CHAPTER XVII
BELIEF AND UNBELIEF
The doctor was here interrupted by Featherstone, who, with a yawn,informed him that it was eleven o'clock, and that human endurance hadits limits. Upon this the doctor rolled up the manuscript and put itaside for the night, after which supper was ordered.
"Well," said Featherstone, "what do you think of this last?"
"It contains some very remarkable statements," said the doctor.
"There are certainly monsters enough in it," said Melick--
"'Gorgons, and hydras, and chimeras dire.'"
"Well, why not?" said the doctor.
"It seems to me," said Melick, "that the writer of this has peopledhis world with creatures that resemble the fossil animals more thananything else."
"The so-called fossil animals," said the doctor, "may not be extinct.There are fossil specimens of animals that still have livingrepresentatives. There is no reason why many of those supposed to beextinct may not be alive now. It is well known that many veryremarkable animals have become extinct within a comparatively recentperiod. These great birds, of which More speaks, seem to me to belongto these classes. The dodo was in existence fifty years ago, the moaabout a hundred years ago. These great birds, together with others,such as the epiornis and palapteryx, have disappeared, not through theordinary course of nature, but by the hand of man. Even in ourhemisphere they may yet be found. Who can tell but that the moa or thedodo may yet be lurking somewhere here in the interior of Madagascar,of Borneo, or of Papua?"
"Can you make out anything about those great birds?" askedFeatherstone. "Do they resemble anything that exists now, or has everexisted?"
"Well, yes, I think so," said the doctor. "Unfortunately, More is notat all close or accurate in his descriptions; he has a decidedlyunscientific mind, and so one cannot feel sure; yet from his generalstatements I think I can decide pretty nearly upon the nature and thescientific name of each one of his birds and animals. It is quiteevident to me that most of these animals belong to races that nolonger exist among us, and that this world at the South Pole has manycharacteristics which are like those of what is known as the CoalPeriod. I allude in particular to the vast forests of fern, ofgigantic grasses and reeds. At the same time the general climate andthe atmosphere seem like what we may find in the tropics at present.It is evident that in More's world various epochs are represented, andthat animals of different ages are living side by side."
"What do you think of the opkuk?" asked Featherstone, with a yawn.
"Well, I hardly know."
"Why, it must be a dodo, of course," said Melick, "only magnified."
"That," said the doctor, gravely, "is a thought that naturallysuggests itself; but then the opkuk is certainly far larger than thedodo."
"Oh, More put on his magnifying-glasses just then."
"The dodo," continued the doctor, taking no notice of this, "in otherrespects corresponds with More's description of the opkuk. Clusius andBontius give good descriptions and there is a well-known picture ofone in the British Museum. It is a massive, clumsy bird, ungraceful inits form with heavy movements, wings too short for flight, little orno tail, and down rather than feathers. The body, according toBontius, is as big as that of the African ostrich, but the legs arevery short. It has a large head, great black eyes, long bluish-whitebill, ending in a beak like that of a vulture, yellow legs, thick andshort, four toes on each foot solid, long, and armed with sharp blackclaws. The flesh particularly on the breast, is fat and esculent. Now,all this corresponds with More's account, except as to the size of thetwo, for the opkuks are as large as oxen."
"Oh, that's nothing," said Melick; "I'm determined to stand up for thedodo." With this he burst forth singing--
"Oh, the dodo once lived, but he doesn't live now; Yet why should a cloud overshadow our brow? The loss of that bird ne'er should trouble our brains, For though he is gone, still our claret remains. Sing do-do--jolly do-do! Hurrah! in his name let our cups overflow."
"As for your definition, doctor," continued Melick, "I'll give you oneworth a dozen of yours:
"'Twas a mighty bird; those strong, short legs were never known to fail, And he felt a glory of pride while thinking of that little tail, And his beak was marked with vigor, curving like a wondrous hook; Thick and ugly was his body--such a form as made one look!"
