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 had
its limits. Upon this the doctor rolled up the manuscript and put it
aside 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 peopled
his world with creatures that resemble the fossil animals more than
anything else."
"The so-called fossil animals," said the doctor, "may not be extinct.
There are fossil specimens of animals that still have living
representatives. There is no reason why many of those supposed to be
extinct may not be alive now. It is well known that many very
remarkable animals have become extinct within a comparatively recent
period. These great birds, of which More speaks, seem to me to belong
to these classes. The dodo was in existence fifty years ago, the moa
about a hundred years ago. These great birds, together with others,
such as the epiornis and palapteryx, have disappeared, not through the
ordinary course of nature, but by the hand of man. Even in our
hemisphere they may yet be found. Who can tell but that the moa or the
dodo 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?" asked
Featherstone. "Do they resemble anything that exists now, or has ever
existed?"
"Well, yes, I think so," said the doctor. "Unfortunately, More is not
at all close or accurate in his descriptions; he has a decidedly
unscientific mind, and so one cannot feel sure; yet from his general
statements I think I can decide pretty nearly upon the nature and the
scientific name of each one of his birds and animals. It is quite
evident to me that most of these animals belong to races that no
longer exist among us, and that this world at the South Pole has many
characteristics which are like those of what is known as the Coal
Period. I allude in particular to the vast forests of fern, of
gigantic grasses and reeds. At the same time the general climate and
the atmosphere seem like what we may find in the tropics at present.
It is evident that in More's world various epochs are represented, and
that 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 naturally
suggests itself; but then the opkuk is certainly far larger than the
dodo."
"Oh, More put on his magnifying-glasses just then."
"The dodo," continued the doctor, taking no notice of this, "in other
respects corresponds with More's description of the opkuk. Clusius and
Bontius give good descriptions and there is a well-known picture of
one in the British Museum. It is a massive, clumsy bird, ungraceful in
its form with heavy movements, wings too short for flight, little or
no tail, and down rather than feathers. The body, according to
Bontius, is as big as that of the African ostrich, but the legs are
very short. It has a large head, great black eyes, long bluish-white
bill, ending in a beak like that of a vulture, yellow legs, thick and
short, four toes on each foot solid, long, and armed with sharp black
claws. The flesh particularly on the breast, is fat and esculent. Now,
all this corresponds with More's account, except as to the size of the
two, for the opkuks are as large as oxen."
"Oh, that's nothing," said Melick; "I'm determined to stand up for the
dodo." 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 one
worth 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't
mind him, doctor. He's a professional cynic, sceptic, and scoffer.
Oxenden and I, however, are open to conviction, and want to know more
about those birds and beasts. Can you make anything out of the
opmahera?"
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 but
the footprints; but some of these are eighteen inches in length, and
show a stride of two yards. The bird belonged to the order of the
Grallae, and may have been ten or twelve feet in height. Then there
is the Gastornis parisiensis, which was as tall as an ostrich, as
big as an ox, and belongs to the same order as the other. Then there
is 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 mind
is the real counterpart of the opmahera is the Dinornis gigantea,
whose remains are also found in New Zealand. It is the largest bird
known, with long legs, a long neck, and short wings, useless for
flight. One specimen that has been found is upward of thirteen feet in
height. There is no reason why some should not have been much taller.
More compares its height to that of a giraffe. The Maoris call this
bird the Moa, and their legends and traditions are full of mention
of it. When they first came to the island, six or seven hundred years
ago, 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, and
the dinornis must have been far stronger and fleeter than the ostrich.
It is possible that some of these birds may still be living in the
remoter parts of our hemisphere."
"What about those monsters," asked Featherstone, "that More speaks of
in the sacred hunt?"
"I think," said the doctor, "that I understand pretty well what they
were, and can identify them all. As the galley passed the estuary
of that great river, you remember that he mentions seeing them on
the shore. One may have been the Ichthyosaurus. This, as the name
implies, is a fish-lizard. It has the head of a lizard, the snout of
a dolphin, the teeth of an alligator, enormous eyes, whose membrane
is strengthened by a bony frame, the vertebrae of fishes, sternum and
shoulder-bones like those of the lizard, and the fins of a whale.
Bayle calls it the whale of the saurians. Another may have been the
Cheirotherium. On account of the hand-shaped marks made by its paws,
Owen thinks that it was akin to the frogs; but it was a formidable
monster, with head and jaws of a crocodile. Another may have been the
Teleosaurus, which resembled our alligators. It was thirty-five feet
in length. Then there was the Hylaeosaurus, a monster twenty-five
feet in length, with a cuirass of bony plates."
"But none of these correspond with More's description of the monster
that fought with the galley."
"No," said the doctor, "I am coming to that now. That monster could
have been no other than the Plesiosaurus, one of the most wonderful
animals that has ever existed. Imagine a thing with the head of a
lizard, the teeth of a crocodile, the neck of a swan, the trunk and
tail of a quadruped, and the fins of a whale. Imagine a whale with its
head and neck consisting of a serpent, with the strength of the former
and the malignant fury of the latter, and then you will have the
plesiosaurus. It was an aquatic animal, yet it had to remain near or
on the surface of the water, while its long, serpent-like neck enabled
it 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 the
ichthyosaurus. More's account shows, however, that it was a fearful
enemy for man to encounter."
