Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1880-02-04

oiuuuuus OF ioi INV tuo @AN~As4S
that Madeira, the Azores, and the
West India Islands are now frag-
ments of it. This peninsula was a
fair and fertile country, inhabited
by rich and civilized nations, a peo-
pie versed in the arts of war and
civilization-country covered with
large cities and magnificent pala-
ces, their rulers according to ira
dition reigning not only on the At
lantic continent, but over islands
far and near, even into Europe and
Asia. Suddenly, without warning,
this whole fair land was in9ulfed
by the sea, in mighty CONFUSION
of nature.
Now, this catastrophe is not i'm
possible or even improbable. In
stances are not wanting OF large
tracts Of land, several hundred
miles in extent, disappearing in a
like manner. The island Of Fer
dinandea suddenly appeared, and
after a while as suddenly disap-
peared. In 1919, during an earth
quake in India, an immense tract
of land near the river Indus sank
from view, and lake now occu-
pies its place.
The whole bed of the Atlantic,
where Atlantis is said to have been
situated, consists of extinct vol
canoes. The terrible Lisbon earth
quake of 1855, and the later Amer
lean shock, created a commotion
throughout the whole Atlantic
area.
That Atlantis possessed great ia
cilities for making a sudden exit
can not be doubted. It's very sit
uation gives good color to the mar
ratives Of ancient Grecian histo-
rians and Toltecian traditions, that
SIT disappeared by earthquakes and
foundations"
Not only is it within the bounds
of possibility that it might have
occurred, but if traditions so clear
and distinct as to be almost au-
thentic history are to be believed,
then it did occur. Listen to what
one of the most cautious of an
cient writer's, Plato, says:
"Among the great deeds of
Athens, of which recollection is
preserved in our books, there is
one that should be placed above all
others. Our book tells us that
the Athenians destroyed an army
that came across the Atlantic seas,
and insolently invaded Europe and
Asia, for this sea was then naviga-
BILE J.; and beyond the straits where
you place the Pillars of Hercules
was an immense island, larger than
Asia and Libya combined. From
this island one could pass easily to
the other islands, and from these
to the continent beyond. The sea
on this side of the straits resem-
bled a harbor with a narrow en-
trance, but there is veritable sea,
and the land which surrounds it is
a veritable continent. On this is
land of Atlantis there reigned
three kings with great and mar
velous power. They had under
their domain the whole of Allan
tbs, several of the other islands, and
part of the continent. At one
time their power extended into
Europe as far as Tyrrhenia, and
uniting their whole force they
sought to destroy our whole coun-
try at a blow, but their defeat
stopped the invasion and gave en-
tire freedom to the countries this
side of the Pillars of Hercules.
Afterward, in one day and one ia
tai night, there came mighty earth
quakes and foundations, that in
quilted that warlike people. At
lantis disappeared, and then the
sea became inaccessible, on account
of the vast quantities of mud that
the ingulfed island left in its
place."
1t is possible that the debris,
said to have been left by this cat
astrophy, might be identical with, or
the nuclei of the sargazo fields
that, many centuries later, Colum-
bus found almost impenetrable.
Again, Plato, in an extract from
Proclus, speaks of an island in the
Atlantic whose inhabitants pre-
served knowledge from their an
cestors of large island in the At
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