"Melick," said Featherstone, "you're a volatile youth. You mustn'tmind him, doctor. He's a professional cynic, sceptic, and scoffer.Oxenden and I, however, are open to conviction, and want to know moreabout those birds and beasts. Can you make anything out of theopmahera?"
The doctor swallowed a glass of wine, and replied:
"Oh yes; there are many birds, each of which may be the opmahera.There's the fossil bird of Massachusetts, of which nothing is left butthe footprints; but some of these are eighteen inches in length, andshow a stride of two yards. The bird belonged to the order of theGrallae, and may have been ten or twelve feet in height. Then thereis the Gastornis parisiensis, which was as tall as an ostrich, asbig as an ox, and belongs to the same order as the other. Then thereis the Palapteryx, of which remains have been found in New Zealand,which was seven or eight feet in height. But the one which to my mindis the real counterpart of the opmahera is the Dinornis gigantea,whose remains are also found in New Zealand. It is the largest birdknown, with long legs, a long neck, and short wings, useless forflight. One specimen that has been found is upward of thirteen feet inheight. There is no reason why some should not have been much taller.More compares its height to that of a giraffe. The Maoris call thisbird the Moa, and their legends and traditions are full of mentionof it. When they first came to the island, six or seven hundred yearsago, they found these vast birds everywhere, and hunted them for food.To my mind the dinornis is the opmahera of More. As to riding on them,that is likely enough; for ostriches are used for this purpose, andthe dinornis must have been far stronger and fleeter than the ostrich.It is possible that some of these birds may still be living in theremoter parts of our hemisphere."
"What about those monsters," asked Featherstone, "that More speaks ofin the sacred hunt?"
"I think," said the doctor, "that I understand pretty well what theywere, and can identify them all. As the galley passed the estuaryof that great river, you remember that he mentions seeing them onthe shore. One may have been the Ichthyosaurus. This, as the nameimplies, is a fish-lizard. It has the head of a lizard, the snout ofa dolphin, the teeth of an alligator, enormous eyes, whose membraneis strengthened by a bony frame, the vertebrae of fishes, sternum andshoulder-bones like those of the lizard, and the fins of a whale.Bayle calls it the whale of the saurians. Another may have been theCheirotherium. On account of the hand-shaped marks made by its paws,Owen thinks that it was akin to the frogs; but it was a formidablemonster, with head and jaws of a crocodile. Another may have been theTeleosaurus, which resembled our alligators. It was thirty-five feetin length. Then there was the Hylaeosaurus, a monster twenty-fivefeet in length, with a cuirass of bony plates."
"But none of these correspond with More's description of the monsterthat fought with the galley."
"No," said the doctor, "I am coming to that now. That monster couldhave been no other than the Plesiosaurus, one of the most wonderfulanimals that has ever existed. Imagine a thing with the head of alizard, the teeth of a crocodile, the neck of a swan, the trunk andtail of a quadruped, and the fins of a whale. Imagine a whale with itshead and neck consisting of a serpent, with the strength of the formerand the malignant fury of the latter, and then you will have theplesiosaurus. It was an aquatic animal, yet it had to remain near oron the surface of the water, while its long, serpent-like neck enabledit to reach its prey above or below with swift, far-reaching darts.Yet it had no armor, and could not have been at all a match for theichthyosaurus. More's account shows, however, that it was a fearfulenemy for man to encounter."
"He seems to have been less formidable than that beast which theyencountered in
the swamp. Have you any idea what that was?"
"I think it can have been no other than the Iguanodon," said thedoctor. "The remains of this animal show that it must have been themost gigantic of all primeval saurians. Judging from existing remainsits length was not less than sixty feet, and larger ones may haveexisted. It stood high on its legs; the hind ones were larger than thefore. The feet were massive and armed with tremendous claws. It livedon the land and fed on herbage. It had a horny, spiky ridge all alongits back. Its tail was nearly as long as its body. Its head was short,its jaws enormous, furnished with teeth of a very elaborate structure,and on its muzzle it carried a curved horn. Such a beast as this mightwell have caused all that destruction of life on the part of hisdesperate assailants of which More speaks.
