_A strange manuscript found in a copper cylinder_
          (the eleventh installment)

   from _Harper's weekly_ (1888-mar-17) 
           (by James De Mille)

Chapter XVI.  The Kosekin (continued)

The love of death leads to perpetual efforts on the part 
of each to lay down his life for another.  This is a grave 
difficulty in hunts and battles.  Confined prisoners dare
not fly, for in such an event the guards kill themselves. 
This leads to fresh rigors in the captivity of the prisoners
in case of their recapture, for they are overwhelmed with
fresh luxuries and increased splendors.  Finally, if a
prisoner persist and is recaptured, he is solemnly put to
death, not, as with us, by way of severity, but as the last
and greatest honor.  Here extremes meet; and death, whether
for honor or dishonor, is all the same--death--and is
reserved for desperate cases.  But among the Kosekin this
lofty destiny is somewhat embittered by the agonizing
thought on the part of the prisoner, who thus gains it, that
his wretched family must be doomed, not, as with us, to
poverty and want, but, on the contrary, to boundless wealth
and splendor.  

  Among so strange a people it seemed singular to me what
offenses could possibly be committed which could be regarded
and punished as crimes.  These, however, I soon found out. 
Instead of robbers, the Kosekin punished the secret
bestowers of their wealth on others.  This is regarded as a
very grave offense.  Analogous to our crime of piracy is the
forcible arrest of ships at sea and the transfer to them of
valuables.  Sometimes the Kosekin pirates give themselves up
as slaves.  Kidnapping, assault, highway robbery, and crimes
of violence have their parallel here in cases where a strong
man, meeting a weaker, forces himself upon him as his slave
or compels him to take his purse.  If the weaker refuse, the
assailant threatens to kill himself, which act would lay the
other under obligations to receive punishment from the state
in the shape of gifts and honors, or at least subject him to
unpleasant inquiries.  Murder has its counterpart among the
Kosekin in cases where one man meets another, forces money
on him, and kills himself.  Forgery occurs where one uses
another's name so as to confer money on him. 

  There are many other crimes, all of which are severely 
punished.  The worse the offense the better is the offender 
treated.  Among the Kosekin capital punishment is
imprisonment amid the greatest splendor, where the prisoner 
is treated like a king, and has many palaces and great
retinues; for that which we consider the highest they regard
as the lowest, and with them the chief post of honor is what
we would call the lowest menial office.  Of course, among 
such a people, any suffering from want is unknown, except 
when it is voluntary.  The pauper class, with all their
great privileges, have this restriction, that they are
forced to receive enough for food and clothing.  Some,
indeed, manage by living in out-of-the-way places to deprive
themselves of these, and have been known to die of
starvation; but this is regarded as dishonorable, as taking
an undue advantage of a great position, and where it can be
proved, the children and relatives of the offender are
severely punished according to the Kosekin fashion.  

  State politics here move, like individual affairs, upon
the great principle of contempt for earthly things.  The
state is willing to destroy itself for the good of other
states; but as other states are in the same position,
nothing can result.  In times of war the object of each army
is to honor the other and benefit it by giving it the glory
of defeat.  The contest is thus most fierce.  The Kosekin,
through their passionate love of death, are terrible in
battle; and when they are also animated by the desire to
confer glory on their enemies by defeating them, they
generally succeed in their aim.  This makes them almost
always victorious, and when they are not so not a soul
returns alive.  Their state of mind is peculiar.  If they
are defeated they rejoice, since defeat is their chief
glory; but if they are victorious they rejoice still more 
in the benevolent thought that they have conferred upon 
the enemy the joy, the glory, and the honor of defeat.

