Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1892-06-21
THE LAST PEOPLE

n. in the year A. D. 9,450, 1856. A
100 fog enveIops the entire globe,
s.~iue thinner and lighter only at the
IN. The rays of the sundisk are
s,1sd with millions Of dark spots and
..snot penetrate the thick, wintry fog;
s,r the earth pale red twilight
psads
! The dome of the horizon is not
rsbe: no friendly star sheds its light
,oou this immense, rigid desert: the
a rays of the moon have ceased to
.ioe over the giant snow fields and icy
,,ides; they are no longer reflected
mn the glistening surface of the mar
~ far expanding frozen seas, the
rmpants of the oceans of the world
nj vet absorbed by the sunlight.
And should this impenetrable fog
tcsak away and the continuous fall of
ne fine. misty snow come to an end we
vould still seek vainly for the trusty
mrade of the earth, the moon. Thou
a5ds Of years ago she was destroyed,
stly through constantly increasing
cold and partly scared by the burning
anrays, which no atmosphere could
often. and her fragments were hurled
into the immense space Of the earth.
Il was thought that the end of the
world had come then, and this terrible
catastrophe caused dreadful earth
ouakes floods and storms, the descrip-
ion Of which came down from gener-
alton to generation in myths and
legends, until at last the influence of
the moon upon the earth, the tides and
eeipses of the sun was not even known
BIZ name to the human race of that
period
As far as the eye can reach this des-
ert lies in the throes of an almost com
plete ngidity. The fire in the interior
Of the earth is burned out; the rays Of
the sun have lost their power to warm
it. Everything is cold and dead. But
there is still some organic life under the
white shroud; there are still human
beings living in this inhospitable will
deness, remnants of dwarfed and
stunned tribe, who for thousands of
years have been accustomed to wiring
day by day a hazardous existence from
the inimical elements; tribe who
know nothing of a life during medieval
days in warmer climes, where a volup-
tuous and magnificent flora grew under
adeep blue sky and earth and air and
ocean We're peopled with manifold ami
ma! creatures. For thousands of years
the inhabitants of the globe have
known no other zone than the north
em, no other nature but one of snow
and ice and cold. There were many
old scientific records which spoke of a
mllder climate, and sagacious hypoth-
eses were laid down in these volumes
ofan antediluvian fauna and flora; but
later on nobody believed them or imag-
med it possible that they could ever
have existed.
During an Unreasonable period of
time the earth had gradually cooled
OIL and this cooling off emanated from
he poles, moving slowly and gradually
-for thousands of years were mere
seconds on the dial of the clock of the
sorld-toward the equator. What a
sensation it aroused when in ancient
ulnes for instance in the Nineteenth
century, fossil remnants of a vegeta-
uon and animal world were found way
up the north underneath the ice and
thow, such as could have existed only
N the troplc zone, not thinking then
mat the time would come when the
equator would reveal under its cover
ol Ice and snow the fossils of its own
topical nature.
constantly the inhabitable space of
ue earth grows smaller, the battle for
sAs'ence and life becomes more severe,
Hsistance against the elementary pow
efs weakens and the human race grad
uaily melted away, until in the year of
Siao, 2S5 it had become almost extinct
LUIS remnant of a race, which had once
covered the entire earth ball and boast
y OF its mastership of the world, is
.0und secluded in huts of ice way up
'he mountains of the Loango region
" western Africa, near the former sea
.oast Hardly distinguishable from
.aelr surroundings, it is difficult to find
,uese human habitations. Woe to the
'0leiy wanderer who should lose his
way He would perish surely, unless a
s'eak OF the north light, which now
aiu then breaks through the fog, comes
"guide him Alright.
!. No star, not even the sun, can point
nlih on his way, for everything is en-
r,eloped in this impenetrable mist
long narrowly winding tunnels lead
alough the snow into the cave like
~ ru's In which these few human beings
~ 'e with their last trusty companions
e reindeer and the dog. One of
aie,r greatest labors is to keep the hut
a its entrance free from the snow,
snch Is continually drifting, and to
sa'uer the necessary nourishnent for
'ueSe animals, Should they neglect 10
W .he one they would be buried alive,
s ~ Il they omit to care for their rein
yer a'er which supply them with their
.aea' and milk, they will die the death
- starvation; for the seal and walrus
-. as''t Is combined with untold hard
'.ps and yields but a rare find.