Active mentality +had dulled the demands of the physical needs. + +Instead of the cold being intense as we had anticipated, it was +really warmer and more pleasant than it had been while in +Hammerfest on the north coast of Norway, some six weeks +before.[9] + +[9 Captain Peary's second voyage relates another +circumstance which may serve to confirm a conjecture which +has long been maintained by some, that an open sea, free of ice, +exists at or near the Pole. "On the second of November," says +Peary, "the wind freshened up to a gale from north by west, +lowered the thermometer before midnight to 5 degrees, +whereas, a rise of wind at Melville Island was generally +accompanied by a simultaneous rise in the thermometer at low +temperatures. May not this," he asks, "be occasioned by the wind +blowing over an open sea in the quarter from which the wind +blows? And tend to confirm the opinion that at or near the +Pole an open sea exists?"] + +We both frankly admitted that we were very hungry, and forthwith +I prepared a substantial meal from our well-stored larder. When +we had partaken heartily of the repast, I told my father I +believed I would sleep, as I was beginning to feel quite drowsy. +"Very well," he replied, "I will keep the watch." + +I have no way to determine how long I slept; I only know that I +was rudely awakened by a terrible commotion of the sloop. To my +surprise, I found my father sleeping soundly. I cried out lustily +to him, and starting up, he sprang quickly to his feet. Indeed, +had he not instantly clutched the rail, he would certainly have +been thrown into the seething waves. + +A fierce snow-storm was raging. The wind was directly astern, +driving our sloop at a terrific speed, and was threatening every +moment to capsize us. There was no time to lose, the sails had to +be lowered immediately. Our boat was writhing in convulsions. A +few icebergs we knew were on either side of us, but fortunately +the channel was open directly to the north. But would it remain +so? In front of us, girding the horizon from left to right, was a +vaporish fog or mist, black as Egyptian night at the water's +edge, and white like a steam-cloud toward the top, which was +finally lost to view as it blended with the great white flakes of +falling snow. Whether it covered a treacherous iceberg, or some +other hidden obstacle against which our little sloop would dash +and send us to a watery grave, or was merely the phenomenon of an +Arctic fog, there was no way to determine.[10] + +[10 On page 284 of his works, Hall writes: "From the +top of Providence Berg, a dark fog was seen to the north, +indicating water. At 10 a. m. three of the men (Kruger, +Nindemann and Hobby) went to Cape Lupton to ascertain if possible +the extent of the open water. On their return they reported +several open spaces and much young ice -- not more than a day +old, so thin that it was easily broken by throwing pieces of +ice upon it."] + +By what miracle we escaped being dashed to utter destruction, I +do not know. I remember our little craft creaked and groaned, as +if its joints were breaking. It rocked and staggered to and fro +as if clutched by some fierce undertow of whirlpool or maelstrom. + +Fortunately our compass had been fastened with long screws to a +crossbeam. Most of our provisions, however, were tumbled out and +swept away from the deck of the cuddy, and had we not taken the +precaution at the very beginning to tie ourselves firmly to the +masts of the sloop, we should have been swept into the lashing +sea. + +Above the deafening tumult of the raging waves, I heard my +father's voice. "Be courageous, my son," he shouted, "Odin is the +god of the waters, the companion of the brave, and he is with us. +Fear not." + +To me it seemed there was no possibility of our escaping a +horrible death. The little sloop was shipping water, the snow was +falling so fast as to be blinding, and the waves were tumbling +over our counters in reckless white-sprayed fury. There was +no telling what instant we should be dashed against some drifting +ice-pack. The tremendous swells would heave us up to the very +peaks of mountainous waves, then plunge us down into the depths +of the sea's trough as if our fishing-sloop were a fragile shell. +Gigantic white-capped waves, like veritable walls, fenced us +in, fore and aft. + +This terrible nerve-racking ordeal, with its nameless horrors of +suspense and agony of fear indescribable, continued for more than +three hours, and all the time we were being driven forward at +fierce speed. Then suddenly, as if growing weary of its frantic +exertions, the wind began to lessen its fury and by degrees to +die down. + +At last we were in a perfect calm. The fog mist had also +disappeared, and before us lay an iceless channel perhaps ten or +fifteen miles wide, with a few icebergs far away to our right, +and an intermittent archipelago of smaller ones to the left. + +I watched my father closely, determined to remain silent until he +spoke. Presently he untied the rope from his waist and, without +saying a word, began working the pumps, which fortunately were +not damaged, relieving the sloop of the water it had shipped +in the madness of the storm. + +He put up the sloop's sails as calmly as if casting a +fishing-net, and then remarked that we were ready for a favoring +wind when it came. His courage and persistence were truly +remarkable. + +On investigation we found less than one-third of our provisions +remaining, while to our utter dismay, we discovered that our +water-casks had been swept overboard during the violent +plungings of our boat. + +Two of our water-casks were in the main hold, but both were +empty. We had a fair supply of food, but no fresh water. I +realized at once the awfulness of our position. Presently I was +seized with a consuming thirst. "It is indeed bad," remarked my +father. "However, let us dry our bedraggled clothing, for we are +soaked to the skin. Trust to the god Odin, my son. Do not give up +hope." + +The sun was beating down slantingly, as if we were in a southern +latitude, instead of in the far Northland. It was swinging +around, its orbit ever visible and rising higher and higher each +day, frequently mist-covered, yet always peering through the +lacework of clouds like some fretful eye of fate, guarding the +mysterious Northland and jealously watching the pranks of man. +Far to our right the rays decking the prisms of icebergs were +gorgeous. Their reflections emitted flashes of garnet, of +diamond, of sapphire. A pyrotechnic panorama of countless colors +and shapes, while below could be seen the green-tinted sea, and +above, the purple sky. + + +PART THREE + +BEYOND THE NORTH WIND + +I TRIED to forget my thirst by busying myself with bringing up +some food and an empty vessel from the hold. Reaching over the +side-rail, I filled the vessel with water for the purpose of +laving my hands and face. To my astonishment, when the water came +in contact with my lips, I could taste no salt. I was startled by +the discovery. "Father!" I fairly gasped, "the water, the water; +it is fresh!" "What, Olaf?" exclaimed my father, glancing hastily +around. "Surely you are mistaken. There is no land. You are going +mad." "But taste it!" I cried. + +And thus we made the discovery that the water was indeed fresh, +absolutely so, without the least briny taste or even the +suspicion of a salty flavor. + +We forthwith filled our two remaining water-casks, and my father +declared it was a heavenly dispensation of mercy from the gods +Odin and Thor. + +We were almost beside ourselves with joy, but hunger bade us end +our enforced fast. Now that we had found fresh water in the open +sea, what might we not expect in this strange latitude where ship +had never before sailed and the splash of an oar had never been +heard? [11] + +[11 In vol. I, page 196, Nansen writes: "It is a +peculiar phenomenon,-- this dead water. We had at present a +better opportunity of studying it than we desired. It occurs +where a surface layer of fresh water rests upon the salt water of +the sea, and this fresh water is carried along with the ship +gliding on the heavier sea beneath it as if on a fixed +foundation. The difference between the two strata was in this +case so great that while we had drinking water on the surface, +the water we got from the bottom cock of the engine-room was far +too salt to be used for the boiler."] + +We had scarcely appeased our hunger when a breeze began filling +the idle sails, and, glancing at the compass, we found the +northern point pressing hard against the glass. + +In response to my surprise, my father said, "I have heard of this +before; it is what they call the dipping of the needle." + +We loosened the compass and turned it at right angles with the +surface of the sea before its point would free itself from the +glass and point according to unmolested attraction. It shifted +uneasily, and seemed as unsteady as a drunken man, but finally +pointed a course. + +Before this we thought the wind was carrying us north by +northwest, but, with the needle free, we discovered, if it could +be relied upon, that we were sailing slightly north by +northeast. Our course, however, was ever tending northward.