Atlantis Online
March 28, 2024, 11:45:37 pm
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Underwater caves off Yucatan yield three old skeletons—remains date to 11,000 B.C.
http://www.edgarcayce.org/am/11,000b.c.yucata.html
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

The Lost Continent

Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: The Lost Continent  (Read 1059 times)
0 Members and 14 Guests are viewing this topic.
Crystal Thielkien
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4531



« Reply #30 on: November 24, 2008, 01:38:54 pm »

p. 349

CHAPTER XX
ON THE BOSOM OF THE DEEP
THE Ark was rudderless, oarless, and machine-less, and could travel only where the High Gods chose. The inside was dark, and full of an ancient smell, and crowded with groanings and noise. I could not find the fire-box to relight the fallen lamp, and so we had to endure blindly what was dealt out to us. The waves tossed us in merciless sport, and I clung on by the side of Naïs, holding her to the bed. We did not speak much, but there was full companionship in our bereavement and our silence.

When Atlantis sank to form new ocean-bed, she left great whirlpools and spoutings from her drowned fires as a fleeting legacy to the Gods of the sea. And then, I think (though in the black belly of the Ark we could not see these things), a vast hurricane of wind must have come on next so as to leave no piece of the desolation incomplete. For seven nights and seven days did this dreadful turmoil continue, as counted for us afterwards by the reckoner of hours which hung within the Ark, and then the howling of the wind departed, and only the roll of a long still swell remained. It was regular and it was oily, as I could tell by the difference of the motion, and then

p. 350

for the first time I dared to go up the stair and open had found the gate they bit against was deserted.

The sweet salt air came gushing down to freshen the foulness within, and as the Ark rode dryly over the seas, I went below and brought up Naïs to gain refreshment from the curing rays of our Lord the Sun. Duly the pair of us adored Him, and gave thanks for His great mercy in coming to light another day, and then we laid ourselves down where we were to doze, and take that easy rest which we so urgently needed.

Yet, though I was tired beyond words, for long enough sleep would not visit me. Wearily I stared out over the oily sun-lit waters. No blur of land met the eye. The ring of ocean was unbroken on every side, and overhead the vault of heaven remained unchanged. The bosom of the deep was littered with the poor wreckage of Atlantis, to remind one, if there had been a need, that what had come about was fact, and not some horrid dream. Trees, squared timber, a smashed and upturned boat of hides, and here and there the rounded corpse of a man or beast shouldered over the swells, and kept convoy with our Ark as she drifted on in charge of the Gods and the current.

But sleep came to me at last, and I dropped off into unconsciousness, holding the hand of Naïs in mine, and when next I woke I found her open-eyed also and watching me tenderly. We were finely rested, both of us, and rest and strength bring one complacency. We were more ready now to accept the station which the High Gods had made for us

p. 351

without repining, and so we went below again into the belly of the Ark to eat and drink and maintain strength for the new life which lay before us.

A wonderful vessel was this Ark, now we were able to see it at leisure and intimately. Although for the first time now in all its centuries of life it swam upon the waters, it showed no leak or sun-crack. Inside, even its floor was bone-dry. That it was built from some wood, one could see by the grainings, but nowhere could one find suture or joint. The living timbers had been put in place and then grown together by an art which we have lost to-day, but which the Ancients knew with much perfection; and afterwards some treatment, which is also a secret of those forgotten builders, had made the wood as hard as metal and impervious to all attacks of the weather.

In the gloomy cave of its belly were stored many matters. At one end, in great tanks on either side of a central alley, was a prodigious store of grain. Sweet water was in other tanks at the other end. In another place were drugs, and simples, and essences of the life of beasts; all these things being for use while the Ark roamed under the guidance of the Gods on the bosom of the deep. On all the walls of the Ark, and on all the partitions of the tanks and the other wood-work, there were carved in the rude art of bygone times representations of all the beasts which lived in Atlantis; and on these I looked with a hunter's interest, as some of them were strange to me, and had died out with the men who had perpetuated them in these sculptures. There was a good store of weapons, too, and the tools for handicrafts.

p. 352

Now for many weeks our life endured in this Ark as the Gods drove it about here and there across the face of the waters. We had no government over direction; we could not by so much as a hair's-breadth a day increase her speed. The High Gods that had chosen the two of us to be the only ones saved out of all Atlantis, had sole control of our fate, and into Their hands we cheerfully resigned our future direction.