  Here all shrink from governing others.  The highest wish 
of each is to serve.  The Meleks and Kohens, whom I at first
considered the highest, are really the lowest orders; next
to these come the authors, then the merchants, then farmers,
then artisans, then laborers, and, finally, the highest rank
is reached in the paupers.  Happy the aristocratic, the
haughty, the envied paupers.  The same thing is seen in
their armies.  The privates here are highest in rank, and
the officers come next in different graduations.  These
officers, however, have the command and the charge of
affairs as with us; yet this is consistent with their
position, for here to obey is considered nobler than to
command.  In the fleet the rowers are the highest class;
next come the fighting-men; and lowest of all are the
officers.  War arises from motives as peculiar as those
which give rise to private feuds; as, for instance, where 
one nation tries to force a province upon another; where 
they try to make each other greater; where they try to
benefit unduly each other's commerce; where one may have a 
smaller fleet or army than has been agreed on, or where an 
ambassador has been presented with gifts, or received too 
great honor or attention.  

  In such a country as this, where riches are disliked and 
despised, I could not imagine how people could be induced to
engage in trade.  This, however, was soon explained.  The 
laborers and artisans have to perform their daily work, so
as to enable the community to live and move and have its
being.  Their impelling motive is the high one of benefiting
others most directly.  They refuse anything but the very 
smallest pay, and insist on giving for this the utmost
possible labor.  Tradesmen also have to supply the community
with articles of all sorts; merchants have to sail their
ships to the same end, all being animated by the desire of
effecting the good of others.  Each one tries not to make
money, but to lose it; but as the competition is sharp and
universal, this is difficult, and the larger portion are
unsuccessful.  The purchasers are eager to pay as much as
possible, and the merchants and traders grow rich in spite
of their utmost endeavors.  The wealthy classes go into
business so as to lose money, but in this they seldom
succeed.  It has been calculated that only two per cent in
every community succeed in reaching the pauper class.  The
tendency is for all the labors of the working-class to be
ultimately turned upon the unfortunate wealthy class.  The
workmen being the creators of wealth, and refusing to take
adequate pay, cause a final accumulation of the wealth of
the community in the hands of the mass of the non-producers,
who thus are fixed in their unhappy position, and can hope
for no escape except by death.  The farmers till the ground,
the fishermen fish, the laborers toil, and the wealth thus
created is pushed from these incessantly till it all falls
upon the lowest class--namely, the rich, including Athons,
Meleks, and Kohens.  It is a burden that is often too heavy
to be borne; but there is no help for it, and the
better-minded seek to cultivate resignation.  

  Women and men are in every respect absolutely equal, 
holding precisely the same offices and doing the same work. 
In general, however, it is observed that women are a little
less fond of death than men, and a little less unwilling 
to receive gifts.  For this reason they are very numerous 
among the wealthy class, and abound in the offices of 
administration.  Women serve in the army and navy as well as
men, and from their lack of ambition or energetic 
perseverance they are usually relegated to the lower ranks, 
such as officers and generals.  To my mind it seemed as 
though the women were in all the offices of honor and
dignity, but in reality it was the very opposite.  The same
is true in the family.  The husbands insist on giving
everything to the wives and doing everything for them.  The
wives are therefore universally the rulers of the household
while the husbands have an apparently subordinate, but, to
the Kosekin, a more honorable position.  

  As to the religion of the Kosekin, I could make nothing of
it.  They believe that after death they go to what they call
the world of darkness.  The death they long for leads to the
darkness that they love; and the death and the darkness are 
eternal.  Still, they persist in saying that the death and
the darkness together form a state of bliss.  They are
eloquent about the happiness that awaits them there in the
sunless land--the world of darkness; but for my own part, it
always seemed to me a state of nothingness.  


Chapter XVII.  Belief and Unbelief

The doctor was here interrupted by Featherstone, who, with a
yawn, informed him that it was eleven o'clock, and that
human endurance had its limits.  Upon this the doctor rolled
up the manuscript and put it aside for the night, after
which supper was ordered.

  "Well," said Featherstone, "what do you think of this
last?"

  "It contains some very remarkable statements," said the
doctor.

  "There are certainly monsters enough in it," said Melick--

       "'Gorgons and hydras and chimeras dire?'"

  "Well, why not?" said the doctor.

  "It seems to me," said Melick, "that the writer of this
has peopled his world with creatures that resemble the
fossil animals more than anything else."

  "The so-called fossil animals," said the doctor, "may not
be extinct.  There are fossil specimens of animals that
still have living representatives.  There is no reason why
many of those supposed to be extinct may not be alive now. 
It is well known that many very remarkable animals have
become extinct within a comparatively recent period.  These
great birds, of which More speaks, seem to me to belong to
these classes.  The dodo was in existence fifty years ago,
the moa about a hundred years ago.  These great birds,
together with others, such as the epiornis and palapteryx,
have disappeared, not through the ordinary course of nature,
but by the hand of man.  Even in our hemisphere they may yet
be found.  Who can tell but that the moa or the dodo may yet
be lurking somewhere here in the interior of Madagascar, of
Borneo, or of Papua?"

  "Can you make out anything about those great birds?"
asked Featherstone.  "Do they resemble anything that exists
now, or has ever existed?"

  "Well, yes, I think so," said the doctor.  "Unfortunately,
More is not at all close or accurate in his descriptions; he
has a decidedly unscientific mind, and so one cannot feel
sure; yet from his general statements I think I can decide
pretty nearly upon the nature and the scientific name of
each one of his birds and animals.  It is quite evident to
me that most of these animals belong to races that no longer
exist among us, and that this world at the South Pole has
many characteristics which are like those of what is known
as the Coal Period.  I allude in particular to the vast
forests of fern, of gigantic grasses and reeds.  At the same
time the general climate and the atmosphere seem like what
we may find in the tropics at present.  It is evident that
in More's world various epochs are represented, and that
animals of different ages are living side by side."

  "What do you think of the opkuk?" asked Featherstone, with
a yawn.

  "Well, I hardly know."

  "Why, it must be a dodo, of course," said Melick, "only
magnified."

  "That," said the doctor, gravely, "is a thought that
naturally suggests itself; but then the opkuk is certainly
far larger than the dodo."

  "Oh, More put on his magnifying glasses just then."

  "The dodo," continued the doctor, taking no notice of
this, "in other respects corresponds with More's description
of the opkuk.  Clusius and Bontius give good descriptions
and there is a well-known picture of one in the British
Museum.  It is a massive, clumsy bird, ungraceful in its
form with heavy movements, wings too short for flight,
little or no tail, and down rather than feathers.  The body,
according to Bontius, is as big as that of the African
ostrich, but the legs are very short.  It has a large head,
great black eyes, long bluish-white bill, ending in a beak
like that of a vulture, yellow legs, thick and short, four
toes on each foot solid, long, and armed with sharp black
claws.  The flesh particularly on the breast, is fat and
esculent.  Now, all this corresponds with More's account,
except as to the size of the two, for the opkuks are as
large as oxen."

  "Oh, that's nothing," said Melick; "I'm determined to
stand up for the dodo." With this he burst forth singing--

    "Oh, the dodo once lived, but he doesn't live now;
     Yet why should a cloud overshadow our brow?
     The loss of that bird ne'er should trouble our brains,
     For though he is gone, still our claret remains.
       Sing do-do--jolly do-do!
     Hurrah! in his name let our cups overflow."

  "As for your definition, doctor," continued Melick, "I'll
give you one worth a dozen of yours:

   "''Twas a mighty bird; those strong, short legs were never
      known to fail,
   And he felt a glory of pride while thinking of that
      little tail,
   And his beak was marked with vigor, curving like a
      wondrous hook;
   Thick and ugly was his body--such a form as made one
      look!"'

  "Melick," said Featherstone, "you're a volatile youth. 
You mustn't mind him, doctor.  He's a professional cynic,
skeptic, and scoffer.  Oxenden and I, however, are open to
conviction, and want to know more about those birds and
beasts.  Can you make anything out of the opmahera?"

  The doctor swallowed a glass of wine, and replied:

  "Oh, yes; there are many birds, each of which may be the
opmahera.  There's the fossil bird of Massachusetts, of
which nothing is left but the footprints; but some of these
are eighteen inches in length, and show a stride of two
yards.  The bird belonged to the order of the _Grallae_, and
may have been ten or twelve feet in height.  Then there is
the _Gastornis parisiensis_, which was as tall as an
ostrich, as big as an ox, and belongs to the same order as
the other.  Then there is the _Palapteryx_, of which remains
have been found in New Zealand, which was seven or eight
feet in height.  But the one which to my mind is the real
counterpart of the opmahera is the _Dinornis gigantea_,
whose remains are also found in New Zealand.  It is the
longest bird known, with long legs, a long neck, and short
wings, useless for flight.  One specimen that has been found
is upward of thirteen feet in height.  There is no reason
why some should not have been much taller.  More compares
its height to that of a giraffe.  The Maoris call this bird
the Moa, and their legends and traditions are full of
mention of it.  When they first came to the island, six or
seven hundred years ago, they found these vast birds
everywhere, and hunted them for food.  To my mind the
dinornis is the opmahera of More.  As to riding on them,
that is likely enough; for ostriches are used for this
purpose, and the dinornis must have been far stronger and
fleeter than the ostrich.  It is possible that some of these
birds may still be living in the remoter parts of our
hemisphere."

  "What about those monsters," asked Featherstone, "that
More speaks of in the sacred hunt?"

  "I think," said the doctor, "that I understand pretty well
what they were, and can identify them all.  As the galley
passed the estuary of that great river, you remember that he
mentions seeing them on the shore.  One may have been the
_Ichthyosaurus_.  This, as the name implies, is a
fish-lizard.  It has the head of a lizard, the snout of a
dolphin, the teeth of an alligator, enormous eyes, whose
membrane is strengthened by a bony frame, the vertebrae of
fishes, sternum  and shoulder-bones like those of the
lizard, and the fins of a whale.  Bayle calls it the whale
of the saurians.  Another may have been the _Cheirotherium_. 
On account of the hand-shaped marks made by its paws, Owen
thinks that it was akin to the frogs; but it was a
formidable monster, with head and jaws of a crocodile. 
Another may have been the _Teleosaurus_, which resembled our
alligators.  It was thirty-five feet in length.  Then there
was the _Hyloeosaurus_, a monster twenty-five feet in
length, with a cuirass of bony plates."

  "But none of these correspond with More's description of
the monster that fought with the galley."

  "No," said the doctor, "I am coming to that now.  That
monster could have been no other than the _Plesiosaurus_,
one of the most wonderful animals that has ever existed.
Imagine a thing with the head of a lizard, the teeth of a
crocodile, the neck of a swan, the trunk and tail of a
quadruped, and the fins of a whale.  Imagine a whale with
its head and neck consisting of a serpent, with the strength
of the former and the malignant fury of the latter, and then
you will have the plesiosaurus.  It was an aquatic animal,
yet it had to remain near or on the surface of the water,
while its long, serpent-like neck enabled it to reach its
prey above or below with swift, far-reaching darts.  Yet it
had no armor, and could not have been at all a match for the
ichthyosaurus.  More's account shows, however, that it was a
fearful enemy for man to encounter."

  "He seems to have been less formidable than that beast
which they encountered in the swamp.  Have you any idea
what that was?"

  "I think it can have been no other than the _Iguanodon_,"
said the doctor.  "The remains of this animal show that
it must have been the most gigantic of all primeval
saurians. Judging from existing remains its length was not
less than sixty feet, and larger ones may have existed.  It
stood high on its legs; the hind ones were larger than the
fore.  The feet were massive and armed with tremendous
claws.  It lived on the land and fed on herbage.  It had a
horny, spiky ridge all along its back.  Its tail was nearly
as long as its body.  Its head was short, its jaws enormous,
furnished with teeth of a very elaborate structure, and on
its muzzle it carried a curved horn.  Such a beast as this
might well have caused all that destruction of life on the
part of his desperate assailants of which More speaks.

  "Then there was another animal," continued the doctor, who
was evidently discoursing upon a favorite topic.  "It was
the one that came suddenly upon More while he was resting
with Almah after his flight with the run-away bird.  That I
take to be the _Megalosaurus_.  This animal was a monster of
tremendous size and strength.  Cuvier thought that it might
have been seventy feet in length.  It was carnivorous, and
therefore more ferocious than the iguanodon, and more ready
to attack.  Its head was like that of a crocodile, its body
massive like that of an elephant, yet larger; its tail was
small, and it stood high on its legs, so that it could run
with great speed.  It was not covered with bony armor, but
had probably a hide thick enough to serve the purpose of
shell or bone.  Its teeth were constructed so as to cut with
their edges, and the movement of the jaws produced the
combined effect of knife and saw, while their inward curve
rendered impossible the escape of prey that had once been
caught.  It probably frequented the river banks, where it
fed upon reptiles of smaller size which inhabited the same
places.

  "More," continued the doctor, "is too general in his 
descriptions.  He has not a scientific mind, and he gives
but few data; yet I can bring before myself very easily all
the scenes which he describes, particularly that one in
which the megalosaurus approaches, and he rushes to mount
the dinomis so as to escape.  I see that river, with its
trees and shrubs, all unknown now except in museums--the
vegetation of the Coal Period--the lepidodendron, the
lepidostrobus, the pecopteris, the neuropteris, the
lonchopteris, the odontopteris, the sphenopteris, the
cyclopteris, the sigellaria veniformis, the sphenophyllium,
the calamites----"

  Melick started to his feet.

  "There, there!" he cried, "hold hard, doctor.  Talking of
calamities what greater calamity can there be than such a
torrent of unknown words?  Talk English, doctor, and we
shall be able to appreciate you but to make your jokes, your
conundrums, and your brilliant witticisms in a foreign
language isn't fair to us, and does no credit either to your
head or your heart."

  The doctor elevated his eyebrows, and took no notice of
Melick's ill-timed levity.

  "All these stories of strange animals," said Oxenden,
"may be very interesting, doctor, but I must say that I am
far more struck by the account of the people themselves.  I
wonder whether they are an aboriginal race, or descendants
of the same stock from which we came?"

  "I should say," remarked the doctor, confidently, "that
they are, beyond a doubt, an aboriginal and autochthonous
race."

  "I differ from you altogether," said Oxenden, calmly.

  "Oh," said the doctor "there can be no doubt about it.
Their complexion, small stature, and peculiar eyes--their
love of darkness, their singular characteristics, both
physical and moral, all go to show that they can have no
connection with the races in our part of the earth."

  "Their peculiar eyes," said Oxenden, "are no doubt
produced by dwelling in caves for many generations."

  "On the contrary," said the doctor, "it is their
peculiarity of eye that makes them dwell in caves."

  "You are mistaking the cause for the effect, doctor."

  "Not at all; it is you who are making that mistake."

  "It's the old debate," said Melick--"as the poet has it,

       "'Which was first, the egg or the hen?
       Tell me I pray, ye learned men!'"

  "There are the eyeless fishes of the great cave of
Kentucky," said Oxenden, "whose eyes have become extinct
from living in the dark."

  "No," cried the doctor, "the fish that have arisen in that
lake have never needed eyes, and have never had them."

  Oxenden laughed.

  "Well," said he, "I'll discuss the question with you on
different grounds altogether, and I will show clearly that
these men, these bearded men, must belong to a stock that
is nearly related to our own, or, at least, that they belong
to a race of men with whom we are all very familiar."

  "I should like very much to have you try it," said the
doctor.

  "Very well," said Oxenden.  "In the first place, I take
their language."

  "Their language!"

  "Yes.  More has given us very many words in their
language.  Now he himself says that these words had an
Arabic sound.  He was slightly acquainted with that
language.  What will you say if I tell you that these words
are still more like Hebrew?"

  "Hebrew!" exclaimed the doctor, in amazement.

  "Yes, Hebrew," said Oxenden.  "They are all very much like
Hebrew words, and the difference is not greater than that
which exists between the words of any two languages of the
Aryan family."

  "Oh, if you come to philology I'll throw up the sponge,"
said the doctor.  "Yet I should like to hear what you have
to say on that point."

  "The languages of the Aryan family," said Oxenden, "have
the same general characteristics, and in all of them the
differences that exist in their most common words are
subject to the action of a regular law.  The action of the
law is best seen in the changes which take place in the
mutes.  These changes are indicated in a summary and
comprehensive way by means of what is called 'Grimm's Law.'
Take Latin and English, for instance.  'Grimm's Law' tells
us, among other things, that in Latin and in that part of
English which is of Teutonic origin, a large number of words
are essentially the same, and differ merely in certain
phonetic changes.  Take the word 'father.' In Latin, as also
in Greek, it is 'pater.' Now the Latin 'p' in English
becomes 'f;' that is, the thin mute becomes the aspirated
mute.  The same change may be seen in the Latin 'piscis,'
which in English is 'fish,' and the Greek '*pur*'which in 
English is 'fire.'  Again, if the Latin or Greek word begins
with an aspirate, the English word begins with a medial;
thus the Latin 'f' is found responsive to the English 'b,'
as in Latin 'fagus,' English 'beech,' Latin 'fero,' English
'bear.'  Again, if the Latin or Greek has the medial, the
English has the thin, as in Latin 'duo,' English 'two,'
Latin 'genu,' English 'knee.'  Now, I find that in many of
the words which More mentions this same 'Grimm's Law' will
apply; and I am inclined to think that if they were spelled
with perfect accuracy they would show the same relation
between the Kosekin language and the Hebrew that there is
between the Saxon English and the Latin."

  The doctor gave a heavy sigh.

  "You're out of my depth, Oxenden," said he.  "I'm nothing
of a philologist."

  "By Jove!" said Featherstone, "I like this.  This is equal
to your list of the plants of the Coal Period, doctor.  But
I say, Oxenden, while you are about it, why don't you give
us a little dose of Anglo-Saxon and Sanskrit?  By Jove! the
fellow has Bopp by heart, and yet he expects us to argue
with him."

  "I have it!" cried Melick.  "The Kosekin are the lost Ten
Tribes.  Oxenden is feeling his way to that.  He is going to
make them out to be all Hebrew; and then, of course, the
only conclusion will be that they are the Ten Tribes, who
after a life of strange vicissitudes have pulled up at the
South Pole.  It's a wonder More didn't think of that--or the
writer of this yarn, whoever he may be.  Well, for my part,
I always took a deep interest in the lost Ten Tribes, and
thought them a fine body of men." 

  "Don't think they've got much of the Jew about them,"
said Featherstone, languidly.  "They hate riches and all
that, you know.  Break a Jew's heart to hear of all that
property wasted, and money going a begging.  Not a bad idea,
though, that of theirs about money.  Too much money's a
howwid baw, by Jove!"

  "Well," continued Oxenden, calmly resuming, and taking no
notice of these interruptions, "I can give you word after
word that More has mentioned which corresponds to a kindred
Hebrew word in accordance with 'Grimm's Law.'  For instance,
Kosekin 'Op,' Hebrew 'Oph;' Kosekin 'Athon,' Hebrew 'Adon;'
Kosekin 'Salon,' Hebrew 'Shalom.'  They are more like Hebrew
than Arabic, just as Anglo-Saxon words are more like Latin
or Greek than Sanscrit."

  "Hurrah!" cried Melick, "we've got him to Sanscrit at
last!  Now, Oxenden, my boy, trot out the 'Hetopadesa,' the
'Megha Dhuta,' the 'Rig Veda.'  Quote Beowulf and Caedmon.  
Gives us a little Zeno, and wind up with 'Lalla Rookh' in
modern Persian."

  "So I conclude," said Oxenden, calmly, ignoring Melick,
"that the Kosekin are a Semitic people.  Their complexion
and their beards show them to be akin to the Caucasian race,
and their language proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that
they belong to the Semitic branch of that race.  It is
impossible for an autochthonous people to have such a
language."

  "But how," cried the doctor, "how in the name of wonder
did they get to the South Pole?"