[12] + +[12 In volume II, pages 18 and 19, Nansen +writes about the inclination of the needle. Speaking of Johnson, +his aide: "One day -- it was November 24 -- he came in to +supper a little after six o'clock, quite alarmed, and said: +'There has just been a singular inclination of the needle in +twenty-four degrees. And remarkably enough, its northern +extremity pointed to the east.'" + +We again find in Peary's first voyage -- page 67,-- the +following: "It had been observed that from the moment they had +entered Lancaster Sound, the motion of the compass needle was +very sluggish, and both this and its deviation increased as +they progressed to the westward, and continued to do so in +descending this inlet. Having reached latitude 73 +degrees, they witnessed for the first time the curious +phenomenon of the directive power of the needle becoming so weak +as to be completely overcome by the attraction of the ship, so +that the needle might now be said to point to the north pole of +the ship."] + +The sea was serenely smooth, with hardly a choppy wave, and the +wind brisk and exhilarating. The sun's rays, while striking us +aslant, furnished tranquil warmth. And thus time wore on day +after day, and we found from the record in our logbook, we had +been sailing eleven days since the storm in the open sea. + +By strictest economy, our food was holding out fairly well, but +beginning to run low. In the meantime, one of our casks of water +had been exhausted, and my father said: "We will fill it again." +But, to our dismay, we found the water was now as salt as in the +region of the Lofoden Islands off the coast of Norway. This +necessitated our being extremely careful of the remaining cask. + +I found myself wanting to sleep much of the time; whether it was +the effect of the exciting experience of sailing in unknown +waters, or the relaxation from the awful excitement incident to +our adventure in a storm at sea, or due to want of food, I could +not say. + +I frequently lay down on the bunker of our little sloop, and +looked far up into the blue dome of the sky; and, notwithstanding +the sun was shining far away in the east, I always saw a single +star overhead. For several days, when I looked for this star, +it was always there directly above us. + +It was now, according to our reckoning, about the first of +August. The sun was high in the heavens, and was so bright that I +could no longer see the one lone star that attracted my attention +a few days earlier. + +One day about this time, my father startled me by calling my +attention to a novel sight far in front of us, almost at the +horizon. "It is a mock sun," exclaimed my father. "I have read +of them; it is called a reflection or mirage. It will soon pass +away." + +But this dull-red, false sun, as we supposed it to be, did not +pass away for several hours; and while we were unconscious of its +emitting any rays of light, still there was no time thereafter +when we could not sweep the horizon in front and locate the +illumination of the so-called false sun, during a period of at +least twelve hours out of every twenty-four. + +Clouds and mists would at times almost, but never entirely, hide +its location. Gradually it seemed to climb higher in the horizon +of the uncertain purply sky as we advanced. + +It could hardly be said to resemble the sun, except in its +circular shape, and when not obscured by clouds or the ocean +mists, it had a hazy-red, bronzed appearance, which would +change to a white light like a luminous cloud, as if reflecting +some greater light beyond. + +"We finally agreed in our discussion of this smoky +furnace-colored sun, that, whatever the cause of the phenomenon, +it was not a reflection of our sun, but a planet of some sort -- +a reality.[13] + +[13 Nansen, on page 394, says: "To-day another +noteworthy thing happened, which was that about mid-day we saw +the sun, or to be more correct, an image of the sun, for it +was only a mirage. A peculiar impression was produced by the +sight of that glowing fire lit just above the outermost edge of +the ice. According to the enthusiastic descriptions given by many +Arctic travelers of the first appearance of this god of life +after the long winter night, the impression ought to be one of +jubilant excitement; but it was not so in my case. We had not +expected to see it for some days yet, so that my feeling was +rather one of pain, of disappointment that we must have drifted +farther south than we thought. So it was with pleasure I soon +discovered that it could not be the sun itself. The mirage was at +first a flattened-out, glowing red, streak of fire on the +horizon; later there were two streaks, the one above the other, +with a dark space between; and from the maintop I could see four, +or even five, such horizontal lines directly over one another, +all of equal length, as if one could only imagine a square, +dull-red sun, with horizontal dark streaks across it."] + +One day soon after this, I felt exceedingly drowsy, and fell into +a sound sleep. But it seemed that I was almost immediately +aroused by my father's vigorous shaking of me by the shoulder and +saying: "Olaf, awaken; there is land in sight!" + +I sprang to my feet, and oh! joy unspeakable! There, far in the +distance, yet directly in our path, were lands jutting boldly +into the sea. The shore-line stretched far away to the right of +us, as far as the eye could see, and all along the sandy beach +were waves breaking into choppy foam, receding, then going +forward again, ever chanting in monotonous thunder tones the song +of the deep. The banks were covered with trees and vegetation. + +I cannot express my feeling of exultation at this discovery. My +father stood motionless, with his hand on the tiller, looking +straight ahead, pouring out his heart in thankful prayer and +thanksgiving to the gods Odin and Thor. + +In the meantime, a net which we found in the stowage had been +cast, and we caught a few fish that materially added to our +dwindling stock of provisions. + +The compass, which we had fastened back in its place, in fear of +another storm, was still pointing due north, and moving on its +pivot, just as it had at Stockholm. The dipping of the needle had +ceased. What could this mean? Then, too, our many days of sailing +had certainly carried us far past the North Pole. And yet the +needle continued to point north. We were sorely perplexed, for +surely our direction was now south.[14] + +[14 Peary's first voyage, pages 69 and 70, +says: "On reaching Sir Byam Martin's Island, the nearest to +Melville Island, the latitude of the place of observation was +75 degrees - 09' - 23", and the longitude 103 +degrees - 44' - 37"; the dip of the magnetic needle 88 +degrees - 25' - 56" west in the longitude of 91 +degrees - 48', where the last observations on the shore +had been made, to 165 degrees - 50' - 09", east, at +their present station, so thatwe had," says Peary, "in sailing +over the space included between these two meridians, crossed +immediately northward of the magnetic pole, and had undoubtedly +passed over one of those spots upon the globe where the needle +would have been found to vary 180 degrees, or in other +words, where the North Pole would have pointed to the south."] + +We sailed for three days along the shoreline, then came to the +mouth of a fjord or river of immense size. It seemed more like a +great bay, and into this we turned our fishing-craft, the +direction being slightly northeast of south. By the assistance of +a fretful wind that came to our aid about twelve hours out of +every twenty-four, we continued to make our way inland, into what +afterward proved to be a mighty river, and which we learned was +called by the inhabitants Hiddekel. + +We continued our journey for ten days thereafter, and found we +had fortunately attained a distance inland where ocean tides no +longer affected the water, which had become fresh. + +The discovery came none too soon, for our remaining cask of water +was well-nigh exhausted. We lost no time in replenishing our +casks, and continued to sail farther up the river when the wind +was favorable. + +Along the banks great forests miles in extent could be seen +stretching away on the shore-line. The trees were of enormous +size. We landed after anchoring near a sandy beach, and waded +ashore, and were rewarded by finding a quantity of nuts that +were very palatable and satisfying to hunger, and a welcome +change from the monotony of our stock of provisions. + +It was about the first of September, over five months, we +calculated, since our leave-taking from Stockholm. Suddenly we +were frightened almost out of our wits by hearing in the far +distance the singing of people. Very soon thereafter we +discovered a huge ship gliding down the river directly toward us. +Those aboard were singing in one mighty chorus that, echoing from +bank to bank, sounded like a thousand voices, filling the whole +universe with quivering melody. The accompaniment was played on +stringed instruments not unlike our harps. + +It was a larger ship than any we had ever seen, and was differently +constructed.