"Then there was another animal," continued the doctor, who wasevidently discoursing upon a favorite topic. "It was the one that camesuddenly upon More while he was resting with Almah after his flightwith the run-away bird. That I take to be the Megalosaurus. Thisanimal was a monster of tremendous size and strength. Cuvier thoughtthat it might have been seventy feet in length. It was carnivorous,and therefore more ferocious than the iguanodon, and more ready toattack. Its head was like that of a crocodile, its body massive likethat of an elephant, yet larger; its tail was small, and it stood highon its legs, so that it could run with great speed. It was not coveredwith bony armor, but had probably a hide thick enough to serve thepurpose of shell or bone. Its teeth were constructed so as to cut withtheir edges, and the movement of the jaws produced the combined effectof knife and saw, while their inward curve rendered impossible theescape of prey that had once been caught. It probably frequentedthe river banks, where it fed upon reptiles of smaller size whichinhabited the same places.
"More," continued the doctor, "is too general in his descriptions. Hehas not a scientific mind, and he gives but few data; yet I can bringbefore myself very easily all the scenes which he describes,particularly that one in which the megalosaurus approaches, and herushes to mount the dinoris so as to escape. I see that river, withits trees and shrubs, all unknown now except in museums--thevegetation of the Coal Period--the lepidodendron, the lepidostrobus,the pecopteris, the neuropteris, the lonchopteris, the odontopteris,the sphenopteris, the cyclopteris, the sigellaria veniformis, thesphenophyllium, the calamites--"
Melick started to his feet.
"There, there!" he cried, "hold hard, doctor. Talking of calamities,what greater calamity can there be than such a torrent of unknownwords? Talk English, doctor, and we shall be able to appreciate you;but to make your jokes, your conundrums, and your brilliant witticismsin a foreign language isn't fair to us, and does no credit either toyour head or your heart."
The doctor elevated his eyebrows, and took no notice of Melick'sill-timed levity.
"All these stories of strange animals," said Oxenden, "may be veryinteresting, doctor, but I must say that I am far more struck bythe account of the people themselves. I wonder whether they are anaboriginal race, or descendants of the same stock from which we came?"
"I should say," remarked the doctor, confidently, "that they are,beyond a doubt, an aboriginal and autochthonous race."
"I differ from you altogether," said Oxenden, calmly.
"Oh," said the doctor, "there can be no doubt about it. Theircomplexion, small stature, and peculiar eyes--their love of darkness,their singular characteristics, both physical and moral, all go toshow that they can have no connection with the races in our part ofthe earth."
"Their peculiar eyes," said Oxenden, "are no doubt produced bydwelling in caves for many generations."
"On the contrary," said the doctor, "it is their peculiarity of eyethat makes them dwell in caves."
"You are mistaking the cause for the effect, doctor."
"Not at all; it is you who are making that mistake."
"It's the old debate," said Melick. "As the poet has it:
"'Which was first, the egg or the hen? Tell me, I pray, ye learned men!'"
"There are the eyeless fishes of the great cave of Kentucky," saidOxenden, "whose eyes have become extinct from living in the dark."
"No," cried the doctor; "the fish that have arisen in that lake havenever needed eyes, and have never had them."
Oxenden laughed.
"Well," said he, "I'll discuss the question with you on differentgrounds altogether, and I will show clearly that these men, thesebearded men, must belong to a stock that is nearly related to our own,or, at least, that they belong to a race of men with whom we are allvery familiar."
"I should like very much to have you try it," said the doctor.
"Very well," said Oxenden. "In the first place, I take theirlanguage."
"Their language!"
"Yes. More has given us very many words in their language. Now hehimself says that these words had an Arabic sound. He was slightlyacquainted with that language. What will you say if I tell you thatthese words are still more like Hebrew?"
"Hebrew!" exclaimed the doctor, in amazement.
"Yes, Hebrew," said Oxenden. "They are all very much like Hebrewwords, and the difference is not greater than that which existsbetween the words of any two languages of the Aryan family."