Of that land which we reached in due time, and where we made our abiding-place, and where our children were born, I shall tell of in its place; but since this chronicle has proceeded so far in an exact order of the events as they came to pass, it is necessary first to narrate how we came by the sheets on which it is written.

In a great coffer, in the centre of the Ark's floor, the whole of the Mysteries learned during the study of ages were set down in accurate writing. I read through some of them during the days which passed, and the awfulness of the Powers over which they gave control appalled me. I had seen some of these Powers let loose in Atlantis, and was a witness of her destruction. But here were Powers far higher than those; here was the great Secret of Life and Death which Phorenice also had found, and for which she had been destroyed; and there were other things also of which I cannot even bring my style to scribe.

The thought of being custodian of these writings was more than I could endure, and the more the matter rested in my mind, the more intolerable became the burden. And at last I took hot irons, and with

p. 353

them seared the wax on the sheets till every letter of the old writings was obliterated. If I did wrong, the High Gods in Their infinite justice will give me punishment; if it is well that these great secrets should endure on earth, They in Their infinite power will dictate them afresh to some fitting scribes; but I destroyed them there as the Ark swayed with us over the waves; and later, when we came to land, I rewrote upon the sheets the matters which led to great Atlantis being dragged to her death-throes.

Naïs, that I love so tenderly—

[translator's Note.—The remaining sheets are too broken to be legible.]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Report Spam   Logged
Crystal Thielkien
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 4531



« Reply #31 on: November 24, 2008, 01:39:34 pm »

p. 354 p. 355

The following advertisements from 1900 appeared in the original book. They are included for completeness.—JBH.

BY H. G. WELLS
WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES. Illustrated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50.

"This romance of the twenty-second century," as the London Daily Telegraph says, "will prove absolutely enthralling. The hero goes into a trance in 1900, and when he awakes two centuries later he finds that his property has increased so greatly that he owns more than half the world."

THIRTY STRANGE STORIES. New Edition. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50.

Creepy, ingenious, original, and more than clever they all are. They fascinate you like the eye of a snake. . . . It would be impossible to find a group of stories that will give the reader more sensations, or hold his attention more firmly .—Boston Herald.

THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. With Illustrations. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50.

One of the conspicuous books of the year, from its striking originality of title and plot.—Washington Times.

THE INVISIBLE MAN. A Grotesque Romance. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

In his audacious imaginative insight into the romantic possibilities underlying the discoveries or the suggestion of modern science Mr. Wells stands unrivalled. . . . It is just like a transcript from real life, recalling the best work of Poe in its accent of sincerity and surpassing it in its felicity of style.—The Spectator, London.

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

☞ Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price.

p. 356

BY JAMES M. LUDLOW
A KING OF TYRE. A Tale of the Times of Ezra and Nehemiah. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

Another distinct success in the field of historical fiction. . . . Must be unhesitatingly set down as a highly satisfactory performance.—Boston Beacon.

It is altogether a fresh and enjoyable tale, strong in its situations and stirring in its actions.—Cincinnati Commercial-Gazette.

The picture of the life and manners of that far-away period is carefully and artistically drawn, the plot is full of interest, and the whole treatment of the subject is strikingly original, and there is a dramatic intensity in the story which will at once remind the reader of "Ben-Hur."—Boston Traveller.

THE CAPTAIN OF THE JANIZARIES. A Tale of the Times of Scanderbeg and the Fall of Constantinople. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 50; 8vo, Paper, 50 cents.

Strong in its central historical character, abounding in incident, rapid and stirring in action, animated and often brilliant in style.—Christian Union, N. Y.

Something new and striking interests us in almost every chapter. The peasantry of the Balkans, the training and government of the Janizaries, the interior of Christian and Moslem camps, the horrors of raids and battles, the violence of the Sultan, the tricks of spies, the exploits of heroes, engage Mr. Ludlow's fluent pen.—N. Y. Tribune.

THAT ANGELIC WOMAN. A Novel. 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1 00.

The plot is skilfully drawn, the whole story shows dramatic power, and the conclusion will satisfy those readers who prefer a happy ending of an exciting tale.—Observer, N.Y.

A capital little story. . . . It will take but a couple of hours to read it, and there is no one who will not be all the better for its wholesome lessons.—N. Y. Journal of Commerce.

A charming little story, the delightful companion of the busy reader's leisure hour.—Evangelist. N. Y.

________________

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK AND LONDON

☞ Any of the above works will be sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/atl/tlc/tlc24.htm

 
Report Spam   Logged
Pages: 1 2 [3]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy