The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-05-30

Disappearance of a Huge Rock-A Sub
ject Which Should De Investigated.
What is to be thought of such story as
shis which follows, condensed from two
articles in Th Arena? The writer is
Heinrich Hensddt German naturalist
/ who while yputh went to Ceylon with
DR.. f. Goldsclmeid distinguished ar
chaeologist and Sanskrit scholar, whose mis-
sion was to study two ruined cities there.
He afterward Travelled widely in India, de-
voting his atteltion to his science and de-
Bpising the occult knowledge of which he
heard SO much rs he went about.
In March of 1881, his curiosity concern
ing occultism being aroused, he was adj
Yised by purdit Of northern India to
visit an adept Of Srinagar, city of the
vale of Kashmii. The punditgave him
letter of introduction to the adept, CooInra
Sami, and he set out to that place. Reach
ing there, no one seemed to know such
person as Coomra, and he began to think
he had been trioked, when he learned from
a shepherd thai Coomra, with four COM
panions and two servants, occupied a mon
astery made out of the walls of an old pa
CODA, three mills to the northwest of the
city.
AS he approached the monastery tall
man with an e1naciated face, but with fea-
lures not unpleasant except for the stern
ness displayed by the lips, rose from be-
hind some large earthen jars and stepped
forth to meet him. This was Coomra, and
passing over much detail Coomra told
,Hensoldt he knew he was coming de-
scribed the roads he had traversed and
even the musings in which he INDUCED on
the way. He was given room in the
monastery. The revelation which he had
of the adept y powers in the first moments
interview prepared him for other strange
experiences. Still he thought this revela-
ton might be referable Ito the dark field
of cerebricity and clairvoyance, y and there
fore not unexampled in other parts of the
world.
But the evening of the second day some.
thing happened which was not SO easily
iexplicable. He asked if there were any
books in the monastery which would assist
him in his inquiries. Yes, there were, and
,Coomra invited him to where they were in
a room as dark as pitch. He had to be led
into it by the hand. Releasing his hand,
Coomra went to what afterward was seen
to be chest and took out book, saying
,s'Look at these fine carvings and at these
pictures" Hensol6t replied: II beg your
pardon. How can see anything in this
iinky darkness?" The adept exclaimed.
"Oh, forgot, and then, says Hensoldt,
"a food of light surrounded me- and I
found myself in high rooted apartment
devoid of furniture except an old chest and
two sheepskins in the middle of the floor.
The light was certainly not produced by
any artificial means. 1t was as light as
day, and of that unearthly refulgence
which on more than one previous occasion
had startled me in certain of the feats of
;Yoghis in central India.
1.-THE objects in the light cast no shadows,
which clearly proves that it's source can
not be an incandescent body like the sun
or any other radiating point The nearest
definition, although poor one, which
can give of the light is that Of luminous
fluid which is suddenly precipitated over a
limited space, and in which. the objects
seemed to be immersed. On this occasion
the light did not extend beyond the thresh-
old of the apartment, where it did not
merge by gradual transition into the dark
ness of the corridor, but seemed cut off by
a sharp demarcation line. The same was
the case with the windows, which were
square holes in the wall. There was inky
darkness, and the drizzling rain without ~
In that uncanny light he saw the adept be-
fore him holding a book composed of a
large number of strips of palmyra leaf,
about Q feet long and inches broad, -
held together by the usual strings and two
boards of deliberately carved and decorated
teakwood
That was his first view of the adopts
power on the physical plane. Now an
other. One day while wandering through
the valley he was attracted by huge rock
60 feet high and 40 across the base, "a
porphyritic conglomerate, with quartz and
flesh colored feldspar as chief Ingredients. u
On one side was an opening, which he en-
tered for distance of eight or nine PAGES.
| when the roof and sides converged SO that
| he could not well go farther and did not
care to on account of the odor of bats.
| While walking about the rock, studying
! it, chipping off pieces with his geologist's
| hammer, he was startled to see the adept,
| as if he had risen out of the ground
| Coomra explained that this was known ai
the enchanted rock and proposed to explore
the cave in it with him. He was directed
| to hold his hammer as candle, with the
handle up. He did SO. The adept blew on
| the end of the handle, and "a bright flame,
| preceded by cracking noise, suddenly
| burst from the end Of the handle" They
passed through, the hammer handle mean
time more than half consumed, and when
they emerged Hensoldt remarked that
there was nothing unusual in the cave.
| Eyes, but where is the rockP" said the
adept. 'Slowly turned round, and 6
weird sensation came over me as realized
that the huge bowlder was no longer there
1t had vanished like the airy fabric of /;
| vision, and nothing but an unbroker
lexpanse of gravel now extended be
tween us and the cypress covered bluffs
beyond. I made careful examination o.
the spot where the rock ought to have
been, while Coomra looked on with pro
voking smile, but my labor was in vain Sc
far as the discovery of any trace was con
,cerned. A slanting hollow in the ground
surrounded by clump of chenar bushes
was all that was left to commemorate The
late adventure
| According to Hensoldt, some of these
feats, as that of the hammer handle, arr
explicable and therefore come within tbs
domain of known law. Why, then, is there
not some really scientific inquiry made
into those other and more astonishing
feats? Why do not some OF the mission
1 LLo,.- Il. II.