"Oh, if you come to philology I'll throw up the sponge," said thedoctor. "Yet I should like to hear what you have to say on thatpoint."
"The languages of the Aryan family," said Oxenden, "have the samegeneral characteristics, and in all of them the differences that existin their most common words are subject to the action of a regular law.The action of the law is best seen in the changes which take place inthe mutes. These changes are indicated in a summary and comprehensiveway by means of what is called 'Grimm's Law.' Take Latin and English,for instance. 'Grimm's Law' tells us, among other things, that inLatin and in that part of English which is of Teutonic origin, alarge number of words are essentially the same, and differ merely incertain phonetic changes. Take the word 'father.' In Latin, as alsoin Greek, it is 'pater.' Now the Latin 'p' in English becomes 'f;'that is, the thin mute becomes the aspirated mute. The same changemay be seen in the Latin 'piscis,' which in English is 'fish,' andthe Greek '[pi upsilon rho]' which in English is 'fire.' Again, if theLatin or Greek word begins with an aspirate, the English word beginswith a medial; thus the Latin 'f' is found responsive to the English'b,' as in Latin 'fagus,' English 'beech,' Latin 'fero,' English'bear.' Again, if the Latin or Greek has the medial, the English hasthe thin, as in Latin 'duo,' English 'two,' Latin 'genu,' English'knee.' Now, I find that in many of the words which More mentions thissame 'Grimm's Law' will apply; and I am inclined to think that if theywere spelled with perfect accuracy they would show the same relationbetween the Kosekin language and the Hebrew that there is between theSaxon English and the Latin."
The doctor gave a heavy sigh.
"You're out of my depth, Oxenden," said he. "I'm nothing of aphilologist."
"By Jove!" said Featherstone, "I like this. This is equal to your listof the plants of the Coal Period, doctor. But I say, Oxenden, whileyou are about it, why don't you give us a little dose of Anglo-Saxonand Sanscrit? By Jove! the fellow has Bopp by heart, and yet heexpects us to argue with him."
"I have it!" cried Melick. "The Kosekin are the lost Ten Tribes.Oxenden is feeling his way to that. He is going to make them out to beall Hebrew; and then, of course, the only conclusion will be that theyare the Ten Tribes, who after a life of strange vicissitudes havepulled up at the South Pole. It's a wonder More didn't think ofthat--or the writer of this yarn, whoever he may be. Well, for mypart, I always took a deep interest in the lost Ten Tribes, andthought them a fine body of men."
"Don't think they've got much of the Jew about them," saidFeatherstone, languidly. "They hate riches and all that, you know.Break a Jew's heart to hear of all that property wasted, and moneygoing a-begging. Not a bad idea, though, that of theirs about money.Too much money's a howwid baw, by Jove!"
"Well," continued Oxenden, calmly resuming, and taking no notice of
these interruptions, "I can give you word after word that More hasmentioned which corresponds to a kindred Hebrew word in accordancewith 'Grimm's Law.' For instance, Kosekin 'Op,' Hebrew 'Oph;' Kosekin'Athon,' Hebrew 'Adon;' Kosekin 'Salon,' Hebrew 'Shalom.' They aremore like Hebrew than Arabic, just as Anglo-Saxon words are more likeLatin or Greek than Sanscrit."
"Hurrah!" cried Melick, "we've got him to Sanscrit at last! Now,Oxenden, my boy, trot out the 'Hitopadesa,' the 'Megha Dhuta,' the'Rig Veda.' Quote 'Beowulf' and Caedmon. Gives us a little Zeno, andwind up with 'Lalla Rookh' in modern Persian."
"So I conclude," said Oxenden, calmly, ignoring Melick, "that theKosekin are a Semitic people. Their complexion and their beards showthem to be akin to the Caucasian race, and their language provesbeyond the shadow of a doubt that they belong to the Semitic branch ofthat race. It is impossible for an autochthonous people to have such alanguage."
