J:S . GEOJ yi^ DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY The Glenn Negley Collection of Utopian Literature Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2010 witii funding from Duke University Libraries littp://www.arcliive.org/details/smokygodorvoyageOOemer THE SMOKY GOD Or A Voyage to the Inner World '•■-^ OTHER BOOKS BY WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON "BUELL HAMPTON." A Novel "THE BUILDERS." A Novel FORBES & CO. CHICAGO 'VXs-//fi^l Lt lyu^ "/ zvas left alone zvitli the dead" THE SMOKY GOD OR A Voyage to the Inner World BY WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON AUTHOR OP "BUELL HAMPTON," "THE BUILDERS," ETC. With Illustrations by JOHN A. WILLIAMS CHICAGO FORBES & COMPANY 1908 Copyright, 1908. By WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON De&lcatcO TO MY CHUM AND COMPANION BONNIE EMERSON MY WIFE CONTENTS Page Part I, Author's Foreword .... 11 Part II. Olaf Jansen's Story ... 45 Part III. Beyond the North Wixd . . 81 Part IV. In the Under World . . . 127 Part Y. Among the Ice Packs . . . 155 Part VI. Conclusion 173 Part VII. Author's Afterword . . . 184 ILLUSTRATIONS Page " I was left alone with the dead." . Fruntispiece " Twenty-eig-ht years — long, tedious, fright- ful years of suffering." 49 *' A vessel larger than our little fishing sloop could not have threaded its way among the icebergs." 57 " By what miracle we escaped being dashed to destruction, I do not know." .... 73 " It could hardly be said to resemble the sun except in its circular shape." .... 89 " They spoke to us in a strange language." . 101 '* "We were brought before the Great High Priest." 121 " There must have been five hundred of these thunder-throated monsters." 135 ''My father shouted: 'Breakers ahead!'" . 151 ** Less than a half mile away was a whaling vessel." 1G5 " Whereupon 1 was put in irons." .... 169 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 wMcli I am about to relate will be regarded as the result of a dis- torted intellect superinduced, possi- bly, by the glamour of unveiling a marvelous m}'stery, rather than a truthful record of the unparalleled experiences related by one Olaf Jan- 11 THE SMOKY GOD sen, Avhose eloquent madness so ap- pealed to my imagination that all thought of an analytical criticism has been effectual^ dispelled. Marco Polo will doubtless shift un- easily 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 ad- mit of no rational analysis, but have to do with the profound mystery con- cerning the frozen North that for centuries has claimed the attention of scientists and laymen alike. 12 THE SMOKY GOD However mucli they are at variance with the cosmographical mauuscripts of the past, these plain statements may be relied u])oil as a record of the things Olaf Jansen claims to have seen with his own eyes. A hundred times I have asked my- self whether it is possible that the world 's geography is incomplete, and that the startling narrative of Olaf Jansen is predicated upon demon- strable 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 fatal of a clever superstition, or 13 THE SMOKY GOD 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 sj)eaks, where he says: *' Apollo's real home is among the Hyperbo- reans, 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 Hecatseus, 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. ]\Iy simple duty is to en- Id THE SMOKY GOD lighten the \Yorld coiieerning n here- tofore iinkno^^ii jiortion of the uni- verse, as it was seen and described by the old Norseman, Olaf Jmisen. Interest in northern research is in- ternational. Eleven nations are en- gaged 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 fic- tion," and in a most startling man- ner has this axiom been brought home to me within the last fortnight. It was just two 'clock in the morn- ing 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 15 THE SMOKY GOD note, scrawled almost io the point of illegibility, from an old Norseman b}^ the name of Olaf Jansen. After mneli deciphering, I made ont the writing, which simply said: "Am ill unto death. Come." The call was imperative, and I lost no time in making ready to comph\ 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 unpre- tentious 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, 16 THE SMOKY GOD toward its owner and occupant, whom I afterward came to know as a l)e- liever 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 fonr-score years and ten ; and, withal, a sense of loneliness that appealed to my sympathy. Slightly stooped, and wdth 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 mo- tive impelled me to pause in mj walk and engage him in conversation. He seemed pleased when I complimented him on tlie attractiveness of his bmi- galow, and on the well-tended vines 17 THE S.MOKY (JOD and flowers clustering in j^rofiision over its windows, roof and wide pi- azza. I soon discovered tliat my new ac- quaintance 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 deeph^ 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 Califor- nia, 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 18 THE SMOKY GOD farther nortli to Sx^itzbergen 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. Al- though 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 19 THE S^LOKY GOD choose to tell me of his travels and ad- ventures. 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 bed- side. ^*I must hasten,^' he exclaimed, while yet he held my hand in greet- 20 THE SMOKY GOD ing. ''I have much to tell you that you know not, and I will trust no one but you. I fully realize," he went on hurriedl}^, ''that I shall not survive the night. The time has come to join my fathers in the great sleep." I adjusted the i^illows to make him more comfortable, and assured him I was glad to be able to serve him in any way possible, for I was begin- ning to realize the seriousness of his condition. The lateness of the hour, the still- ness 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 21 THE SMOKY GOD Norseman's couch, and there have been many times since, when a sen- sation rather than a conviction took possession of my very soul, and I seemed not only to believe in, but ac- tually see, the strange lands, the strange people and the strange world of which he told, and to hear the mighty orchestral ^chorus of a thou- sand lusty voices. For over two hours he seemed en- dowed with almost superhiunan 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 22 THE SMOKY GOD 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 tell- ing your ovni 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 far- reaching 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 23 THE SMOKY GOD the San Jacinto, far to the eastward, the spirit of Olaf Jansen, the naviga- tor, the explorer and worshiper of Odin and Thor, the man whose expe- riences 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: 24 THE SMOKY GOD 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 miknown 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 cap- ture the veiled citadel of the Arctic, the circle of silence, the land of glaciers, cold wastes of waters and winds that are strangely warm. In- creasing interest is manifested in the mountainous icebergs, and marvelous speculations are indulged in concern- ing the earth's center of gi'avity, the cradle of the tides, where the whales have their nurseries, where the mag- netic needle goes mad, where the 25 THE SMOKY GOD Aurora Borealis illumines the night, and where brave and courageous spirits of every generation dare to venture and explore, defymg the dan- gers 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: ^'TJie possihilities of a land inside the earth tve^^e first drought to my at- tention when I picked up a geode on 26 THE SMOKY GOD 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 tvith crystals. The earth is only a larger form of a geode, and the laiv that created the geode in its hollow form undoubtedly fashioned the earth in the same way.'