The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-12-24
A LOST C0NfINEN
THE EVIDENCE THAT IT WAS IN
QUILTED BY THE PACIFIC.

Quilted BY THE PACIFIC.
Some Startling Revelations Of Modern
Science-CuriOus Facts Which Have .
Bearing ON the DuestiOn-TwO Appali-
Ing Alternatives Presented.
Little as we know of the prehistoric a.lven-
lures of the Atlantic ocean and the countries
which border it, we know still less of the Pa
cilc and its antecedents. Reasoning upon tho
date of the earthquakes of 1854 and 1868, Pro-
fessois Barrie and Hochstetter reckoned tho
average depth of that ocean to be from 1000
to 2,4OO fathoms The Tuscarora, which
traversed the Pacific from California to ia
pan via the Sandwich islands, taking sound
ings on the way-with view to the laying
Of an ocean cable-found an average depth Of
about 2,2O0 fathoms, with depressions Of 5000
fathoms. The Challenger in the South Pa
cifc found an average depth of about $500
fathoms; also with deep spots reaching occa-
sionally $500 fathoms. But in the northern
Pacific very different state Of things i
found In Behring sea it is an exception to
find depth Of 100 fathoms; twenty-five,
thirty, forty and fifty fathoms are the rule.
Round the fur seal islands-St. Paul and st.
George-bottom is reached at twenty-five,
thirty, forty and fifty fathoms; in the center
of Behring straits the depth marked on the
coast survey charts is twenty five fathoms.
Again. at the south the average depth OF the
ocean between Chill and New Zealand Is
known to he about / 500 fathoms Thus so
far as we know-and that is a precious little
the basin of the Pacific is a circular bowl
about 5000 fathoms deep in the deepest part,
with well defined rim on the western, north
ern and eastern sides, and with innumerable
islands cropping up all over, like the peaks OF
the mountains of submerged continent. On
the southern side the rim is broken OH ana
the bowl merges into the ANTARCTIC ocean.
BASIN OF THE PACIFIC.
Assuming that this is a correct description
of the Pacific bisin-which, from want OF
adequate soundings, we are far from being
sure Oft compares curiously with the At
lantic ocean, about which we know good
deal The latter ocean has a bench or ter
race varying from so to 100 miles in width,
and from nothing to 100 fathoms in depth,
which borders the continents that inclOse the
ocean. Beyond this bench deep water-in
places as deep as $500 fathoms-comes sud
denly The ocean basin is traversed from
the Azores, or even further south, to Iceland;
on either side of the plateau is a deep valley
of water On the plateau depths of 1900
fathoms are rare; ], 500 fathoms is the usual
average But just outside the edges OF the
plateau there are places where no bottom is
found ut 5000. The theory of cosmogsnists
is that this plateau WAS once dry land, and
that it sunk to a depth of nearly two miles
beneath the surface of the ocean in a convul-
sion of nature. 1t was by coupling this ny
pothesis with Plato's remarkable account of
the lost isl md Of AT lantis, from which, ac-
cor,lng 10 the Egyptians, they and the
Greeks, and indeed ALL the enlightened peo-
pies of ancient times, derived their civiliza
ton, that Ignatius Donnelly constructed his
interesting theory of a lost continent.
Sit William Dawson has not furnished the
public with the reasons that induced him to
suppose that the Creators work is finished in
the Atlantic and unfinished in the Pacific 1t
cannot have hat ee a@gasa that there
had been no subsistence OF the bottom OF the
latter, for the evidences of such catastrophe
were long ago pointed out by Dana and Oar
win The coral insect will not, tuild below
100 or $50 feet beneath the surface OF the
water. Yet coral detrtus has been brought
up from depths of 1000 to 5000 fathons,
and this throughout Polynesia, as far north as
3 degs or 3 degs. above the tropic OF Capri
corn, and as far south as Australia. Hence,
it seems that what is now the bottom OF a
deep sea must once have been the bottom OF
shallow sea- such as Behring sea is now.
SOME VERY CURIOUS FACTS
Again, the colossal remains on Easter
island show that at some time or other that
~ how baa with lnn1S
now lying 900. 1000 and 1000 miles further
west. They could not have been erected by
the natives of an island which cannot Feed its
people, much less prove a home for art The
islanders could not have sailed to Easter from
Polynesia, for they cannot beat to windward
in their light draught canoes, and the trade
winds blow from the east and southeast for
eleven months in the year. Nor could they
have come from the west of South America,
for they are men of a different race from
any that ever lived On this continent, being
in fact, obviously members of the Polynesian
family. Hence, the former existence of
South Pacific continent though not ALSO
lutely demonstrated, is rendered so probable
that no man of science would be surprised at
the discovery of absolute evidence of its hav-
in been.
Georraphers have amused themselves by
reconstructing the lost continent, as Don
nelly reconstructed Atlantis. They lave
taken existing islands for the tops of noun
tain ranges, and imagined valleys between
them, spreading from range to range Thus,
Dana imagines two principal mountain
ranges, one starting from the Hawaiian
group AMI running south to the Mendanar
Society and Pearl islands. and another start
in- from the Society group and running
westwardly through the Navigators the Fly
group, the Solomon group, New Guinea. the
Spice islands, Celebes Borneo, Sumatra and
Joining the continent of Asia at Maiaeoa.
Perhaps this theory of cosmogony isas recon-
cilable with the facts as any other
1t involves two alternatives, each more p-
palling than the other. If there was Pa
cific continent. how did it disappear? Did it
fall crashing down through the waters, in an
instant, in some mighty earthquake which
hurled millions of human beings into eternity
with such awful swiftness that no one knew
what was happening to him. Or did it sub
side gradually, the area of cultivable land
less each year, so that men fled to
hilltops to escape the fnexorable advance of
the surging sea, and while a few made their
escape and bore to distant lands the story Of
H. lnl