The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1872-07-05
Discovery of a New World.
rnE rATr OF sm Iomv FnAvKLTN.

The Alton (Iowa) Tribune is nubIisb-
ing 4 story which is designed to intro
duce the theory that the globe is hollow
and inhabited. The idea is not altogether
n new one, as Symmes long years ago
advocated the same proposition and at
tempted to prove the existence of vast
mielstrOm at the North Pole, which i'm
some of the Biographies is still referred
TO as "Symme's HOle.n The theory is
also in accord with the beautiful legend
that St. John still lives in an enchanted
land away North, far beyond the frozen
regions and that at the second coming ol
Christ he will appear in Jerusalem.
The author of the story thus dispOses
of Sir John franklin:
SirJohn franklin sailed and was lost
What world of mystery has ever since
hung around his fate Was he crushed
TO atoms between the ice islands of the
Arctic sea? Did he venture too far out
on the billowy plains and perish by
inches for want of food? Did the vast
SHOWS and mists clog his sails, until
! they became laden reefs of ice, while the
hull beneath froze firmly into the ice
rocks that environed it, and the sea
foam and the sleet filled up the spaces
between hull and masts and sails, and
buried all in tall iceberg on some
boreal shore, that conceals forever and
ever the dread sleeping place of Sir John
Franklin and his crew?
No.
Sir John Franklin left England with
the brave determination of settling the
question OF an open inter-pOlar sea. He
was successful.
Passing out of sight of the barriers
into a smooth eXpanse of water he
struck boldly out, with the purpose of
passing directly under the North Pole
and making Behring Straits.
The current set strongly but smoothly
northward, and the wind was constant
and stiff in the same direction. The
great navigator's heart beat high be-
meath his triple vest of furs, as he antic-
ipated the fame which the discovery of
the Northern Passage would bring him.
But the currents became rapid and the
winds stronger, until vague feeling of
despair crept into the deep nesting
hearts of his crew, and then of their
commander, and then whisperings came
from white lips, ave are being sucked
into a great Whirlpool
Down, down, down sailed Sir John
Franklin and his crew, through a white,
glaring, glistening canopy that slowly
rose above them. No helm could turn
them from its headlong plunge; no
reefing of sail could tempt the PROV
from its nOrthward course. North, due
north, they sailed swiftly, smoothly.
Toll was in vain. Prayers were una
vailing. The glistening canopy revealed
itself, a ydURiHg sea! Icebergs and gla-
ciers and billOws capped with foam hung
in frowning masses and glided in inces-
SAINT distant roar over their heads.
Through the telescope they appeared in
huge outline. Now, indeed, it seemed
to these bold mariners that all was lost.
Down, down, down in the deep mists
and waves of this mighty inter-polar
maelstrom. There is no bottom to the
gulf, there is no end to the gloom. Will
this downward plunge last forever? Are
we to go by sea to the kingdom of Plu-
to? Has the grim old foreman of the
StyX been supplanted by st. John
CheeTfulness revives; merriment is
grasped from the jaws of death, and a
feeling begins to pervade the crew of
hope and faith. Hope. for what? Faith
in whom? 1t might have been such as
was expressed by Byron when he said,
pursue what chance OF fate prOclaimeth best,
Peace on shores OF Achern;"
Or might have been such as more an
cient and holy man expressed when he
said: Though l walk through the val
ley of the shadow of death will fear no
evil"
And now the mists begin to lift-the
clouds begin to roll away; the sup
pressed roar seems more distant; the
current is not so rapid; the wind is not
so strong, but still the compass says
nOrfhUdrd, dUe north. There are ice
bergs ahead, there are dark rocks, too,
and above the heads of the crew-hOw
strange-there are flOcks of water fowl
pursuing their way northward. Here
there is sure ground of hope. The
wild goose is our pioneer. But the
darkness and mists are gone. There is
light ahead. 1t is beacon light at the
North Pole! 1t glOws and CLEANS. And
now we are passing frozen shores, with
here and there large tracts of rocks COW
cred with lichens and MOSES. The air
is growing more temperate, the light
grows stronger, the prospect widens.
An idea dawns in the mind of the
navigator. He invokes the aid of the
/ telescope again, and Sir John Franklin
and his crew now realize that the earth
is hollow, and that in hunting for the
North Pole so successfully, they have
sailed, sheer and clear, into the light of
| the coronal of electricity, into another
world-the world of the Trans-mun-
dane.