^ In presenting the theme of this al- most incredible storj^, as told by Olaf Jansen, and supplemented by manu- script, maps and crude drawings en- trusted 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, be- 27 THE SMOKY GOD cause he is created in the likeness of the Father. A man builds a house for himself and family. The porches or veran- das are all without, and are secondary. The building is really constructed for the conveniences within. Olaf Jansen makes the startling an- nouncement through me, an humble instrmnent, that in like manner, God created the earth for the ''within" — that is to say, for its lands, seas, riv- ers, mountains, forests and valleys, and for its other internal conven- iences, while the outside surface of the earth is merely the veranda, the porch, where things grow by compari- son but sparsely, like the lichen on the mountain side, clinging deter- minedly for bare existence. 28 THE SMOKY GOD Take au egg-sliell, and from each end break out a piece as large as the end of this pencil. Extract its con- tents, and then you will have a per- fect representation of Olaf Jansen's earth. The distance from the inside surface to the outside surface, accord- ing 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 hmidred 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 29 THE SMOKY GOD the shell, where gravity is geomet- rically increased, and while the elec- tric current seemingly dashes off into space toward the phantom idea of the North Pole, yet this same electric cur- rent drops again and continues its course southward along the inside surface of the earth's crust. In the appendix to his work. Cap- tain Sabine gives an account of ex- periments to determine the accelera- tion of the pendulum in different latitudes. This appears to have re- sulted from the joint labor of Peary and Sabine. He says: ''The acci- dental discovery that a pendulum on being removed from Paris to the neighborhood of the equator in- creased its time of vibration, gave the first step to our present knowledge 30 THE SMOKY GOD that the polar axis of the globe is less than the equatorial ; that the force of gravity at the surface of the earth in- creases progressively from the equa- tor 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 Pi- son, the Gihon and the Hiddekel. These same names of rivers, when ap- plied to streams on the "outside" sur- face of the earth, are purely tradi- tional 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 "Gar- 31 THE SMOKY GOD den of Eclen," the veritable navel of the earth, and to have spent over two years studyhig and reconnoitering in this marvelous "within" land, exuber- ant 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 32 THE SMOKY GOD space from inner surface to inner sur- face 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 manmioth ball of dull red fire — • not startlingly brilliant, but sur- rounded by a white, mild, luminous cloud, giving out uniform warmth, and held in its xDlace in the center of this internal space by the inmmta- ble law of gravitation. This electric- al cloud is known to the j)eople *' 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 demon- strations of centrifugal motion, which 33 THE SMOKY GOD clearly proved that, if the earth were a solid, the rapidity of its revolution upon its axis would tear it into a thou- sand 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 ex- plorers 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 rea- sonable explanation. The presence of the open sea in the Northland is also explained. Olaf 34 THE SMOKY GOD Jansen claims that the northern aper- ture, 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 un- known regions, always clearer and clearer of ice, one might almost say : 'How long will it last?' The eye al- ways 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 Norw^ood Re- view of England, in its issue of May 35 THE SMOKY GOD 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 ex^Dlorer, 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 com- bined, in point of volume of water carried; indeed their greatness is oc- casioned 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 36 THE SMOKY GOD wide and from forty to one hundi'ed 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 Chi- nese writings, as well as the hiero- glyphics 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 37 THE SMOKY GOD 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 Amer- ica and, later, Africa, Australia and South America/ ^ The folloiving quotation is signi- ficant; ^'It folloivs that fnan issuing from a mother-region still undeter- mined hut which a number of consid- erations indicate to have been in the North, has radiated in several direc- tions; that his migrations have been constantly from North to South J' — 38 THE SMOKY GOD It is a notable fact that, as Ave ap- proach 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 desig- nated as the South Pole, and they are called the giant race. Olaf Jansen avers that, in the be- ginning, the world was created by the Great Architect of the Universe, so that man might dwell upon its "in- side" surface, which has ever since been the habitation of the "chosen." They who were di'iven out of the M. Je Marquis G. de S a port a, in Pop- ular Science Monthly, October, 1883, jmge 753. 