[15] + +[15 Asiatic Mythology,-- page 240, "Paradise +found" -- from translation by Sayce, in a book called "Records +of the Past," we were told of a "dwelling" which "the gods +created for" the first human beings,-- a dwelling in which they +"became great" and "increased in numbers," and the location of +which is described in words exactly corresponding to those of +Iranian, Indian, Chinese, Eddaic and Aztecan literature; namely, +"in the center of the earth." -- Warren.] + +At this particular time our sloop was becalmed, and not far from +the shore. The bank of the river, covered with mammoth trees, +rose up several hundred feet in beautiful fashion. We seemed to +be on the edge of some primeval forest that doubtless stretched +far inland. + +The immense craft paused, and almost immediately a boat was +lowered and six men of gigantic stature rowed to our little +fishing-sloop. They spoke to us in a strange language. We knew +from their manner, however, that they were not unfriendly. They +talked a great deal among themselves, and one of them laughed +immoderately, as though in finding us a queer discovery had been +made. One of them spied our compass, and it seemed to interest +them more than any other part of our sloop. + +Finally, the leader motioned as if to ask whether we were willing +to leave our craft to go on board their ship. "What say you, my +son?" asked my father. "They cannot do any more than kill us." + +"They seem to be kindly disposed," I replied, "although what +terrible giants! They must be the select six of the kingdom's +crack regiment. Just look at their great size." + +"We may as well go willingly as be taken by force," said my +father, smiling, "for they are certainly able to capture us." +Thereupon he made known, by signs, that we were ready to +accompany them. + +Within a few minutes we were on board the ship, and half an hour +later our little fishing-craft had been lifted bodily out of the +water by a strange sort of hook and tackle, and set on board as a +curiosity. + +There were several hundred people on board this, to us, mammoth +ship, which we discovered was called "The Naz," meaning, as we +afterward learned, "Pleasure," or to give a more proper +interpretation, "Pleasure Excursion" ship. + +If my father and I were curiously observed by the ship's +occupants, this strange race of giants offered us an equal amount +of wonderment. + +There was not a single man aboard who would not have measured +fully twelve feet in height. They all wore full beards, not +particularly long, but seemingly short-cropped. They had mild and +beautiful faces, exceedingly fair, with ruddy complexions. The +hair and beard of some were black, others sandy, and still others +yellow. The captain, as we designated the dignitary in command of +the great vessel, was fully a head taller than any of his +companions. The women averaged from ten to eleven feet in height. +Their features were especially regular and refined, while their +complexion was of a most delicate tint heightened by a healthful +glow.[16] + +[16 "According to all procurable data, that spot at the era +of man's appearance upon the stage was in the now lost 'Miocene +continent,' which then surrounded the Arctic Pole. That in that +true, original Eden some of the early generations of men attained +to a stature and longevity unequaled in any countries known to +postdiluvian history is by no means scientifically incredible." +-- Wm. F. Warren, "Paradise Found," p. 284.] + +Both men and women seemed to possess that particular ease of +manner which we deem a sign of good breeding, and, +notwithstanding their huge statures, there was nothing about them +suggesting awkwardness. As I was a lad in only my nineteenth +year, I was doubtless looked upon as a true Tom Thumb. My +father's six feet three did not lift the top of his head above +the waist line of these people. + +Each one seemed to vie with the others in extending courtesies +and showing kindness to us, but all laughed heartily, I remember, +when they had to improvise chairs for my father and myself to sit +at table. They were richly attired in a costume peculiar to +themselves, and very attractive. The men were clothed in +handsomely embroidered tunics of silk and satin and belted at the +waist. They wore knee-breeches and stockings of a fine texture, +while their feet were encased in sandals adorned with gold +buckles. We early discovered that gold was one of the most common +metals known, and that it was used extensively in decoration. + +Strange as it may seem, neither my father nor myself felt the +least bit of solicitude for our safety. "We have come into our +own," my father said to me. "This is the fulfillment of the +tradition told me by my father and my father's father, and still +back for many generations of our race. This is, assuredly, the +land beyond the North Wind." + +We seemed to make such an impression on the party that we were +given specially into the charge of one of the men, Jules Galdea, +and his wife, for the purpose of being educated in their +language; and we, on our part, were just as eager to learn as +they were to instruct. + +At the captain's command, the vessel was swung cleverly about, +and began retracing its course up the river. The machinery, while +noiseless, was very powerful. + +The banks and trees on either side seemed to rush by. The ship's +speed, at times, surpassed that of any railroad train on which I +have ever ridden, even here in America. It was wonderful. + +In the meantime we had lost sight of the sun's rays, but we found +a radiance "within" emanating from the dull-red sun which had +already attracted our attention, now giving out a white light +seemingly from a cloud-bank far away in front of us. It dispensed +a greater light, I should say, than two full moons on the +clearest night. + +In twelve hours this cloud of whiteness would pass out of sight +as if eclipsed, and the twelve hours following corresponded with +our night. We early learned that these strange people were +worshipers of this great cloud of night. It was "The Smoky +God" of the "Inner World." + +The ship was equipped with a mode of illumination which I now +presume was electricity, but neither my father nor myself were +sufficiently skilled in mechanics to understand whence came the +power to operate the ship, or to maintain the soft beautiful +lights that answered the same purpose of our present methods of +lighting the streets of our cities, our houses and places of +business. + +It must be remembered, the time of which I write was the autumn +of 1829, and we of the "outside" surface of the earth knew +nothing then, so to speak, of electricity. + +The electrically surcharged condition of the air was a constant +vitalizer. I never felt better in my life than during the two +years my father and I sojourned on the inside of the earth. + +To resume my narrative of events; The ship on which we were +sailing came to a stop two days after we had been taken on board. +My father said as nearly as he could judge, we were directly +under Stockholm or London. The city we had reached was called +"Jehu," signifying a seaport town. The houses were large and +beautifully constructed, and quite uniform in appearance, yet +without sameness. The principal occupation of the people appeared +to be agriculture; the hillsides were covered with vineyards, +while the valleys were devoted to the growing of grain. + +I never saw such a display of gold. It was everywhere. The +door-casings were inlaid and the tables were veneered with +sheetings of gold. Domes of the public buildings were of gold. It +was used most generously in the finishings of the great temples +of music. + +Vegetation grew in lavish exuberance, and fruit of all