  "Easily enough," interrupted Melick--"Shem landed there
from Noah's ark, and left some of his children to colonize
the country.  That's as plain as a pikestaff.  I think, on
the whole, that this idea is better than the other one about
the Ten Tribes.  At any rate they are both mine, and I warn
all present to keep their hands off them, for on my return I
intend to take out a copyright."

  "There's another thing," continued Oxenden, "which is of
immense importance, and that is their habit of 
cave-dwelling.  I am inclined to think that they resorted to
cave-dwelling at first from some hereditary instinct or
other, and that their eyes and their whole morals have
become affected by this mode of life.  Now, as to ornamented
caverns, we have many examples--caverns adorned with a
splendor fully equal to anything among the Kosekin.  There
are in India the great Behar caves, the splendid Karli
temple with its magnificent sculptures and imposing
architecture, and the cavern-temples of Elephanta; there are
the subterranean works in Egypt, the temple of Dendera in
particular; in Petra we have the case of an entire city
excavated from the rocky mountains: yet, after all, these do
not bear upon the point in question, for they are isolated
cases; and even Petra, though it contained a city, did not
contain a nation.  But there is a case, and one which is
well known, that bears directly upon this question, and
gives us the connecting link between the Kosekin and their
Semitic brethren in the northern hemisphere."

  "What is that?" asked the doctor.

  "The Troglodytes," said Oxenden, with impressive
solemnity.

  "Well, and what do you make out of the Troglodytes?"

  "I will explain," said Oxenden.  "The name Trolodytes is
given to various tribes of men, but those best known and
celebrated under this name once inhabited the shores of the
Red Sea, both on the Arabian and the Egyptian side.  They
belonged to the Arabian race, and were consequently a
Semitic people.  Mark that, for it is a point of the utmost
importance.  Now, these Troglodytes all lived in caverns,
which were formed partly by art and partly by nature,
although art must have had most to do with the construction 
of such vast subterranean works.  They lived in great
communities in caverns, and they had long tunnels passing
from one community to another.  Here also they kept their
cattle.  Some of these people have survived even to our own
age; for Bruce, the Abyssinian traveler, saw them in Nubia.

  "The earliest writer who mentions the Troglodytes was
Agatharcides, of Cnidos.  According to him they were
chiefly herdsmen.  Their food was the flesh of cattle, and
their drink a mixture of milk and blood.  They dressed in
the skins of cattle; they tattooed their bodies.  They were
very swift of foot, and were able to run down wild beasts in
the hunt.  They were also greatly given to robbery, and 
caravans passing to and fro had to guard against them.

  "One feature in their character has to my mind a strange
significance, and that is their feelings with regard to
death.  It was not the Kosekin love of death, yet it was
something which must certainly be considered as
approximating to it.  For Agatharcides says that in their
burials they were accustomed to fasten the corpse to a
stake, and then gathering round, to pelt it with stones amid
shouts of laughter and wild merriment.  They also used to
strangle the old and infirm, so as to deliver them from the
evils of life.  These Troglodytes, then, were a nation of
cave-dwellers, loving the dark--not exactly loving death,
yet at any rate regarding it with merriment and pleasure;
and so I cannot help seeing a connection between them and
the Kosekin."

  "Yes," said the doctor, "but how did they get to the South
Pole?"

  "That," said Oxenden, "is a question which I do not feel
bound to answer."

  "Oh, it is easy enough to answer that," said Melick. 
"They, of course, dug through the earth."

  Oxenden gave a groan.

  "I think I'll turn in for the night," said he, rising. 
Upon this the others rose also and followed his example.

  On the following morning the calm still continued.  None
of the party rose until very late, and then over the 
breakfast-table they discussed the manuscript once more,
each from his own point of view, Melick still asserting a
contemptuous skepticism--Oxenden and the doctor giving
reasons for their faith, and Featherstone listening without
saying much on either side.

  At length it was proposed to resume the reading of the
manuscript, which task would now devolve upon Oxenden.  They
adjourned to the deck, where all disposed themselves in easy
attitudes to listen to the continuation of More's narrative.


(End of eleventh installment)