39 THE SMOKY GOD ''Garden of Eclen" brought their tra- ditional history with them. The history of the people living ''within" contains a narrative sug- gesting 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 after- ward. On the northern boundaries of Alaska, and still more frequently on the Siberian coast, are found bone- yards containing tusks of ivory in quantities so great as to suggest the burying-places of antiquity. From Olaf Jansen's account, they have 40 THE SMOKY GOD 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 ma- terials were caught in the ocean cur- rents, or were carried on ice-floes, and have accumulated like driftwood on the Siberian coast. This has been go- ing on for ages, and hence these mys- terious bone-yards. On this subject William F. War- ren, in his book already cited, pages 297 and 298, says: "The Arctic rocks tell of a lost Atlantis more won- derful 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 con- stantly been undergoing exploitation, and still they are the chief headquar- 41 THE SMOKY GOD ters of supply. The remains of mam- motlis are so abundant that, as Grata- cap says, 'the northern islands of Siberia seem built up of crowded bones.' Another scientific writer, speaking of the islands of New Sibe- ria, northward of the mouth of the River Lena, uses this language: 'Large quantities of ivory are dug out of the ground every year. In- deed, some of the islands are believed to be nothing but an accumulation of drift-timber and the bodies of mam- moths and other antediluvian ani- mals frozen together. ' From this we may infer that, during the years that have elapsed since the Russian con- quest of Siberia, useful tusks from more than twenty thousand mam- moths have been collected." 42 THE SMOKY GOD But now for the story of Olaf Jan- sen. 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 com- pared with his own experiences those of other voyagers to the frozen North. Thus wrote the disciple of Odin and Thor: 43 PART TWO OLAP JANSEN'S STORY M Y 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, 45 THE SMOKY GOD near the Lofoden Islands, but after marrying made his home at Stock- hohn, because my mother 's people re- sided in that city. When seven years old, I began going with my father on his fishing trips along the Scandi- navian coast. Early in life I displayed an apti- tude 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 46 THE SMOKY GOD gentleness of a woman in tender lit- tle ways, yet liis 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 re- sulted in the strange story that shall be given to the world, — but not until I have finished my earthly pilgrim- age. I dare not allow the facts as I know them to be published while I am liv- ing, 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 discov- eries made by my father and myself. 47 THE SMOKY GOD 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 ter- rible 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 48 i r i ^1 i .•? -t i 4 ► >«??' ^i'^ ^ 'Twenty-eight years — long, tedious, frightful years of suffering: THE SMOKY GOD project. He seemed interested, and invited me to go before certain offi- cials and explain to them, as I liad to him, the story of our travels and discoveries. Imagine my disappoint- ment and horror when, upon the con- clusion of my narrative, certain pa- pers were signed by my uncle, and, without warning, I found myself ar- rested and hurried away to dismal and fearful confinement in a mad- house, where I remained for twenty- eight years — long, tedious, frightful years of suffering! I never ceased to assert my san- ity, and to protest against the injus- tice 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 51 THE SMOKY GOD strangers. Indeed, a man over fifty years old, whose only laiown 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 Han- sen, who was starting on a long fish- ing cruise to the Lofoden Islands. Here my earlier years of trainmg proved of the very greatest advan- tage, 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 52 THE SMOKY GOD I followed the sea as a fisherman, five years working for others, and the last twenty-two for myself. During all these years I w^as a most diligent student of books, as well as a hard worker at my business, but I took great care not to mention to any- one the story concerning the discov- eries made by my father and myself. Even at this late day I would be fear- ful of having any one see or know the things I am writing, and the records and majos 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 confine- ment with maniacs, and all the horri- 53 THE SMOKY GOD ble 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 for- tune 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 gath- ered most of the books in my present library, though I brought many choice volumes from Stockholm. Later, I came to Los Angeles, arriv- ing here March 4, 1901. The date I well remember, as it was President McKinley's second inauguration day. I bought this humble home and de- termined, here in the privacy of my own abode, sheltered by my own vine 54 THE SMOKY GOD and fig-tree, and with my books about me, to make maps and drawings of the new lands we had discovered, and also to wante the story in detail from the time my father and I left Stock- holm mitil the tragic event that parted us in the Antarctic Ocean. - I well remember that w^e left Stock- holm 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 suc- ceeded 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, w^here we rested two days, and then started around the 55 THE SMOKY GOD Scandinavian coast to the westward, bound for the Lofoden Islands. My father was in high sj^irit, be- cause of the excellent and gratifying returns he had received from our last catch by marketing at Stockholm, in- stead of selling at one of the seafar- ing 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 fishmg-sloop with ivory, instead of cod, herring, mackerel and salmon. We 23ut in at Hammerfest, latitude 56 •^^^¥*-- "A vessel larger than our little fishing sloop could not have threaded its zvay among the icebergs." THE SMOKY GOD seventy-one degrees and forty min- utes, for a few days' rest. Here we remained one week, laying in an ex- tra 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 pos- sibly have threaded its way among the labj^rinth 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 59 THE SMOKY GOD of solid rock, standing silent as a sphinx, resisting the restless waves of a fretful sea. After many narrow escapes, we ar- rived 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/ 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, ^ It ivill he 7'ememl)ered that An- dree started on Ids fatal halloo }i voy- age from the northwest coast of Spitz- hergen. 60 THE SMOKY GOD the 3'^ear before he had, by accident, foimd the ivory tusks that had brought him such a good price at Stockhohn. Never, before or since, have I seen so many sea-fowl; they were so nu- merous 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 i^lace was green with growing vegetation, and while the area did not comprise more than one or two acres, yet the air was 61 THE SMOKY GOD warm and tranquil. It seemed to be at that point where the Gulf Stream 's influence is most keenly felt/ On the east coast there were nu- merous icebergs, yet here we were in open water. Far to the west of us, ^ Sir John Barrotv, Bart., F.R.S., in his work entitled ^'Voyages of Dis- covery and Research Within the Arctic Regions/^ says on page 57: ^^Mr. Beechey refers to what has fre- quently 'been found and noticed — the mildness of the temperature on the tvestern coast of Spitzhergen, there heing little or no sensation of cold, though the thermometer anight he only a feiv 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." 62 THE SMOKY GOD however, were icepacks, and still far- ther to the westward the ice appeared like ranges of low hills. In front of us, and directly to the north, lay an open sea/ My father was an ardent believer in Odin and Thor, and had frequently told nie they were gods who came from far beyond the "North Wind." There was a tradition, my father ^ Captain Kane, on page 299, quot- ing from Morton's Journal on Mon- day, the 26th of December, says: '^As far as I could see, the open pas- sages ivere fifteen miles or more ivide, 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." 63 THE SMOKY GOD explained, that still farther north- ward was a land more beautifnl than any that mortal man had ever known, and that it was inhabited by the "Chosen."^ My youthful imagination was fired by the ardor, zeal and religious fervor ^ We find the folloiving in '^Deutsclie Mi/thologie/' page 778, from the pen of Jakob Grinun; ^'Then the sons of Bor huilt in the middle of the universe the city called Asgard, where dtvell the gods and their kindred, and from that ah ode work out so many tvondrous things both on the earth and in the heavens above it. There is in that city a place called Hlidskjalf , and tvhen Odin is seated there upon his lofty throne he sees over the wJiole world and dis- cerns all the actions of men.'' 64 THE SMOKY GOD of my good father, and I exclaimed: "Why uot 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 comite- nance 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 ven- tured?" 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 vo^^age had begun. ^ 'Hall writes, on page 288: ''On the 23rd of Januarij the two Esqui- maux, accompanied hij two of the sea- 65 THE SMOKY GOD The sun was low in tlie horizon, as it was still the early summer. In- deed, we had almost four months of day ahead of us before the frozen night could come on again. Our little fishing-sloop sprang for- ward as if eager as ourselves for ad- venture. 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 men, went to Cape Liipton. They re- ported a sea of open water extending as far as the eye eotdd reach/' 66 THE SMOKY GOD that, had our craft been other than small, we never could have gotten through. On the third day we came to an is- land. 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 diam- eter.^ ' Greely tells us in vol. 1, page 100, that: ''Privates Connell and Fred- erick found a large coniferous tree on the heach, 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 cur- 67 THE SMOKY GOD After one daj^'s exploration of the coast line of this island, we lifted an- chor and turned our prow to the north in an open sea.^ I remember that neither my father nor myself had tasted food for almost rent 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 com- fort to man/' ^ Dr. Kane says, on page 379 of his works: ^^I cannot imagine tvhat becomes of the ice. A strong current sets in constantly to the north; but, from altitudes of more than five hun- dred 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.' ' 68 THE SMOKY GOD thirty hours. Perhaps this was be- cause 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 Hammerf est on the north coast of Norway, some six weeks before/ ^ Captain Peary's second voyage re- lates another circumstance which may serve to con'firm a conjecture which has long heen 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 69 THE SMOKY CJOD 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 rej^ast, I told my father I believed I would sleep, as I was beginning to feel quite di'owsy. ''Very well," he re- plied, "I will keep the watch." I have no way to determine how west, loivered the thermometer before midnight to 5 degrees, tvhereas, a rise of wind at Melville Island was gen- erally accompanied hy a simxdtaneoiis rise in the thermometer at low tem- peratures. May not this/' he asks, ''he occasioned hy the wind hlowing over an open sea in the quarter from which the wind blows f And tend to confirm the opinion that at or near the Pole an open sea exists f 70 THE SMOKY GOD long I slept ; I only know that I was rudely awakened by a terrible com- motion of the sloop. To my surprise, I foimd my father sleeping soundly. I cried out lustily to him, and start- ing 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 w^re on either side of us, but fortunately the channel was open directly to the north. But would it remain so ? In 71 THE SMOKY GOD 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 fi- nally lost to view as it blended with the great white flakes of falling snow. Whether it covered a treacherous ice- berg, 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 deter- mine.^ ^ On page 284 of his tuorks, Hall writes: ''From the top of Provi- dence Berg, a dark fog tvas seen to the north, indicating water. At 10 a. m. three of the men {Kruger, Nin- demann and Ilohhy) went to Cape 72 "By what miracle wc escaped being dashed to destruction, I do not knoiij." THE SMOKY GOD 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 stag- gered 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 cross- beam. Most of our provisions, how- ever, were tumbled out and swept away from the deck of the cuddy, and Lupton to ascertain if possible the ex- tent of the open water. On their re- turn 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/' 75 THE SMOKY GOD 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 lash- ing sea. Above the deafening tmnult 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 pos- sibility 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 reck- less white-spraj^ed fury. There was no telling what instant we should be dashed against some drifting ice- 76 THE SMOKY GOD pack. The tremendous swells would heave us up to the very peaks of mouutainous waves, then j)luiige 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 sus^Dense and agony of fear indescribable, con- tinued for more than three hours, and all the time we were being driven for- ward at fierce speed. Then suddenly, as if growing weary of its frantic ex- ertions, the wmd 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 77 THE SMOKY GOD perhaps ten or fifteen miles wide, with a few icebergs far away to our right, and an intermittent archipel- ago of smaller ones to the left. I watched my father closel}^ deter- mined to remain silent until he spoke. Presently he untied the rope from his waist and, without saying a word, be- gan working the pumps, which for- tunately were not damaged, relieving the sloop of the water it had shipped in the madness of the storm. He put uj) the sloop's sails as calmly as if castmg a fishing-net, and then remarked that we were read}^ for a favoring wind when it came. His courage and persistence were truly remark»able. On