kinds +possessed the most delicate flavor. Clusters of grapes four and +five feet in length, each grape as large as an orange, and +apples larger than a man's head typified the wonderful growth of +all things on the "inside" of the earth. + +The great redwood trees of California would be considered mere +underbrush compared with the giant forest trees extending for +miles and miles in all directions. In many directions along the +foothills of the mountains vast herds of cattle were seen during +the last day of our travel on the river. + +"We heard much of a city called "Eden," but were kept at "Jehu" +for an entire year. By the end of that time we had learned to +speak fairly well the language of this strange race of people. +Our instructors, Jules Galdea and his wife, exhibited a patience +that was truly commendable. + +One day an envoy from the Ruler at "Eden" came to see us, and for +two whole days my father and myself were put through a series of +surprising questions. They wished to know from whence we came, +what sort of people dwelt "without," what God we worshiped, our +religious beliefs, the mode of living in our strange land, and a +thousand other things. + +The compass which we had brought with us attracted especial +attention. My father and I commented between ourselves on the +fact that the compass still pointed north, although we now knew +that we had sailed over the curve or edge of the earth's +aperture, and were far along southward on the "inside" surface of +the earth's crust, which, according to my father's estimate and +my own, is about three hundred miles in thickness from the +"inside" to the "outside" surface. Relatively speaking, it is no +thicker than an egg-shell, so that there is almost as much +surface on the "inside" as on the "outside" of the earth. + +The great luminous cloud or ball of dull-red fire -- fiery-red in +the mornings and evenings, and during the day giving off a +beautiful white light, "The Smoky God," -- is seemingly suspended +in the center of the great vacuum "within" the earth, and held +to its place by the immutable law of gravitation, or a repellant +atmospheric force, as the case may be. I refer to the known power +that draws or repels with equal force in all directions. + +The base of this electrical cloud or central luminary, the seat +of the gods, is dark and non-transparent, save for innumerable +small openings, seemingly in the bottom of the great support or +altar of the Deity, upon which "The Smoky God" rests; and, the +lights shining through these many openings twinkle at night in +all their splendor, and seem to be stars, as natural as the stars +we saw shining when in our home at Stockholm, excepting that they +appear larger. "The Smoky God," therefore, with each daily +revolution of the earth, appears to come up in the east and go +down in the west, the same as does our sun on the external +surface. In reality, the people "within" believe that "The Smoky +God" is the throne of their Jehovah, and is stationary. The +effect of night and day is, therefore, produced by the earth's +daily rotation. + +I have since discovered that the language of the people of the +Inner World is much like the Sanskrit. + +After we had given an account of ourselves to the emissaries from +the central seat of government of the inner continent, and my +father had, in his crude way, drawn maps, at their request, of +the "outside" surface of the earth, showing the divisions of +land and water, and giving the name of each of the continents, +large islands and the oceans, we were taken overland to the city +of "Eden," in a conveyance different from anything we have in +Europe or America. This vehicle was doubtless some electrical +contrivance. It was noiseless, and ran on a single iron rail in +perfect balance. The trip was made at a very high rate of speed. +We were carried up hills and down dales, across valleys and again +along the sides of steep mountains, without any apparent attempt +having been made to level the earth as we do for railroad tracks. +The car seats were huge yet comfortable affairs, and very high +above the floor of the car. On the top of each car were high +geared fly wheels lying on their sides, which were so +automatically adjusted that, as the speed of the car increased, +the high speed of these fly wheels geometrically increased. +Jules Galdea explained to us that these revolving fan-like wheels +on top of the cars destroyed atmospheric pressure, or what is +generally understood by the term gravitation, and with this force +thus destroyed or rendered nugatory the car is as safe from +falling to one side or the other from the single rail track as if +it were in a vacuum; the fly wheels in their rapid revolutions +destroying effectually the so-called power of gravitation, or the +force of atmospheric pressure or whatever potent influence it may +be that causes all unsupported things to fall downward to the +earth's surface or to the nearest point of resistance. + +The surprise of my father and myself was indescribable when, amid +the regal magnificence of a spacious hall, we were finally +brought before the Great High Priest, ruler over all the land. He +was richly robed, and much taller than those about him, and could +not have been less than fourteen or fifteen feet in height. The +immense room in which we were received seemed finished in solid +slabs of gold thickly studded with jewels, of amazing brilliancy. + +The city of "Eden" is located in what seems to be a beautiful +valley, yet, in fact, it is on the loftiest mountain plateau of +the Inner Continent, several thousand feet higher than any +portion of the surrounding country. It is the most beautiful +place I have ever beheld in all my travels. In this elevated +garden all manner of fruits, vines, shrubs, trees, and flowers +grow in riotous profusion. + +In this garden four rivers have their source in a mighty artesian +fountain. They divide and flow in four directions. This place is +called by the inhabitants the "navel of the earth," or the +beginning, "the cradle of the human race." The names of the +rivers are the Euphrates, the Pison, the Gihon, and the +Hiddekel.[17] + +[17 "And the Lord God planted a garden, and out of the +ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to +the sight and good for food." -- The Book of Genesis.] + +The unexpected awaited us in this palace of beauty, in the +finding of our little fishing-craft. It had been brought before +the High Priest in perfect shape, just as it had been taken from +the waters that day when it was loaded on board the ship by the +people who discovered us on the river more than a year before. + +"We were given an audience of over two hours with this great +dignitary, who seemed kindly disposed and considerate. He showed +himself eagerly interested, asking us numerous questions, and +invariably regarding things about which his emissaries had failed +to inquire. + +At the conclusion of the interview he inquired our pleasure, +asking us whether we wished to remain in his country or if we +preferred to return to the "outer" world, providing it were +possible to make a successful return trip, across the frozen belt +barriers that encircle both the northern and southern openings of +the earth. + +My father replied: "It would please me and my son to visit your +country and see your people, your colleges and palaces of music +and art, your great fields, your wonderful forests of timber; and +after we have had this pleasurable privilege, we should like to +try to return to our home on the 'outside' surface of the earth. +This son is my only child, and my good wife will be weary +awaiting our return." + +"I fear you can never return," replied the Chief High Priest, +"because the way is a most hazardous one. However, you shall +visit the different countries with Jules Galdea as your escort, +and be accorded every courtesy and kindness. Whenever you are +ready to attempt a return voyage, I assure you that your boat +which is here on exhibition shall be put in the waters of the +river Hiddekel at its mouth, and we will bid you Jehovah-speed." + +Thus terminated our only interview with the High Priest or Ruler +of the continent. + + + +PART FOUR + +IN THE UNDER WORLD + +WE learned that the males do not marry before they are from +seventy-five to one hundred years old, and that the age at which +women enter wedlock is only a little less, and that both men and +women frequently live to be from six to eight hundred years old, +and in some instances much older.