The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-12-12

Egyptians, they and the Greeks, and
indeed all the enlightened peoples OF
ancient times. derived their civilization,
that -Igna'ius DOnneu constructed his
interesting theory OF lost continent.
| Sir William Dawson has not furnished
the pubic with the reasons that induced
/ him TO suppose that the Creators work
| IS finished in the Atlantic and unfinished
| IN the Pacific. II cannot have been that
he argued that there had been no sub
Sidence OF the bottom OF the latter, for
the evidences Of such a catastrophe
we're ioag ago pointed out by Dana and
Darwin. The COAL insect val not build
below 100 or $50 feet beneath the surfat e
OF the water. Yet coral detritus has
been brought up from depths Of > 600 10
300 fathOms. and this throughout
Polynesis, ss far north as , degrees or
3 degrees above the trOpic OF Capricorn.
aud - far south as Austr lila. Hence.
It seems that VIA, is nov the bottom Of
a deep sea must once have been the
bottom OF shallow sea, such a. Behring
SEES is now.
SOME VERY CURIOUS FACTS.
Again, the colossal remains on
Easter Island show that At some umeo or
other that island must have been con
nected with islands now lying COO. , OCO
and 600 miles further west. They
could not have been erected by the
natives OF an island which cannot feed
It's people. much less provide home for
art. Ine lSlanlers could not have
sailed 20 Easter from Polynesia, for
they cannot beat 10 windward in their
light draught canoes. and the trade
Wlnus blow from east and southeast for
eleven months in the wear. Nor could Z
they nave come from the west OF South
America, for they are men Of a different
race from any tha, ever lived on this
being, IN fact. obviously
members Of the Polynesiau SOUTH 4
Pacific continent, though not absolutely !.
demonstrated, Is rendered so probable |
that no ma OF science would be sur
prised at the discovery Of absolute. evil
dence Of its having been.
Geographers have amused themselves I
by recOnstructing the lost continent. as 1
DOnnelly reconstructed Atlantis. They 1
have taken existing islands for the tops .
81 mountain ranges, and imagined /
valleys between them, spreading from
range TO range. Thus, Dana imagines
two principal mountain ranges, one
starting from the Hawaiian group and
soGth 10 the Mendana, S C ety
ana fearl ISLANDS, and another starting
rom the Society group and running
westward through the Navigators. the
Fiji group, the Solomon group, New
Guinea, the Spice Islands, Celebes.
6orneo, Sumatra and joining the CONT
lent OF Asia at Molacca. Perhaps this
heory OF cosmogUny Is rs reconcIIable
With the fact as any other.
IL involves two alternatives, each
more appalling than the Oiler. II there
vas Pacific continent how did II
Iisappear7 Did II fall crashing down
through the waters, in an instant, in
ONE mighty earthquake which hurle
Millions of human beings into eternity
nth such awful swifitness that no one
new what was happening TO him7 Or
I'D IL subside gradually. the area Of cul-
lvatable land becoming less each year.
D that men bed 20 hilltops 70 escape the
lexorable advance of the surging sea.
nd while few made their escape, and
ore 70 distant islands the story OF the
eluge, the greater bulk persisted miser-
bly, OF hunger or in the battle for the
Dod which Was too scanty TO suffice Tor :
j? Are such ca;astrophes likely TO
ccur?-San Francisco Cal.