The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-02-26
CAPTAIN LISR'S YARN.
HIS ALLEGED WONDERFUL DIsCOY-
ERY IN THE SOUTH PACIFIC.
Bodies of pre-Adamite Race Dug Up
From Beneath the Ice of Ages.

Bodies of n pre-Adamite Race Dug Up
From Beneath the Ice of Ages.
According to the tale of the captain
of the ship Thrush, who has just return
ed to London from a voyage which
came very near being his last, there is an
island in the South Pacific Ocean, within
the Antarctic circle on to whose unhos-
pitable shores he CHANGED to have been
driven by a hurricane, that would furnish
materials for a stranger romance than
Haggard or Stevenson ever yet dreamed.
The captains story, which seems to be
well authenticated, paves the way to
new theories altogether with regard to
the existence of man ON the earth and
presents Darwinians with a problem
which they will find extremely difficult
to solve. The island, which lies between
the Goth and 10th parallels of latitude, in
longitude 63 degrees as near rs he could
calculate, has been named by Captain
Lisk, its discoverer, Old Paradise.
as according to his belief it was
inhabited by beings of superior order
to those at
PRESENT DWELLING ON THE EARTH.
The Thrush was on return voyage
from the Sandwich Islands, and was
rounding Cape Horn when a violent
storm was encountered which drove the
vessel far to the southwark of its course.
which accounts for Captain Lisll's dis
cOvery, as he had not the least intention
of making Antarctic explorations when
he started for home. After coasting for
a considerable distance along a kind of
reef-like ice-bOund shore, the island was
reached where Captain Lisl was defined
to make his wonderful discoveries. The
island was at first taken by the captain
for a gigantic berg but as the ships
crew were in desperate straits for fresh
water and traces of an animals footprints
were observable on the sloping shore of
the supposed ice island, landing was
made and an exploration commenced.
Half n dozen sailors were set to work
with pick-aXes to discover the possible
anything beneath thd Icy crust which
enveloped everything
As FAR As THE EYE COULD SEE.
After digging at the almost admantine
crust for several hours one of the men
noticed that his blows produced hollow
sound, and shortly afterwards his pick
went through the roof of what he sup
posed to be cave beneath his feet. 1t
being summer, the sun was shining at
the time and by lying down on his chest
the man was able to peer into the cavity
beneath. He discovered that the vacuum
was merely due to u shrinkage under
meath, or what was most likely sep
arated formation, and rather dIsappoint-
ed he commenced work on the ice be-
meath. He had not proceeded far before
his pick struck upon something different
from ice, and to his astonishment, when
he drew up his tool, it brought with il a
bunch of human hair alta he'd to a por-
ton of the skull. Captain Lisk was at
once summoned and the operations were
continued, but with more caution From
the point where the skull was encout-
tered the ice seemed to be of q very
much flimsier character than that previ-
ously worked upon and few blows of
the AK brought to view the
ENTIRE BODY OF THE OBJECT
which had been discovered in this novel
mlnner. 1t was the corpse, apparently, of
a we'll formed human being, clothed in
garments not unlike the old Grecian drap-
cries, and the next thing which attracted
the attention of 1.-THE explorers was the
exceeding beauty of the face, which was
of the purest Circassian type, the tresses
of delicate gold color, almost reaching
to the waist.
The explorers were aStOunded at theiI
discovery, and their appetite once
whetted by such find, they proceeded
with their work enthusiastically The
brittlenesS and sOftness of the formation
in which the body was discovered en-.
abled them to make rapid progress, aud
they soon encountered a quantity OF
vegetation, evidently of tropical OF
semi-tropical characrer, but unlike any
thing Captain Lisk had ever seen in his
travels. Their efforts were soon rewarded
by their pickaxes touching solid earth
and as water was their greatest necessity
arrangements were made for d gging Z
well to supply their wants. Water was
struck at depth of ten feet and on the
next day the explorations were extended
The result was that a number of Other
bodies were unearthed, all bearing &
great resemblance to each other il
height, weight and the handsome ap
pearance of the features. Upon none
of the faces was there the slightest sigT
of hair growth, although there was 9
semi-mascuiine cast about tle features
| The bodies were all those of adults il
the prime of life, and this circumstance,
combined with others observed, led to {
further exploration, when, to the sur
prise of the explorers, it was discovered
that the beings whom they had discOv
cred were really all of one sex, ol
rather of no sex at all, apparently be
longing to
IAN ENTIRELY SEXLESS RACE.
From the attitude in which the bodies
were found in the ice it looked as il
these remarkable beings must have beer
the victims of an appalling catastrophe
as unexpected as it was sudden. They
appeared to have been situated in
| group, some of them seated upon th'
ground ana others standing at the tint
of the occurrence. Owing to the light
ness of their apparel and the presence o
| the tropical vegetation, it is supposed
that these beings must have been over
whelmed in some terrible catalclysm o.
bygone ages and it is probable that by ;
| shifting of the earth's axis or some sucl
event causing a sudden frigidity to TAXI
the place of tropical warmth. The at
mosphere itself became suddenly st
heavily charged with moisture that j
congealed instantly to the depth of sew
eral feet from the earlhs surface, thu
! ,,,.,uor,-;n,r flrpuul inpalculable spacps o