[18] + +[18 Josephus says: "God prolonged the life of the +patriarchs that preceded the deluge, both on account of their +virtues and to give them the opportunity of perfecting the +sciences of geometry and astronomy, which they had discovered; +which they could not have done if they had not lived 600 +years, because it is only after the lapse of 600 years +that the great year is accomplished." -- Flammarion, Astronomical +Myths, Paris p. 26.] + +During the following year we visited many villages and towns, +prominent among them being the cities of Nigi, Delfi, Hectea, and +my father was called upon no less than a half-dozen times to go +over the maps which had been made from the rough sketches he had +originally given of the divisions of land and water on the +"outside" surface of the earth. + +I remember hearing my father remark that the giant race of people +in the land of "The Smoky God" had almost as accurate an idea of +the geography of the "outside" surface of the earth as had the +average college professor in Stockholm. + +In our travels we came to a forest of gigantic trees, near the +city of Delfi. Had the Bible said there were trees towering over +three hundred feet in height, and more than thirty feet in +diameter, growing in the Garden of Eden, the Ingersolls, the Tom +Paines and Voltaires would doubtless have pronounced the +statement a myth. Yet this is the description of the California +sequoia gigantea; but these California giants pale into +insignificance when compared with the forest Goliaths found in +the "within" continent, where abound mighty trees from eight +hundred to one thousand feet in height, and from one hundred +to one hundred and twenty feet in diameter; countless in numbers +and forming forests extending hundreds of miles back from the +sea. + +The people are exceedingly musical, and learned to a remarkable +degree in their arts and sciences, especially geometry and +astronomy. Their cities are equipped with vast palaces of music, +where not infrequently as many as twenty-five thousand lusty +voices of this giant race swell forth in mighty choruses of the +most sublime symphonies. + +The children are not supposed to attend institutions of learning +before they are twenty years old. Then their school life begins +and continues for thirty years, ten of which are uniformly +devoted by both sexes to the study of music. + +Their principal vocations are architecture, agriculture, +horticulture, the raising of vast herds of cattle, and the +building of conveyances peculiar to that country, for travel on +land and water. By some device which I cannot explain, they hold +communion with one another between the most distant parts of +their country, on air currents. + +All buildings are erected with special regard to strength, +durability, beauty and symmetry, and with a style of architecture +vastly more attractive to the eye than any I have ever observed +elsewhere. + +About three-fourths of the "inner" surface of the earth is land +and about one-fourth water. There are numerous rivers of +tremendous size, some flowing in a northerly direction and others +southerly. Some of these rivers are thirty miles in width, and +it is out of these vast waterways, at the extreme northern and +southern parts of the "inside" surface of the earth, in regions +where low temperatures are experienced, that fresh-water icebergs +are formed. They are then pushed out to sea like huge tongues of +ice, by the abnormal freshets of turbulent waters that, twice +every year, sweep everything before them. + +We saw innumerable specimens of bird-life no larger than those +encountered in the forests of Europe or America. It is well known +that during the last few years whole species of birds have quit +the earth. A writer in a recent article on this subject +says:[19] + +[19 "Almost every year sees the final extinction of one or +more bird species. Out of fourteen varieties of birds found a +century since on a single island -- the West Indian island of St. +Thomas -- eight have now to be numbered among the missing."] + +Is it not possible that these disappearing bird species quit +their habitation without, and find an asylum in the "within +world"? + +Whether inland among the mountains, or along the seashore, we +found bird life prolific. When they spread their great wings some +of the birds appeared to measure thirty feet from tip to tip. +They are of great variety and many colors. We were permitted to +climb up on the edge of a rock and examine a nest of eggs. There +were five in the nest, each of which was at least two feet in +length and fifteen inches in diameter. + +After we had been in the city of Hectea about a week, Professor +Galdea took us to an inlet, where we saw thousands of tortoises +along the sandy shore. I hesitate to state the size of these +great creatures. They were from twenty-five to thirty feet in +length, from fifteen to twenty feet in width and fully seven feet +in height. When one of them projected its head it had the +appearance of some hideous sea monster. + +The strange conditions "within" are favorable not only for vast +meadows of luxuriant grasses, forests of giant trees, and all +manner of vegetable life, but wonderful animal life as well. + +One day we saw a great herd of elephants. There must have been +five hundred of these thunder-throated monsters, with their +restlessly waving trunks. They were tearing huge boughs from the +trees and trampling smaller growth into dust like so much +hazel-brush. They would average over 100 feet in length and from +75 to 85 in height. + +It seemed, as I gazed upon this wonderful herd of giant +elephants, that I was again living in the public library at +Stockholm, where I had spent much time studying the wonders of +the Miocene age. I was filled with mute astonishment, and my +father was speechless with awe. He held my arm with a protecting +grip, as if fearful harm would overtake us. We were two atoms in +this great forest, and, fortunately, unobserved by this vast herd +of elephants as they drifted on and away, following a leader as +does a herd of sheep. They browsed from growing herbage which +they encountered as they traveled, and now and again shook the +firmament with their deep bellowing.[20] + +[20 "Moreover, there were a great number of elephants in +the island: and there was provision for animals of every kind. +Also whatever fragrant things there are in the earth, whether +roots or herbage, or woods, or distilling drops of flowers or +fruits, grew and thrived in that land." -- The Cratylus of +Plato.] + +There is a hazy mist that goes up from the land each evening, and +it invariably rains once every twenty-four hours. This great +moisture and the invigorating electrical light and warmth account +perhaps for the luxuriant vegetation, while the highly charged +electrical air and the evenness of climatic conditions may have +much to do with the giant growth and longevity of all animal +life. + +In places the level valleys stretched away for many miles in +every direction. "The Smoky God," in its clear white light, +looked calmly down. There was an intoxication in the electrically +surcharged air that fanned the cheek as softly as a vanishing +whisper. Nature chanted a lullaby in the faint murmur of winds +whose breath was sweet with the fragrance of bud and blossom. + +After having spent considerably more than a year in visiting +several of the many cities of the "within" world and a great deal +of intervening country, and more than two years had passed from +the time we had been picked up by the great excursion ship on the +river, we decided to cast our fortunes once more upon the sea, +and endeavor to regain the "outside" surface of the earth. + +We made known our wishes, and they were reluctantly but promptly +followed. Our hosts gave my father, at his request, various maps +showing the entire "inside" surface of the earth, its cities, +oceans, seas, rivers, gulfs and bays. They also generously +offered to give us all the bags of gold nuggets -- some of them +as large as a goose's egg -- that we were willing to attempt to +take with us in our little fishing-boat. + +In due time we returned to Jehu, at which place we spent one +month in fixing up and overhauling our little fishing sloop. +After all was in readiness, the same ship "Naz" that originally +discovered us, took us on board and sailed to the mouth of the +river Hiddekel. + +After our giant brothers had launched our little craft for us, +they were most cordially regretful at parting, and evinced much +solicitude for our safety. My father swore by the Gods Odin and +Thor that he would surely return again within a year or two and +pay them another visit. And thus we bade them adieu. We made +ready and hoisted our sail, but there was little breeze. We were +becalmed within an hour after our giant friends had left us and +started on their return