"But how," cried the doctor--"how in the name of wonder did they getto the South Pole?"
"Easily enough," interrupted Melick--"Shem landed there from Noah'sark, and left some of his children to colonize the country. That's asplain as a pikestaff. I think, on the whole, that this idea is betterthan the other one about the Ten Tribes. At any rate they are bothmine, and I warn all present to keep their hands off them, for on myreturn I intend to take out a copyright."
"There's another thing," continued Oxenden, "which is of immenseimportance, and that is their habit of cave-dwelling. I am inclined tothink that they resorted to cave-dwelling at first from somehereditary instinct or other, and that their eyes and their wholemorals have become affected by this mode of life. Now, as toornamented caverns, we have many examples--caverns adorned with asplendor fully equal to anything among the Kosekin. There are in Indiathe great Behar caves, the splendid Karli temple with its magnificentsculptures and imposing architecture, and the cavern-temples ofElephanta; there are the subterranean works in Egypt, the temple ofDendera in particular; in Petra we have the case of an entire cityexcavated from the rocky mountains; yet, after all, these do not bearupon the point in question, for they are isolated cases; and evenPetra, though it contained a city, did not contain a nation. But thereis a case, and one which is well known, that bears directly upon thisquestion, and gives us the connecting link between the Kosekin andtheir Semitic brethren in the northern hemisphere."
"What is that?" asked the doctor.
"The Troglodytes," said Oxenden, with impressive solemnity.
"Well, and what do you make out of the Troglodytes?"
"I will explain," said Oxenden. "The name Troglodytes is given tovarious tribes of men, but those best known and celebrated under thisname once inhabited the shores of the Red Sea, both on the Arabian andthe Egyptian side. They belonged to the Arabian race, and wereconsequently a Semitic people. Mark that, for it is a point of theutmost importance. Now, these Troglodytes all lived in caverns, whichwere formed partly by art and partly by nature, although art must havehad most to do with the construction of such vast subterranean works.They lived in great communities in caverns, and they had long tunnelspassing from one community to another. Here also they kept theircattle. Some of these people have survived even to our own age; forBruce, the Abyssinian traveller, saw them in Nubia.
"The earliest writer who mentions the Troglodytes was Agatharcides, ofCnidos. According to him they were chiefly herdsmen. Their food wasthe flesh of cattle, and their drink a mixture of milk and blood. Theydressed in the skins of cattle; they tattooed their bodies. They werevery swift of foot, and were able to run down wild beasts in the hunt.They were also greatly given to robbery, and caravans passing to andfro had to guard against them.
"One feature in their character has to my mind a strange significance,and that is their feelings with regard to death. It was not theKosekin love of death, yet it was something which must certainly beconsidered as approximating to it. For Agatharcides says that in theirburials they were accustomed to fasten the corpse to a stake, and thengathering round, to pelt it with stones amid shouts of laughter andwild merriment. They also used to strangle the old and infirm, so asto deliver them from the evils of life. These Troglodytes, then, werea nation of cave-dwellers, loving the dark--not exactly loving death,yet at any rate regarding it with merriment and pleasure; and so Icannot help seeing a connection between them and the Kosekin."
"Yes," said the doctor, "but how did they get to the South Pole?"
"That," said Oxenden, "is a question which I do not feel bound toanswer."
"Oh, it is easy enough to answer that," said Melick. "They, of course,dug through the earth."
Oxenden gave a groan.
"I think I'll turn in for the night," said he, rising. Upon this theothers rose also and followed his example.
On the following morning the calm still continued. None of the partyrose until very late, and then over the breakfast-table they discussedthe manuscript once more, each from his own point of view, Melickstill asserting a contemptuous scepticism--Oxenden and the doctorgiving reasons for their faith, and Featherstone listening withoutsaying much on either side.
At length it was proposed to resume the reading of the manuscript,which task would now devolve upon Oxenden. They adjourned to the deck,where all disposed themselves in easy attitudes to listen to thecontinuation of More's narrative.
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder Page 17
