The Smoky God: A Voyage to the Inner World
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5We 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 Hlidskjalf, and when Odin is seated there upon his lofty throne he sees over the whole world and discerns all the actions of men.”
6Hall writes, on page 288: “On 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.”
7Greely 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.”
8Dr. 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.”
9Captain 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?”
10On the 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.”
11In 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 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.”
12In volume II, pages 18 and 19, Nansen writes about the inclination of the needle. Speaking of Johnson, his aide: “One day—it was November 24th—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.”
13Nansen, on page 394, says: “Today another noteworthy thing happened, which was that about midday 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 main top 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.”
14Peary’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 of 88 degrees-25’-58’’ 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 that we had,” says Peary, “in sailing over the space included between this 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.”
15Asiatic 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 “become 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.
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 post-diluvian history is by no means scientifically incredible.” —Wm. F. Warren, Paradise Found, p. 284.
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.
18Josephus 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
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.”
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 Cratyluo of Plato.
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 w
hich are amongst the strangest phenomena of nature.” —Rambrosson’s Astronomy.
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.
23Captain 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.”
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.
25Kane, 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. Scoreby, the famous whaler, had already remarked this.”