trip. + +The winds were constantly blowing south, that is, they were +blowing from the northern opening of the earth toward that which +we knew to be south, but which, according to our compass's +pointing finger, was directly north. + +For three days we tried to sail, and to beat against the wind, +but to no avail. Whereupon my father said: "My son, to return by +the same route as we came in is impossible at this time of year. +I wonder why we did not think of this before. We have been here +almost two and a half years; therefore, this is the season when +the sun is beginning to shine in at the southern opening of the +earth. The long cold night is on in the Spitzbergen country." + +"What shall we do?" I inquired. + +"There is only one thing we can do," my father replied, "and that +is to go south." Accordingly, he turned the craft about, gave it +full reef, and started by the compass north but, in fact, +directly south. The wind was strong, and we seemed to have struck +a current that was running with remarkable swiftness in the same +direction. + +In just forty days we arrived at Delfi, a city we had visited in +company with our guides Jules Galdea and his wife, near the mouth +of the Gihon river. Here we stopped for two days, and were most +hospitably entertained by the same people who had welcomed us on +our former visit. We laid in some additional provisions and again +set sail, following the needle due north. + +On our outward trip we came through a narrow channel which +appeared to be a separating body of water between two +considerable bodies of land. There was a beautiful beach to our +right, and we decided to reconnoiter. Casting anchor, we waded +ashore to rest up for a day before continuing the outward +hazardous undertaking. We built a fire and threw on some sticks +of dry driftwood. While my father was walking along the shore, I +prepared a tempting repast from supplies we had provided. + +There was a mild, luminous light which my father said resulted +from the sun shining in from the south aperture of the earth. +That night we slept soundly, and awakened the next morning as +refreshed as if we had been in our own beds at Stockholm. + +After breakfast we started out on an inland tour of discovery, +but had not gone far when we sighted some birds which we +recognized at once as belonging to the penguin family. + +They are flightless birds, but excellent swimmers and tremendous +in size, with white breast, short wings, black head, and long +peaked bills. They stand fully nine feet high. They looked at us +with little surprise, and presently waddled, rather than walked, +toward the water, and swam away in a northerly direction.[21] + +[21 "The nights are never so dark at the Poles as in other +regions, for the moon and stars seem to possess twice as much +light and effulgence. In addition, there is a continuous light, +the varied shades and play of which are amongst the strangest +phenomena of nature." -- Rambrosson's Astronomy.] + +The events that occurred during the following hundred or more +days beggar description. We were on an open and iceless sea. The +month we reckoned to be November or December, and we knew the +so-called South Pole was turned toward the sun. Therefore, when +passing out and away from the internal electrical light of "The +Smoky God" and its genial warmth, we would be met by the light +and warmth of the sun, shining in through the south opening of +the earth. We were not mistaken.[22] + +[22 "The fact that gives the phenomenon of the polar aurora +its greatest importance is that the earth becomes self-luminous; +that, besides the light which as a planet is received from the +central body, it shows a capability of sustaining a luminous +process proper to itself." -- Humboldt.] + +There were times when our little craft, driven by wind that was +continuous and persistent, shot through the waters like an arrow. +Indeed, had we encountered a hidden rock or obstacle, our little +vessel would have been crushed into kindling-wood. + +At last we were conscious that the atmosphere was growing +decidedly colder, and, a few days later, icebergs were sighted +far to the left. My father argued, and correctly, that the winds +which filled our sails came from the warm climate "within." The +time of the year was certainly most auspicious for us to make our +dash for the "outside" world and attempt to scud our fishing +sloop through open channels of the frozen zone which surrounds +the polar regions. + +We were soon amid the ice-packs, and how our little craft got +through. the narrow channels and escaped being crushed I know +not. The compass behaved in the same drunken and unreliable +fashion in passing over the southern curve or edge of the +earth's shell as it had done on our inbound trip at the northern +entrance. It gyrated, dipped and seemed like a thing +possessed.[23] + +[23 Captain Sabine, on page 105 in "Voyages in the +Arctic Regions," says: "The geographical determination of the +direction and intensity of the magnetic forces at different +points of the earth's surface has been regarded as an object +worthy of especial research. To examine in different parts of the +globe, the declination, inclination and intensity of the magnetic +force, and their periodical and secular variations, and mutual +relations and dependencies could be duly investigated only in +fixed magnetical observatories."] + +One day as I was lazily looking over the sloop's side into the +clear waters, my father shouted: "Breakers ahead!" Looking up, I +saw through a lifting mist a white object that towered several +hundred feet high, completely shutting off our advance. We +lowered sail immediately, and none too soon. In a moment we found +ourselves wedged between two monstrous icebergs. Each was +crowding and grinding against its fellow mountain of ice. They +were like two gods of war contending for supremacy. We were +greatly alarmed. Indeed, we were between the lines of a battle +royal; the sonorous thunder of the grinding ice was like the +continued volleys of artillery. Blocks of ice larger than a house +were frequently lifted up a hundred feet by the mighty force of +lateral pressure; they would shudder and rock to and fro for a +few seconds, then come crashing down with a deafening roar, and +disappear in the foaming waters. Thus, for more than two hours, +the contest of the icy giants continued. + +It seemed as if the end had come. The ice pressure was terrific, +and while we were not caught in the dangerous part of the jam, +and were safe for the time being, yet the heaving and rending of +tons of ice as it fell splashing here and there into the watery +depths filled us with shaking fear. + +Finally, to our great joy, the grinding of the ice ceased, and +within a few hours the great mass slowly divided, and, as if an +act of Providence had been performed, right before us lay an open +channel. Should we venture with our little craft into this +opening? If the pressure came on again, our little sloop as well +as ourselves would be crushed into nothingness. We decided to +take the chance, and, accordingly, hoisted our sail to a favoring +breeze, and soon started out like a race-horse, running the +gauntlet of this unknown narrow channel of open water. + + + +PART FIVE + +AMONG THE ICE PACKS + +FOR the next forty-five days our time was employed in dodging +icebergs and hunting channels; indeed, had we not been favored +with a strong south wind and a small boat, I doubt if this story +could have ever been given to the world. + +At last, there came a morning when my father said: "My son, I +think we are to see home. We are almost through the ice. See! the +open water lies before us." + +However, there were a few icebergs that had floated far northward +into the open water still ahead of us on either side, stretching +away for many miles. Directly in front of us, and by the compass, +which had now righted itself, due north, there was an open sea. + +"What a wonderful story we have to tell to the people of +Stockholm," continued my father, while a look of pardonable +elation lighted up his honest face. "And think of the gold +nuggets stowed away in the hold!" + +I spoke kind words of praise to my father, not alone for his +fortitude and endurance, but also for his courageous daring as a +discoverer, and for having made the voyage that now promised a +successful end. I was grateful, too, that he had gathered the +wealth of gold we were carrying home. + +While congratulating ourselves on the goodly supply of provisions +and water we still had on hand, and on the dangers we had +escaped, we were startled by hearing a most terrific explosion, +caused by the tearing apart of a huge mountain of ice. It