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Page 27
The TENTH Chapter
During the early evening of the day on which Doctor Bainbridge and I
returned from our stay with Dirk Peters, I sat in my room at the Loomis
House, impatiently awaiting the moment when Bainbridge was to arrive. I
knew that he was wearied by his labors with Peters, and I did not
anticipate a prolonged talk from him. Still, I was anxious to hear at
least a beginning of the promised story. At the appointed time he came
in, and placing a roll of paper on the table, took the large easy-chair
which I had placed for him.
"As I know," he said, "that the developments of the past three days
must, quite naturally, have developed a curiosity in you of some
intensity to hear the sequel of the Pym adventures, I shall endeavor not
to keep you unnecessarily waiting; but shall allay at once a portion of
your curiosity. Later--tomorrow, if agreeable--I will deal with the
particulars of that strange voyage--perhaps the strangest ever made by
man."
He picked up, and smoothed out upon the table, the roll of paper which
he had brought with him; and then continued:
"In the first place, I will briefly and in a very general way describe
for you the south polar region, which, I feel certain, Pym and Peters
reached, and where they resided for somewhat more than one year. Here is
a map which I have with some care drawn from rough sketches jotted down
as I sat on the edge of Peters' cot, and each of which sketches I had
him verify.
[Illustration: Map of Southpolar region and hili-li
A. Central space of boiling lava Diameter 15 miles. Probable situation
South Pole
B. Ring of hot lava, white hot at inner edge, red hot at outer edge.
Width, about 4 miles
C. Ring of hot lava, dull red, shading to black heat at outer edge.
Width, about 4 miles
D. Ring 4m in width. Blocks of lava, rock salt, and coral-like terrains
EEE. Volcanic mountains, up to 8m in height and valleys
FFF. Antarctic Ocean with islands
SOUTH POLAR REGION _and_ HILI-LI LAND.]
"Now move this way with your chair, and look at this map. And in the
first place, I will tell you that at the South Pole--probably not
precisely at the pole, but certainly within the sixth of a degree of
it--is a circular surface of absolutely white-hot, boiling lava, about
fifteen miles in diameter. This surface was, in ages past, as indicated
by surroundings, many times its present surface extent--say from seventy
to seventy-five miles across. No doubt the surface of the earth at the
Antarctic Pole had once cooled, and later become covered with water,
though with very shallow water--probably at some points by none, at
others by a depth of ten or fifteen feet. From some cause--and many
causes might be imagined--this earth-and-water surface of say two
hundred miles in circumference, sank into the interior of the earth, and
the boiling lava came to the surface. We can scarcely conceive of the
awful effect when the Antarctic Sea poured over the circumference of
this mass of boiling earth and metal.
"Now it must be considered that this boiling lava was not merely a great
surface of white-hot matter, in which case it would, relatively
speaking, soon have cooled. To flood its edges with an overflow of ten
feet of water would be comparable to running a film of water a hundredth
of an inch in depth over the top of a red-hot stove in which a large
fire continues to burn and constantly to renew the heat on its surface.
This surface of boiling lava must have had a practically limitless
depth, and the water which poured over it must have evaporated
instantly. After thinking the matter over, with the _data_ which I have
well in view, I concluded that it required about two hundred years for
the water to reach the limit which it finally attained as water _en
masse_. A little thought on the subject has shown me that Peters is
telling the truth, because his description, to my mind, harmonizes with
the laws of physics. One of the earliest phenomena presented by this
condition, was that so much sea-water evaporated, and evaporated so
rapidly, that masses of rock-salt formed, creating a partial barrier to
the inroads of the sea--I say a partial barrier, because the
deliquescence of salt would cause it to be the poorest of all barriers
to water. Still, we must remember that the immediately surrounding water
must have reached, so far as salt is concerned, the saturation point,
and would have been a very slow solvent of hard rock-salt in enormous
masses and several miles in extent. Then, two other conditions soon
arose: First, the warm surrounding water permitted a coral-like
development, as shown by present appearances, and second, volcanic
action began.
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