investigation we found less than one-third of our provisions remain- 78 THE SMOKY GOD ing, while to our utter dismay, we dis- coA^ered 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 sux)ply 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 slant- ingty, as if we were in a southern latitude, instead of in the far North- land. It was swinging around, its orbit ever visible and rising higher 79 THE SMOKY GOD and higher each day, frequently mist- covered, yet always peering through the lacework of clouds like some fret- ful eye of fate, guarding the myste- rious Northland and jealously watch- ing the pranks of man. Far to our right the rays decking the prisms of icebergs were gorgeous. Their re- flections emitted flashes of garnet, of diamond, of sapphire. A pyrotech- nic panorama of countless colors and shapes, while below could be seen the green-tinted sea, and above, the pur- ple sky. 80 PART THREE BEYOND THE NORTH WIND I TRIED to forget my thirst by busjdiig 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 mj'- 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 81 THE SMOKY GOD 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, ab- solutely so, without the least briny taste or even the suspicion of a salty flavor. We forthwith filled our two re- maining water-casks, and my father declared it was a heavenly dispensa- tion 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 o^^en sea, what might we not ex]Dect in this strange latitude where ship had never 82 THE SMOKY GOD before sailed and the splash of an oar had never been heard ? ^ We had scarcely appeased our hun- ger when a breeze began filling the idle sails, and, glancing at the com- * In vol. I, page 196, Nansen writes: ''It is a peculiar phenomenon, — tJiis dead water. We had at present a better opportunity of studying it than we desired. It occurs where a sur- face layer of fresh water rests tipon the salt water of the sea, and this fresh water is carried along with the ship gliding on the heavier sea be- neath it as if on a fixed foundation. The difference between the two strata tvas in this case so great that tvhile we had drinhing water on the surface, tJie water we got from the bottotn cock of the engine-room was far too salt to be used for the boiler.'' 83 THE SMOKY GOD pass, we found the northern point pressing hard against the glass. In response to my surprise, my father said, *'I have heard of this be- fore ; it is what they call the dipping of the needle. ' ' We loosened the compass and turned it at right angles with the sur- face of the sea before its point would free itself from the glass and point according to unmolested attraction. It shifted uneasily, and seemed as un- steady 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 discov- ered, if it could be relied upon, that we were sailing slightly north by 84 THE SMOKY GOD northeast. Our course, however, was ever tending northward.^ ^ In volume II, pages 18 and 19, Nansen writes about the inclination of the needle. Speaking of Johnson, his aide: ^'One day — it was No- venvbei^ 24:th — 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 remarka- bly enough, its northern extremity pointed to the east.' " We again find in Peary's first voy- age — page 67, — the folloiving: ''It had been observed that from the mo- ment 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 85 THE SMOKY GOD The sea was serenely smooth, with hardly a choppy wave, and the wind brisk and exhilarating. The sun's rays, while striking us aslant, fur- nished tranquil warmth. And thus time wore on day after day, and we found from the record in our log- book, we had been sailing eleven days since the storm in the oj^en sea. By strictest economy, our food was holding out fairly well, but beginning to rmi low. In the meantime, one of inlet. Having readied latitude 73 degrees, they tuitnessed for the first time the curious phenomenon of the directive power of the needle 'becom- ing so weak as to he completely over- come hy the attraction of the ship, so that the needle might now he said to point to the north pole of the ship." 86 THE SMOKY GOD our casks of water had been ex- hausted, and my father said: ''We will fill it again." But, to our dis- may, we found the water was now as salt as in the region of the Lofoden Islands oH the coast of Norway. This necessitated our being extreme- ly 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 re- laxation 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 sim was 87 THE SMOKY GOD shining far away in the east, I always saw a single star overhead. For sev- eral clays, when I looked for this star, it was always there directly above us. It was now, according to our reck- oning, about the fii'st 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 88 / /■ "// coidd hardly be said to resemble the sun except in its circular shape." THE SMOKY GOD unconscious of its emitting any rays of light, still there was no time there- after when we could not sweep the horizon in front and locate the illu- mination 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 al- most, but never entirely, hide its loca- tion. 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 lumi- nous cloud, as if reflecting some greater light beyond. 91 THE SMOKY GOB We finally agreed in our discussion of this smoky furnace-colored sun, that, whatever the cause of the phe- nomenon, it was not a reflection of our sun, but a planet of some sort — a reality.^ ^ Nansen, on page 394, says: '^To- day another noteworthy thing hap- pened, which tvas that ahoiit mid- day we saiv the sun, or to he more correct, an image of the sun, for it ivas only a mirage. A peculiar im- pression tvas produced hy the sight of that glowing fire lit just above the outermost edge of the ice. Accord- ing to the enthusiastic descriptions given hy many Arctic travelers of the first appearance of this god of life after the long winter night, the im- pression ought to he one of juhilant excitement ; hut it was not so in my case. We had not expected to see it 92 THE SMOKY GOD One da}^ soon after this, I felt ex- ceedingly drowsy, and fell into a sound sleej). But it seemed that I was almost immediately aroused by my father's vigorous shaking of me for some days yet, so that my feeling ivas rather one of pain, of disappoint- ment, that we must have drifted far- ther south than we thought. So it was with pleasure I soon discovered that it could not he the sun itself. The mirage ivas at first a flattened- out, gloiving red streak of fire on the Jiorizon; later tliere were two streaks, the one above the other, ivith a dark space between; and from the maintop I coidd see four, or even five, such horizontal lines directly over one an- other, all of equal length, as if one coidd only imagine a square, dull-red sun, irith horizontal dark streaks across it.'