"He seems to have been less formidable than that beast which they
encountered in the swamp. Have you any idea what that was?"
"I think it can have been no other than the Iguanodon," said the
doctor. "The remains of this animal show that it must have been the
most gigantic of all primeval saurians. Judging from existing remains
its length was not less than sixty feet, and larger ones may have
existed. It stood high on its legs; the hind ones were larger than the
fore. The feet were massive and armed with tremendous claws. It lived
on the land and fed on herbage. It had a horny, spiky ridge all along
its 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 might
well have caused all that destruction of life on the part of his
desperate assailants of which More speaks.
"Then there was another animal," continued the doctor, who was
evidently discoursing upon a favorite topic. "It was the one that came
suddenly upon More while he was resting with Almah after his flight
with the run-away bird. That I take to be the Megalosaurus. This
animal was a monster of tremendous size and strength. Cuvier thought
that it might have been seventy feet in length. It was carnivorous,
and therefore more ferocious than the iguanodon, and more ready to
attack. Its head was like that of a crocodile, its body massive like
that of an elephant, yet larger; its tail was small, and it stood high
on its legs, so that it could run with great speed. It was not covered
with bony armor, but had probably a hide thick enough to serve the
purpose of shell or bone. Its teeth were constructed so as to cut with
their edges, and the movement of the jaws produced the combined effect
of knife and saw, while their inward curve rendered impossible the
escape of prey that had once been caught. It probably frequented
the river banks, where it fed upon reptiles of smaller size which
inhabited the same places.
"More," continued the doctor, "is too general in his descriptions. He
has not a scientific mind, and he gives but few data; yet I can bring
before myself very easily all the scenes which he describes,
particularly that one in which the megalosaurus approaches, and he
rushes to mount the dinoris so as to escape. I see that river, with
its trees and shrubs, all unknown now except in museums--the
vegetation of the Coal Period--the lepidodendron, the lepidostrobus,
the pecopteris, the neuropteris, the lonchopteris, the odontopteris,
the sphenopteris, the cyclopteris, the sigellaria veniformis, the
sphenophyllium, 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 unknown
words? Talk English, doctor, and we shall be able to appreciate you;
but to make your jokes, your conundrums, and your brilliant witticisms
in a foreign language isn't fair to us, and does no credit either to
your head or your heart."
The doctor elevated his eyebrows, and took no notice of Melick's
ill-timed levity.
"All these stories of strange animals," said Oxenden, "may be very
interesting, doctor, but I must say that I am far more struck by
the account of the people themselves. I wonder whether they are an
aboriginal 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. Their
complexion, small stature, and peculiar eyes--their love of darkness,
their singular characteristics, both physical and moral, all go to
show that they can have no connection with the races in our part of
the earth."
"Their peculiar eyes," said Oxenden, "are no doubt produced by
dwelling in caves for many generations."
"On the contrary," said the doctor, "it is their peculiarity of eye
that 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," said
Oxenden, "whose eyes have become extinct from living in the dark."
"No," cried the doctor; "the fish that have arisen in that lake have
never needed eyes, and have never had them."
Oxenden laughed.
"Well," said he, "I'll discuss the question with you on different
grounds altogether, and I will show clearly that these men, these
bearded 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 all
very familiar."
"I should like very much to have you try it," said the doctor.
"Very well," said Oxenden. "In the first place, I take their
language."
"Their language!"
"Yes. More has given us very many words in their language. Now he
himself says that these words had an Arabic sound. He was slightly
acquainted with that language. What will you say if I tell you that
these words are still more like Hebrew?"
"Hebrew!" exclaimed the doctor, in amazement.
"Yes, Hebrew," said Oxenden. "They are all very much like Hebrew
words, and the difference is not greater than that which exists
between the words of any two languages of the Aryan family."
"Oh, if you come to philology I'll throw up the sponge," said the
doctor. "Yet I should like to hear what you have to say on that
point."
"The languages of the Aryan family," said Oxenden, "have the same
general characteristics, and in all of them the differences that exist
in 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 in
the mutes. These changes are indicated in a summary and comprehensive
way by means of what is called 'Grimm's Law.' Take Latin and English,
for instance. 'Grimm's Law' tells us, among other things, that in
Latin and in that part of English which is of Teutonic origin, a
large number of words are essentially the same, and differ merely in
certain phonetic changes. Take the word 'father.' In Latin, as also
in Greek, it is 'pater.' Now the Latin 'p' in English becomes 'f;'
that is, the thin mute becomes the aspirated mute. The same change
may be seen in the Latin 'piscis,' which in English is 'fish,' and
the Greek '[pi upsilon rho]' which in English is 'fire.' Again, if the
Latin or Greek word begins with an aspirate, the English word begins
with 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 has
the thin, as in Latin 'duo,' English 'two,' Latin 'genu,' English
'knee.' Now, I find that in many of the words which More mentions this
same 'Grimm's Law' will apply; and I am inclined to think that if they
were spelled with perfect accuracy they would show the same relation
between the Kosekin language and the Hebrew that there is between the
Saxon English and the Latin."
