Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-01-02

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Some Riddles in Life That Have New
er Been Solved.
The public appetite Graves nothing
SO much as a riddle, secret to guess,
but nowadays every mans life is 80
bare, so exploited, and we live so much
out Of doors from the cradle to the
grave that very few facts or fancies
can be kept hidden. There were, how
ever. certain mysteries which during
the last century the American public
pondered and worried over which are
yet unsolved and, except by a few old
people, are almost forgotten.
One Of these, perhaps the Oldest, is
the question whether Beneath the At
lantic not far from the Bahamas there
is sunken continent known to the
Greeks as the lost Atlantis. It was
still talked Of familiarly In the first
half Of the last century. Scattering
men declared that when the water vas
calm and clear that they had caught
glimpses Of ancient cities beneath,
with their glittering roofs and spires.
and that in certain conditions Of the
atmosphere the tolling Of the bells
could be distinctly heard. TreatIses
were written by learned professors to
prove the probability Of the legend,
and other treatises, as learned and
vehement, to fiout and jeer at It as an
idle fable.
Certain flotsam and jetsam, which
was washed ashore after heavy storms
on the coast Of Georgia and Florida
logs of strange woods unknown to this
generation, coins, bits Of carved mar
BILE and beaten brass-was ascribed
to the long dead workmen Of At
lantis.
The lost colony is now known only
as the subject of an ancient fable, but
years ago 1t was by most educated
people believed to be an actual fact.
Another much discussed mystery
then was what had become Of the
colony Of civilized people who at the
time Of the settlement Of the country
lived on the western coast OF Green
land.
That country, is as you will see by
a glance at the map, shaped some
thing like the half OF an egg. cut
lengthwise, the fiat side upon the
earth, the point to the south. The
rounded center Is a heap OF impene-
trable ice mountains. AS the CEN
turies go by enormous bodies Of ice
slip from 1t into the sea and. break
ing of, drift slowly down along our
coasts. These are the icebergs Of the
Atlantic ocean. Now, along the mar
row slip Of habitable land which
edges Greenland on this side. tradi-
ton says, once dwelt a civilized peo-
pie who, both In knowledge and the
habits of life, were sar In advance OF
Of the Laplanders.
They were known to the early. Dam
ish navigators, who made frequent
mention of them in their logs and re-
ports. The question yet unanswered.
is, Where are they now? Tradition
among the Laplanders reports that
the whole colony two centuries ago
emigrated in a body to the eastern
coast Of Greenland, attempting 70 cross
the hitherto impenetrable masses of
ice In the center. No tidings have
ever come back from them. Some
Of the scientific men who accompanied
the Hayes expedition made this ques-
ton a matter Of special study, They
reported that a doubt could hardly
exist that these people did once in
habit that part Of the coast and that
they now had utterly vanished. II
they had been swept away by a pesti-
lence their household belongings would
be left to tell OF them, but not q
shard of pottery, not a single grave,
remains to show that they ever lived.
1t was supposed by the Danish mis-
sionaries that they had perished In
the ranges Of ice mountains, but
among the Laplanders there were
traditions that they had safely reach
ed the western coast and settled there,
now forming a civilized community,
wholly separated from the rest Of
the world. One Of Nansen's voyages
was, in fact, directed to that coast in
the hope Of finding this colony. He
was not able to reach the northern
part of the coast, and the mystery is
therefore yet unsolved.
Another problem which perplexed
the last generation was the long ex-
tinct pygmy race which centuries ago
undoubtedly inhabited the Tennessee
mountains. Legends among the In
dians told Of such a tribe Of dwarfs,
who were supposed to be Of more
intelligence than the red men. But
these legends were very hazy. A
burying ground, however, actually was
discovered in the earliest part Of the
last century In which all Of the skel-
etons were Of pygmy proportions.
Some of them were carried away by
college museums. But as far as I
know no scientific inquiry has ever
been directed to this question.
Another curious matter which caus-
ed much speculation in the early part
Of the last century was the fate OF
the colony Of French emigres who fed
to this country in the eighteenth CEN
tury and took refuge in the northern
part of Alabama. Like those French
men who found safety in Delaware,
they were for the most part Of noble
blood Marquises and counts earned,
their living in Wilmington as dancing
masters and even chefs, and their
descendants live there still.
But the poor gentlefolk who went
penniless to Alabama to escape the
guillotine penetrated the wilderness
and made up colony Of vine growers,
farmers, etc. They worked helplessly
awhile, starved and then melted away
mysteriously. Whether they returned
to ungrateful France or died in their
exile nobody knows. 1t was a ro-
mantle, tragical question which much
interested the last generation and is
now forgotten. But 1t is still unan-
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