^ 93 THE SMOKY GOD b}^ the shoulder and saving: "Olaf, awaken; there is land in sight!" I sprang to my feet, and oh! joy unspeakable! There, far in the dis- tance, 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 ex- ultation at this discovery. My father stood motionless, with his hand on the tiller, looking straight ahead, pour- ing out his heart in thankful prayer 94 THE SMOKY GOD 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 mate- rially added to our dwindling stock of j)ro visions. The compass, which w^e had fas- tened back in its place, in fear of an- other 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.^ ^ Peary's first vofjage, pages 69 and 95 THE SMOKY GOD 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 in- to this we turned our fishing-craft, the direction being slightly northeast of south. By the assistance of a fret- ful wind that came to our aid about twelve hours out of every twenty- four, we continued to make our way 70, says: ^^On reacliing Sir Byam Martin's Island, the nearest to Mel- ville Island, the latitude of the place of ohservation was 75 degrees-09'- 23", a)id the longitude 103 degrees- 44^-37''; the dip of the magnetic nee- dle 88 deg rees-2D'-5S" west in the lon- gitude of 91 degrees-'^8\ where the last observations on the shore had been viade, to 1G5 degrees-50'-09", east, at their present station, so that 96 THE SMOKY GOD 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 to soon, for our remaining cask of water was we had," says Peary, *Hn sailing over the space included between these two meridians, crossed immediately northward of the magnetic pole, and had undoiihtedly 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 NortJi Pole would have pointed to tlie south.'' 97 THE SMOKY GOD well-nigli 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 satisfjdng to hunger, and a welcome change from the monotony of our stock of provis- ions. 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 98 THE SMOKY GOD distance the singing of people. Very soon thereafter we discovered a huge ship gliding down the river directly toward us. Those aboard were sing- ing in one mighty chorus that, echo- ing 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.^ ^ Asiatic Mythology, — page 240, Paradise Foiincl" — from translation dy Sayce, in a hook called ^^ Records of the Past," we were told of a ^^dicelling" which ^Hhe gods created for" the first human beings, — a dwell- 99 } or distilling drops of flowers or fruits, grew and thrived in that land.' The Cratjjluo of Plato. 139 THE SMOKY GOD 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" sur- face 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 140 THE SMOKY GOD the entire "inside" surface of the earth, its cities, oceans, seas, rivers, gnlf s 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 lit- tle 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 lavmched our little craft for us, they were most cordially regretful at part- ing, and evinced much solicitude for 141 THE SMOKY GOD 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 re- turn trip. The winds were constantly blowing south, that is, they were blowing from the northern opening of the earth to- ward 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 142 THE SMOKY GOD as we came in is impossible at this time of year. I wonder why we did not think of this before. We have been liere 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 Spitz- bergen 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 w^e seemed to have struck a current that was running with re- markable swiftness in the same direc- tion. 143 THE SMOKY GOD In just forty daj^s we arrived at Delfi, a city we had visited in com- pany 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 provis- ions and again set sail, following the needle due north. On our outward trip we came through a narrow channel which ap- peared to be a separating body of w^ater between two considerable bodies of land. There was a beauti- ful beach to our right, and we decided to reconnoiter. Casting anchor, we waded ashore to rest up for a day be- fore contmuing the outward hazard- 144 THE SMOKY GOD oiis undertaking. We built a fire and threw on some sticks of dry drift- wood. While my father was walking along the shore, I prepared a tempt- ing repast from supplies we had pro- vided. 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 jDenguin family. They are flightless birds, but excellent swimmers and tremendous in size, 145 THE SMOKY GOD 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 w^addled, rather than walked, toward the water, and sw^am away in a northerly direction.^ The events that occurred during the following hundred or more days beg- gar description. We were on an open and iceless sea. The month we reckoned to be November or Decem- ber, and we knew the so-called South ^ ^'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 effidgence. In ad- dition, there is a continuous light, the varied shades and play of which are amongst the strangest phenomena of nature/' — Ramhrosson's Astronomy. 146 THE SMOKY GOD Pole Tvas 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 liglit and warmth of the sun, shining in through the south opening of the earth. We were not mistaken.^ There were times when our little craft, driven by wind that was con- tiouous and persistent, shot through the waters like an arrow. Indeed, ^ '^The fact that gives the phenome- non 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 shotcs a capahilitij of sustaining a luminous process proper to itself." — Humboldt. 147 THE SMOKY GOD 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 fishmg sloop through open channels of the frozen zone which sur- rounds the polar regions. We were soon amid the ice-packs, and how our little craft got through the narrow channels and escaped be- ing crushed I know not. The com- 148 THE SMOKY GOD pass 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 in- bound trip at the northern entrance. It gyrated, dipped and seemed like a thing possessed.^ ^ Captain Satine, on page 105 in '' Voyages in the Arctic Regions," says: ''The geographical determina- tion of the direction and intensity of the magnetic forces at different points of the earth^s surface has heen re- garded as an object worthy of espe- cial research. To examine in differ- ent parts of the glohe, the declination, inclination and intensity of the mag- netic force, and their periodical and secular variations, and mutual rela- tions and dependencies cotdd he duly investigated only in fixed magnetical observatories/' 149 THE SMOKY GOD One day as I was lazily looking over the sloop 's side into the clear wa- ters, my father shouted: ''Breakers ahead!" Looking up, I saw through a lifting mist a w^hite object that tow- ered several hundred feet high, com- pletely shutting off our advance. We lowered sail immediately, and none too soon. In a moment we found ourselves w^edged between two mon- strous icebergs. Each was crow^ding and grinding against its fellow moun- tain 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 150 "My father shouted: 'Breakers ahead!' THE SMOKY GOD 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 dan- gerous part of the jam, and were safe for the time being, yet the heav- ing and rending of tons of ice as it fell splashing here and there into the wa- tery depths filled us with shaking fear. Finally, to our great joy, the grind- ing of the ice ceased, and within a few hours the great mass slowly divided, 153 THE SMOKY GOD and, as if an act of Providence had been j^ei'formed, right before us lay an open channel. Should we venture with our little craft into this opening ? If the pressure came on again, our lit- tle sloop as well as ourselves would be crushed into nothingness. We de- cided to take the chance, and, accord- ingly, hoisted our sail to a favoring breeze, and soon started out like a race-horse, running the gaimtlet of this unknown narrow channel of open water. 