was +a deafening roar like the firing of a thousand cannon. We were +sailing at the time with great speed, and happened to be near a +monstrous iceberg which to all appearances was as immovable as a +rockbound island. It seemed, however, that the iceberg had split +and was breaking apart, whereupon the balance of the monster +along which we were sailing was destroyed, and it began dipping +from us. My father quickly anticipated the danger before I +realized its awful possibilities. The iceberg extended down into +the water many hundreds of feet, and, as it tipped over, the +portion coming up out of the water caught our fishing-craft like +a lever on a fulcrum, and threw it into the air as if it had +been a foot-ball. + +Our boat fell back on the iceberg, that by this time had changed +the side next to us for the top. My father was still in the boat, +having become entangled in the rigging, while I was thrown some +twenty feet away. + +I quickly scrambled to my feet and shouted to my father, who +answered: "All is well." Just then a realization dawned upon me. +Horror upon horror! The blood froze in my veins. The iceberg was +still in motion, and its great weight and force in toppling +over would cause it to submerge temporarily. I fully realized +what a sucking maelstrom it would produce amid the worlds of +water on every side. They would rush into the depression in all +their fury, like white-fanged wolves eager for human prey. + +In this supreme moment of mental anguish, I remember glancing at +our boat, which was lying on its side, and wondering if it could +possibly right itself, and if my father could escape. Was this +the end of our struggles and adventures? Was this death? All +these questions flashed through my mind in the fraction of a +second, and a moment later I was engaged in a life and death +struggle. The ponderous monolith of ice sank below the surface, +and the frigid waters gurgled around me in frenzied anger. I was +in a saucer, with the waters pouring in on every side. A moment +more and I lost consciousness. + +When I partially recovered my senses, and roused from the swoon +of a half-drowned man, I found myself wet, stiff, and almost +frozen, lying on the iceberg. But there was no sign of my father +or of our little fishing sloop. The monster berg had recovered +itself, and, with its new balance, lifted its head perhaps fifty +feet above the waves. The top of this island of ice was a plateau +perhaps half an acre in extent. + +I loved my father well, and was grief-stricken at the awfulness +of his death. I railed at fate, that I, too, had not been +permitted to sleep with him in the depths of the ocean. Finally, +I climbed to my feet and looked about me. The purple-domed sky +above, the shoreless green ocean beneath, and only an occasional +iceberg discernible! My heart sank in hopeless despair. I +cautiously picked my way across the berg toward the other side, +hoping that our fishing craft had righted itself. + +Dared I think it possible that my father still lived? It was but +a ray of hope that flamed up in my heart. But the anticipation +warmed my blood in my veins and started it rushing like some rare +stimulant through every fiber of my body. + +I crept close to the precipitous side of the iceberg, and peered +far down, hoping, still hoping. Then I made a circle of the berg, +scanning every foot of the way, and thus I kept going around and +around. One part of my brain was certainly becoming maniacal, +while the other part, I believe, and do to this day, was +perfectly rational. + +I was conscious of having made the circuit a dozen times, and +while one part of my intelligence knew, in all reason, there was +not a vestige of hope, yet some strange fascinating aberration +bewitched and compelled me still to beguile myself with +expectation. The other part of my brain seemed to tell me that +while there was no possibility of my father being alive, yet, if +I quit making the circuitous pilgrimage, if I paused for a single +moment, it would be acknowledgment of defeat, and, should I do +this, I felt that I should go mad. Thus, hour after hour I walked +around and around, afraid to stop and rest, yet physically +powerless to continue much longer. Oh! horror of horrors! to be +cast away in this wide expanse of waters without food or drink, +and only a treacherous iceberg for an abiding place. My heart +sank within me, and all semblance of hope was fading into black +despair. + +Then the hand of the Deliverer was extended, and the death-like +stillness of a solitude rapidly becoming unbearable was suddenly +broken by the firing of a signal-gun. I looked up in startled +amazement, when, I saw, less than a half-mile away, a +whaling-vessel bearing down toward me with her sail full set. + +Evidently my continued activity on the iceberg had attracted +their attention. On drawing near, they put out a boat, and, +descending cautiously to the water's edge, I was rescued, and +a little later lifted on board the whaling-ship. + +I found it was a Scotch whaler, "The Arlington." She had cleared +from Dundee in September, and started immediately for the +Antarctic, in search of whales. The captain, Angus MacPherson, +seemed kindly disposed, but in matters of discipline, as I soon +learned, possessed of an iron will. When I attempted to tell him +that I had come from the "inside" of the earth, the captain and +mate looked at each other, shook their heads, and insisted on my +being put in a bunk under strict surveillance of the ship's +physician. + +I was very weak for want of food, and had not slept for many +hours. However, after a few days' rest, I got up one morning and +dressed myself without asking permission of the physician or +anyone else, and told them that I was as sane as anyone. + +The captain sent for me and again questioned me concerning where +I had come from, and how I came to be alone on an iceberg in the +far off Antarctic Ocean. I replied that I had just come from the +"inside" of the earth, and proceeded to tell him how my father +and myself had gone in by way of Spitzbergen, and come out by +way of the South Pole country, whereupon I was put in irons. I +afterward heard the captain tell the mate that I was as crazy as +a March hare, and that I must remain in confinement until I was +rational enough to give a truthful account of myself. + +Finally, after much pleading and many promises, I was released +from irons. I then and there decided to invent some story that +would satisfy the captain, and never again refer to my trip to +the land of "The Smoky God," at least until I was safe among +friends. + +Within a fortnight I was permitted to go about and take my place +as one of the seamen. A little later the captain asked me for an +explanation. I told him that my experience had been so horrible +that I was fearful of my memory, and begged him to permit me to +leave the question unanswered until some time in the future. "I +think you are recovering considerably," he said, "but you are not +sane yet by a good deal." "Permit me to do such work as you may +assign," I replied, "and if it does not compensate you +sufficiently, I will pay you immediately after I reach Stockholm +-- to the last penny." Thus the matter rested. + +On finally reaching Stockholm, as I have already related, I found +that my good mother had gone to her reward more than a year +before. I have also told how, later, the treachery of a relative +landed me in a madhouse, where I remained for twenty-eight years +-- seemingly unending years -- and, still later, after my +release, how I returned to the life of a fisherman, following it +sedulously for twenty-seven years, then how I came to America, +and finally to Los Angeles, California. But all this can be of +little interest to the reader. Indeed, it seems to me the climax +of my wonderful travels and strange adventures was reached when +the Scotch sailing-vessel took me from an iceberg on the +Antarctic Ocean. + + + +PART SIX + +CONCLUSION + +IN concluding this history of my adventures, I wish to state that +I firmly believe science is yet in its infancy concerning the +cosmology of the earth. There is so much that is unaccounted for +by the world's accepted knowledge of to-day, and will ever remain +so until the land of "The Smoky God" is known and recognized by +our geographers. + +It is the land from whence came the great logs of cedar that have +been found by explorers in open waters far over the northern edge +of the earth's crust, and also the bodies of mammoths whose bones +are found in vast beds on the Siberian coast. + +Northern explorers have done much. Sir John Franklin, De Haven +Grinnell, Sir John