The doctor gave a heavy sigh.
"You're out of my depth, Oxenden," said he. "I'm nothing of a
philologist."
"By Jove!" said Featherstone, "I like this. This is equal to your list
of the plants of the Coal Period, doctor. But I say, Oxenden, while
you are about it, why don't you give us a little dose of Anglo-Saxon
and Sanscrit? By Jove! the fellow has Bopp by heart, and yet he
expects 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 be
all Hebrew; and then, of course, the only conclusion will be that they
are the Ten Tribes, who after a life of strange vicissitudes have
pulled up at the South Pole. It's a wonder More didn't think of
that--or the writer of this yarn, whoever he may be. Well, for my
part, I always took a deep interest in the lost Ten Tribes, and
thought them a fine body of men."
"Don't think they've got much of the Jew about them," said
Featherstone, languidly. "They hate riches and all that, you know.
Break a Jew's heart to hear of all that property wasted, and money
going 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 has
mentioned which corresponds to a kindred Hebrew word in accordance
with 'Grimm's Law.' For instance, Kosekin 'Op,' Hebrew 'Oph;' Kosekin
'Athon,' Hebrew 'Adon;' Kosekin 'Salon,' Hebrew 'Shalom.' They are
more like Hebrew than Arabic, just as Anglo-Saxon words are more like
Latin 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, and
wind up with 'Lalla Rookh' in modern Persian."
"So I conclude," said Oxenden, calmly, ignoring Melick, "that the
Kosekin are a Semitic people. Their complexion and their beards show
them to be akin to the Caucasian race, and their language proves
beyond the shadow of a doubt that they belong to the Semitic branch of
that race. It is impossible for an autochthonous people to have such a
language."
"But how," cried the doctor--"how in the name of wonder did they get
to the South Pole?"
"Easily enough," interrupted Melick--"Shem landed there from Noah's
ark, and left some of his children to colonize the country. That's as
plain as a pikestaff. I think, on the whole, that this idea is better
than the other one about the Ten Tribes. At any rate they are both
mine, and I warn all present to keep their hands off them, for on my
return I intend to take out a copyright."
"There's another thing," continued Oxenden, "which is of immense
importance, and that is their habit of cave-dwelling. I am inclined to
think that they resorted to cave-dwelling at first from some
hereditary instinct or other, and that their eyes and their whole
morals have become affected by this mode of life. Now, as to
ornamented caverns, we have many examples--caverns adorned with a
splendor fully equal to anything among the Kosekin. There are in India
the great Behar caves, the splendid Karli temple with its magnificent
sculptures and imposing architecture, and the cavern-temples of
Elephanta; there are the subterranean works in Egypt, the temple of
Dendera in particular; in Petra we have the case of an entire city
excavated from the rocky mountains; yet, after all, these do not bear
upon the point in question, for they are isolated cases; and even
Petra, though it contained a city, did not contain a nation. But there
is a case, and one which is well known, that bears directly upon this
question, and gives us the connecting link between the Kosekin and
their 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 to
various tribes of men, but those best known and celebrated under this
name once inhabited the shores of the Red Sea, both on the Arabian and
the Egyptian side. They belonged to the Arabian race, and were
consequently a Semitic people. Mark that, for it is a point of the
utmost importance. Now, these Troglodytes all lived in caverns, which
were formed partly by art and partly by nature, although art must have
had most to do with the construction of such vast subterranean works.
They lived in great communities in caverns, and they had long tunnels
passing from one community to another. Here also they kept their
cattle. Some of these people have survived even to our own age; for
Bruce, the Abyssinian traveller, saw them in Nubia.
"The earliest writer who mentions the Troglodytes was Agatharcides, of
Cnidos. According to him they were chiefly herdsmen. Their food was
the flesh of cattle, and their drink a mixture of milk and blood. They
dressed in the skins of cattle; they tattooed their bodies. They were
very 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 and
fro 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 the
Kosekin love of death, yet it was something which must certainly be
considered as approximating to it. For Agatharcides says that in their
burials they were accustomed to fasten the corpse to a stake, and then
gathering round, to pelt it with stones amid shouts of laughter and
wild merriment. They also used to strangle the old and infirm, so as
to deliver them from the evils of life. These Troglodytes, then, were
a nation of cave-dwellers, loving the dark--not exactly loving death,
yet at any rate regarding it with merriment and pleasure; and so I
cannot 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 to
answer."
"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 the
others rose also and followed his example.
On the following morning the calm still continued. None of the party
rose until very late, and then over the breakfast-table they discussed
the manuscript once more, each from his own point of view, Melick
still asserting a contemptuous scepticism--Oxenden and the doctor
giving reasons for their faith, and Featherstone listening without
saying 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 the
continuation of More's narrative.