154 PART FIVE AMONG THE ICE PACKS FOR the next forty-five days our time was employed in dodging icebergs and hunting channels; in- deed, 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 155 THE SMOKY GOD 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. ^'Wliat a wonderful story we have to tell to the people of Stockholm," continued my father, while a look of pardonable elation lighted up his hon- est 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 courage- ous daring as a discoverer, and for having made the voyage that now promised a successful end. I was grateful, too, that he had gathered 156 THE SMOKY GOD the wealth of gold we were carrying home. iWhile congratulating ourselves on the goodly supply of provisions and water we still had on hand, and on the dangers we had escaped, w^e were startled by hearing a most terrific ex- ]3losion, 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 hap- pened to be near a monstrous iceberg which, to all appearances was as im- movable as a rockbound island. It seemed, however, that the iceberg had split and was breaking apart, where- upon the balance of the monster along which we were sailing was destroyed, and it began dipping from us. My 157 THE SMOKY GOD father quickly anticipated tlie danger before I realized its awful possibili- ties. 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 fish- ing-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 Avas 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 : **A11 is well." Just then a realiza- tion dawned upon me. Horror upon horror ! The blood froze in my veins. 158 THE SMOKY GOD The iceberg was still in motion, and its great weight and force in top^Dling over would cause it to submerge tem- porarily. I fully realized what a sucking maelstrom it would produce amid the worlds of water on every side. They would rush into the de- jDression 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 159 THE SMOKY GOD monolith of ice sank below the sur- face, 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 recov- ered 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 160 THE SMOKY GOD death. I railed at fate, that I, too, had not been permitted to sleep with him in the depths of the ocean. Fi- nally, I climbed to my feet and looked about me. The purple-domed sky above, the shoreless green ocean be- neath, and onl}^ an occasional iceberg discernible ! My heart sank in hope- less despair. I cautiously x^icked 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 rush- ing like some rare stimulant through every fiber of my body. I crept close to the precipitous side 161 . THE SMOKY GOD of the iceberg, and peered far down, hoping, still hoping. Then I made a circle of the ISerg, scanning every foot of the way, and thus I ke^Dt going around and around. One part of my brain was certainly becoming mani- acal, while the other part, I believe, and do to this day, was perfectly ra- tional. 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 expec- tation. 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 circuit- 162 THE SMOKY GOD ous pilgrimage, if I paused for a sin- gle niomeiit, it would be acknowl- edgmeut of defeat, and, sliould I do tliis, I felt that I should go mad. Thus, hour after hour I walked around and around, afraid to stop and rest, vet physically powerless to con- tinue 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. M}^ 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 un- bearable was suddenly broken by the firing of a signal-gmi. I looked up in startled amazement, when, I saw, less 163 THE SMOKY GOD than a half-mile away, a whaling-ves- sel bearing down toward me with her sail full set. Evidently my continued activity on the iceberg had attracted their atten- tion. 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 whal- ing-ship. I found it was a Scotch whaler, ''The Arlington." She had cleared from Dundee in September, and started immediately for the Antarc- tic, 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 164 "-1 i.- Sufis' "Less than a half mile away was a whaling vessel: THE SMOKY GOD the earth, the captain and mate looked at each other, shook their heads, and insisted on my being put in a ])unk under strict surveillance of the ship 's physician. I was ver}^ weak for want of food, and had not slej^t for many hours. However, after a few days' rest, I got up one morning and dressed myself without asking permission of the phy- sician 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 Ant- arctic 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 167 THE SMOKY GOD wa}^ of Spitzbergen, and come out by way of the South Pole countiy, whereupon I was put in irons. I aft- erward heard the captain tell the mate that I was as crazy as a March hare, and that I must remain in confine- ment 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 in- vent 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 cap- tain asked me for an explanation. I 168 "IVhcrcupov. I XK.'as put in irons.' THE SMOKY GOD 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 consider- ably," he said, ''but you are not sane yet by a good deal." "Permit me to do such work as 3^ou may assign," I rej)lied, ''and if it does not compen- sate you sufficiently, I will pay you immediateh^ after I reach Stockholm — to the last penny. ' ' Thus the mat- ter rested. On finally reaching Stockholm, as I have already related, I found that my good mother had gone to her re- ward more than a year before. I have also told how, later, the treach- ery of a relative landed me in a mad- 171 THE SMOKY GOD bouse, where I remained for twenty- eight years — seemingly miending years — and, still later, after my re- lease, how I retm'ned 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 ad- ventures was reached when the Scotch sailing-vessel took me from an ice- berg on the Antarctic Ocean. 