December, 1911. 



KNOWLEDGE. 



465 



nortlierii portions of the world were inucli more 

 closeh- linked together than is the case to-day, and 

 that the ad\-enturous peoples from the northern parts 

 of Europe were not uncommonly accustomed to make 

 voyages to Greenland and Northern .\merica, owing 

 to an almost continuous land connection. In the 

 Icelandic sagas, that part of .\merica embracing 

 Texas, Florida, the valley of the Mississippi, Georgia 

 and the Carolinas was designated under the name of 

 Ire]and-ik-Mikla,or Great Ireland, and was considered 

 to be a land of white men. (See Beauvais," Decouvertes 

 des Scandinaves en Amerique.'") 



We have, then, undoubted traces of Teutonic, 

 or Scythian, descent in America ; the same race 

 over-ran the north of Asia and Europe : tucked 

 awa\- in a corner of the Arctic regions is a 

 small tribe of apparent Teutonic characteristics. 

 Were the Sc\'thian peoples always unsettled, always 

 wanderers over the north, or is there some truth 

 in the Chichimec legend that they inhabited 

 Amaquemecan. ■■ a land of vast extent'"? 



\\'hat does the geolog\' of the Arctic regions teach 

 us ? 



There was a period when lands stretching across 

 the Atlantic Ocean, and which linked up the Atlas 

 range with the West Indies and Central America, 

 were gradually breaking up. At this time the United 

 States proper did not exist : its place was occupied 

 b\' a brackish sea containing a number of islands: 

 but in the northern portions of the Atlantic region 

 definite evidence exists of the presence of dry land, 

 while a good deal of modern Europe, North America 

 and Asia were occupied by the ocean bed. Certain 

 flora of the Tertiary period, co\'ered b}- basalt, occur 

 in Count\' .Antrim ; the same flora — Taxodiiini 

 ciisfichiiin — has left deposits in lignite in Spitzbergen, 

 Ireland, the Hebrides, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, 

 Greenland, and even beyond : Fieiden found Tertiary 

 plants in British Columbia containing examples 

 belonging to Mexico and the South, and the existence 

 of this flora, says Professor Suess, " has been fre- 

 quently regarded as a proof of the existence of a 

 great continent, richh- covered -with vegetation, 

 which occupied the site of the [iresent North 

 Atlantic Ocean. "*^ 



Elsewhere^ in his magnificent work, Suess points 

 out that the Tertiary land faunas of North America 

 correspond ^\■ith those of Europe, demonstrating 

 clearly that a once wast northern area definitelj' 

 connected, has been broken up, of which parts dis- 

 appeared. This reconstruction of lost Hyperborean 

 lands is, curiously enough, borne out b\- the celebrated 

 map of America added to the edition of Ptolemy's 

 Geography, which showed not onh- Greenland and 

 Newfoundland, but separated the north entireh- fnjm 

 the i\merican Continent, and carried this northern 

 land across until it united with the north of Asia. 



The Greeks and Romans preserved lively recollec- 

 tions in their mythology of this great Hyperborean 

 Continent, situate far to the north-west, and which 



enjoyed a mild and beneficent climate. It was the 

 Saturnian Continent, where Saturn, Hercules and 

 Apollo were honoured. Thence Hercules led an 

 expedition whose first destination was to such a 

 northerly clime that, according to Plutarch, during 

 thirty days the sun set for only one hour, and even 

 during that time a twilight reigned. Ogygia was 

 distant further still, where Saturn slept in a deep 

 cave where he had been placed by Jupiter. Indeed, 

 the trend of opinion to-da}" is gradually coming round 

 to believe that the Hellenes themselves originated in 

 this part of the world, and that their heroic stories 

 refer to that early period of flux when the Scythian 

 peoples lived in the regions now given over to the 

 iceberg. 



Without question there was a period, not geo- 

 logicallv far removed from our time, when the Polar 

 regions rejoiced in a soft and beautiful climate. It 

 used to be said that this was before man lived. Now , 

 on the contrary, the weight of evidence indicates that 

 man not only lived then, but that the north, as said 

 the Goth Jornandes, ^\■as the forge of mankind. 

 \Mien the north enjo\'ed a beneficent climate, prior 

 to events of the utmost magnitude which changed 

 the entire climate of the world and altered the face 

 of the earth, we cannot surely escape from the con- 

 viction that all the evidence is in favour of its being 

 the original home of a great portion of the human 

 race. We know that the earth has constantly 

 shifted its axis, and by a study of the other planets 

 we are enabled to foretell with some exactitude the 

 result of any great change. The causes which lead 

 to a shifting of the earth's axis need not be discussed 

 here, but the effects must be considered. According 

 to the esoteric belief of the ancients, including Plato, 

 the planet |upiter caused a world conflagration, and 

 whether it did so or not, there is no question but that, 

 prior to the Glacial Period, certain lands became 

 submerged, w hich interfered with its equilibrium and 

 caused the earth to shift its axis,owingto the change in 



its centre of gravit> 



"As the centre of gravity of the 

 earth varied," said Major-General Drayson, F.R.A.S., 

 in a paper read to the Ro\al .\stronomical Society 

 in 1896. " due to the elevation and depression of 

 lands and the consequent transferal of hundreds of 

 millions of tons of ocean water so must the centre of 

 gravity of the earth have varied, and consequently 

 the angle formed between the poles of daily and 

 second rotation, and hence the climatic changes. . ." 

 The Glacial .\ge drove the Hyperboreans south. 



be 



an 



Thus 



among 



small portion 



which 



that period of enormous migrations 

 the Israelites comprised but one 

 Millions of people perished, and 

 hence the universal Flood Stor}-. But. as though 

 it were b\- chance, here and there communities 

 were isolated and spared. Some of these in 

 turn sought more friendly climes, but others 

 remained : and thus we have a rational and natural 

 explanation of Herr Stefanssen's Scandinavian 



tribe in 



Face of the Eartli," Vol. 1. ] 

 t Vol. I., p. U. 



the .\rctic regions of the north - west. 