Murray, Kane, Melville, Hall, Nansen, +Schwatka, Greely, Peary, Ross, Gerlache, Bernacchi, Andree, +Amsden, Amundson and others have all been striving to storm the +frozen citadel of mystery. + +I firmly believe that Andree and his two brave companions, +Strindberg and Fraenckell, who sailed away in the balloon "Oreon" +from the northwest coast of Spitzbergen on that Sunday afternoon +of July 11, 1897, are now in the "within" world, and doubtless +are being entertained, as my father and myself were entertained +by the kind-hearted giant race inhabiting the inner Atlantic +Continent. + +Having, in my humble way, devoted years to these problems, I am +well acquainted with the accepted definitions of gravity, as well +as the cause of the magnetic needle's attraction, and I am +prepared to say that it is my firm belief that the magnetic +needle is influenced solely by electric currents which completely +envelop the earth like a garment, and that these electric +currents in an endless circuit pass out of the southern end of +the earth's cylindrical opening, diffusing and spreading +themselves over all the "outside" surface, and rushing madly on +in their course toward the North Pole. And while these currents +seemingly dash off into space at the earth's curve or edge, yet +they drop again to the "inside" surface and continue their way +southward along the inside of the earth's crust, toward the +opening of the so-called South Pole.[24] + +[24 "Mr. Lemstrom concluded that an electric discharge +which could only be seen by means of the spectroscope was +taking place on the surface of the ground all around him, and +that from a distance it would appear as a faint display of +Aurora, the phenomena of pale and flaming light which is some +times seen on the top of the Spitzbergen Mountains." -- The +Arctic Manual, page 739.] + +As to gravity, no one knows what it is, because it has not been +determined whether it is atmospheric pressure that causes the +apple to fall, or whether, 150 miles below the surface of the +earth, supposedly one-half way through the earth's crust, there +exists some powerful loadstone attraction that draws it. +Therefore, whether the apple, when it leaves the limb of the +tree, is drawn or impelled downward to the nearest point of +resistance, is unknown to the students of physics. + +Sir James Ross claimed to have discovered the magnetic pole at +about seventy-four degrees latitude. This is wrong -- the +magnetic pole is exactly one-half the distance through the +earth's crust. Thus, if the earth's crust is three hundred miles +in thickness, which is the distance I estimate it to be, then the +magnetic pole is undoubtedly one hundred and fifty miles below +the surface of the earth, it matters not where the test is made. +And at this particular point one hundred and fifty miles below +the surface, gravity ceases, becomes neutralized; and when we +pass beyond that point on toward the "inside" surface of the +earth, a reverse attraction geometrically increases in power, +until the other one hundred and fifty miles of distance is +traversed, which would bring us out on the "inside" of the earth. + +Thus, if a hole were bored down through the earth's crust at +London, Paris, New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles, a distance of +three hundred miles, it would connect the two surfaces. While the +inertia and momentum of a weight dropped in from the "outside" +surface would carry it far past the magnetic center, yet, before +reaching the "inside" surface of the earth it would gradually +diminish in speed, after passing the halfway point, finally pause +and immediately fall back toward the "outside" surface, and +continue thus to oscillate, like the swinging of a pendulum with +the power removed, until it would finally rest at the magnetic +center, or at that particular point exactly one-half the distance +between the "outside" surface and the "inside" surface of the +earth. + +The gyration of the earth in its daily act of whirling around in +its spiral rotation -- at a rate greater than one thousand miles +every hour, or about seventeen miles per second -- makes of it a +vast electro-generating body, a huge machine, a mighty prototype +of the puny-man-made dynamo, which, at best, is but a feeble +imitation of nature's original, + +The valleys of this inner Atlantis Continent, bordering the upper +waters of the farthest north are in season covered with the most +magnificent and luxuriant flowers. Not hundreds and thousands, +but millions, of acres, from which the pollen or blossoms are +carried far away in almost every direction by the earth's spiral +gyrations and the agitation of the wind resulting therefrom, and +it is these blossoms or pollen from the vast floral meadows +"within" that produce the colored snows of the Arctic regions +that have so mystified the northern explorers.[25] + +[25 Kane, vol. I, page 44, says: "We passed the +'crimson cliffs' of Sir John Ross in the forenoon of August +5th. The patches of red snow from which they derive their name +could be seen clearly at the distance of ten miles from the +coast." + +La Chambre, in an account of Andree's balloon expedition, on +page 144, says: "On the isle of Amsterdam the snow is +tinted with red for a considerable distance, and the savants are +collecting it to examine it microscopically. It presents, in +fact, certain peculiarities; it is thought that it contains very +small plants. Scoresby, the famous whaler, had already remarked +this."] + +Beyond question, this new land "within" is the home, the cradle, +of the human race, and viewed from the standpoint of the +discoveries made by us, must of necessity have a most important +bearing on all physical, paleontological, archaeological, +philological and mythological theories of antiquity. + +The same idea of going back to the land of mystery -- to the very +beginning -- to the origin of man -- is found in Egyptian +traditions of the earlier terrestrial regions of the gods, heroes +and men, from the historical fragments of Manetho, fully verified +by the historical records taken from the more recent excavations +of Pompeii as well as the traditions of the North American +Indians. + +It is now one hour past midnight -- the new year of 1908 is here, +and this is the third day thereof, and having at last finished +the record of my strange travels and adventures I wish given to +the world, I am ready, and even longing, for the peaceful rest +which I am sure will follow life's trials and vicissitudes. I am +old in years, and ripe both with adventures and sorrows, yet rich +with the few friends I have cemented to me in my struggles to +lead a just and upright life. Like a story that is well-nigh +told, my life is ebbing away. The presentiment is strong within +me that I shall not live to see the rising of another sun. Thus +do I conclude my message. + OLAF JANSEN. + + + +PART SEVEN + +AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD + +I FOUND much difficulty in deciphering and editing the +manuscripts of Olaf Jansen. However, I have taken the liberty of +reconstructing only a very few expressions, and in doing this +have in no way changed the spirit or meaning. Otherwise, the +original text has neither been added to nor taken from. + +It is impossible for me to express my opinion as to the value or +reliability of the wonderful statements made by Olaf Jansen. The +description here given of the strange lands and people visited by +him, location of cities, the names and directions of rivers, and +other information herein combined, conform in every way to the +rough drawings given into my custody by this ancient Norseman, +which drawings together with the manuscript it is my intention at +some later date to give to the Smithsonian Institution, to +preserve for the benefit of those interested in the mysteries +of the "Farthest North" -- the frozen circle of silence. It is +certain there are many things in Vedic literature, in "Josephus," +the "Odyssey," the "Iliad," Terrien de Lacouperie's "Early +History of Chinese Civilization," Flammarion's "Astronomical +Myths," Lenormant's "Beginnings of History," Hesiod's "Theogony," +Sir John de Maundeville's writings, and Sayce's "Records of the +Past," that, to say the least, are strangely in harmony with the +seemingly incredible text found in the yellow manuscript of the +old Norseman, Olaf Jansen, and now for the first time given to +the world. + + +THE END + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg etext of _The Smoky God_ by +Willis George Emerson, entered by Judy Boss + diff --git a/old/smoky10.zip b/old/smoky10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..b327795 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/smoky10.zip |