172 PART SIX CONCLUSION IN concluding this history of my adventures, I wish to state that I firmly believe science is yet in its in- fancy concerning the cosmology of the earth. There is so much that is unaccounted for by the world's ac- cepted 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 ])een found by explorers in open waters far over the northern edge of 173 THE SMOKY GOD the earth's crust, and also the bodies of manimoths whose bones are found in vast beds on the Siberian coast. Northern explorers have done much. Sir John Franklin, De Haven Grinnell, Sir John Mur- ray, Kane, Melville, Hall, Nansen, Schwatka, Greely, Peary, Ross, Ger- lache, Bernacchi, Andree, Anisden, Amundson and others have all been striving to storm the frozen citadel of mystery. I firmly believe that Andree and his two brave companions, Strind- berg 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, 174 THE SMOKY GOD as my father and myself were enter- tained by the kind-hearted giant race inhabiting the inner Atlantic Con- tinent. Having, in my humble way, de- voted years to these problems, I am well acquainted with the accepted definitions of gravity, as well as the cause of the magnetic needle's at- traction, and I am prepared to say that it is my firm belief that the mag- netic needle is influenced solely by electric currents which completely envelop the earth like a garment, and that these electric currents in an end- less circuit pass out of the southern end of the earth's cylindrical open- ing, diffusing and spreading them- selves over all the ''outside" surface, and rushing madly on in their course 175 THE SMOKY GOD toward the North Pole. And while these currents seemingly dash off in- to space at the earth's curve or edge, yet they drop again to the *' inside" surface and continue their way south- ward along the inside of the earth's crust, toward the opening of the so- called South Pole.^ As to gravity, no one knows what it is, because it has not been deter- * ^^Mr. Lemstrom concluded that an electric discharge which could only he seen by means of the spectroscope was taking place on the surface of the ground all around him, and that from a distance it woidd appear as a faint display of Aurora, the phenomena of pale and flaming light which is some times seen on the top of the Spitzber- gen Mountains." — The Arctic Man- ual, page 739. 176 THE SMOKY GOD mined whether it is atmospheric pres- sm'e that causes the apple to fall, or whether, 150 miles below the surface of the earth, supposedly one-half way thi'ough 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 dra^^Ti or impelled down- ward to the nearest point of resist- ance, is unknown to the students of phj^sics. Sir James Ross claimed to have dis- covered the magnetic pole at about seventy-four degrees latitude. This is wrong — the magnetic pole is ex- actly 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 177 THE SMOKY GOD estimate it to be, then tlie 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 be- 3^ond that point on toward the ''in- side" surface of the earth, a reverse attraction geometrically increases in power, until the other one hundred and fifty miles of distance is trav- ersed, 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 sur- 178 THE SMOKY COD faces. While the inertia and mo- mentum of a weight dropped in from tlie "outside" surface would carry it far past the magnetic center, yet, be- fore reaching the ' ' inside ' ' surface of the earth it would gradually dimin- ish in speed, after passing the half- way point, finally pause and imme- diately fall back toAvard the ''out- side" surface, and continue thus to oscillate, like the swinging of a pen- dulum with the power removed, un- til it would finally rest at the mag- netic 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 179 THE SMOKY GOD than one thousand miles every hour, or about seventeen miles per second — makes of it a vast electro-genera- ting body, a huge machine, a mighty prototype of the puny-man-made d}"- namo, 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 mag- nificent and luxuriant flowers. Not hundreds and thousands, but millions, of acres, from which the pollen or blossoms are carried far away in al- most 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 180 THE SMOKY GOD produce the colored snows of the Arctic regions that have so mystified the northern explorers.^ Bej^ond question, this new land ^ Kane, vol. I, page 4J:, says: "We passed the 'crimson cliffs' of Sir John Ross in the forenoon of August oth. The patches of red snow from which they derive their name could he seen clearly at the distance of ten miles from the coast." La Chamhre, in an account of Andree's l)alloon expedition, on page 144, says: ''On the isle of Amster- dam the snow is tinted with red for a considerahle distance, and the sa- vants are collecting it to examine it microscopically. It presents, in fact, certain peciiliarities ; it is thought that it contains very small plants. Scorehy, the famous whaler, had al- ready remarked this." 181 THE SMOKY GOD "witliiii" is the liomo, tlio 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, phil- ological and mythological theories of antiquity. The same idea of going back to the land of mystery — to the very be- ginning — 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 Pom- peii as well as the traditions of the North American Indians. 182 THE SMOKY GOD It is now one hour past midnight — the new year of 1908 is here, and tliis 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 i-eady, 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 l)oth 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 Jaxsen. 183 PART SEVEN AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD I FOUND mucli difficulty in de- ciphering and editing the manu- scripts of Olaf Jansen. However, I have taken the liberty of reconstruct- ing 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 relia- bility of the wonderful statements made by Olaf Jansen. The descrip- tion here given of the strange lands 184 THE SMOKY GOD aud people visited by him, locatiou 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 bene- fit of those interested in the mysteries of the ' ' Farthest North ' ' — the frozen circle of silence. It is certain there are many things in Yedic literature, in ''Josephus," the "Odyssey," the *' Iliad," Terrien de Lacouperie's "Earl}^ History of Chinese Civiliza- tion," Flammarion's ''Astronomical Myths," Lenormant's "Beginnings of History," Hesiod's "Theogony," 185 THE SMOKY GOD Sir John cle ^laundeville's writings, and Sayce's "Records of the Past," that, to say the least, are strangely in harmony with the seemingly incredi- ble text found in the yellow manu- script of the old Norseman, Olaf Jan- sen, and now for the first time given to the world. THE END 186 By WILLIS GEORGE EMERSON BUELL HAMPTON A TALE OF LOVE, OF SURPRISES, OF A MYSTERY " Buell Hampton " is a good story in every par- ticular. Nothing better has been done in its line. — The Mirror {St. Louis). One of the leading books of the year. Every page breathes ; is alive with people who do things and say bright and witty things. — Chicago Jour- nal. 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