“and many of the other letters.  To the Atlantean

“[Atlantean:  C, O, E, Z][8]

“I could, however, find no likeness.

“From all these similarities, i.e. in architecture, symbols, letters, and words, I could come to no other conclusion than that there was some strong connecting link between Atlantis and ancient Ireland and Egypt.

“Assuredly this great link could not have been merely due to stray survivors of the great catastrophe!  Was it not much more probable that the earliest inhabitants of Ireland and Egypt had originally migrated from Atlantis, carrying its language, and ways and customs with them?  Moreover, since the Atlanteans were so deeply versed in magic and everything appertaining to the occult, this migration would account for the mysticism that has always been so closely associated with Egypt and Ireland, and for the psychic faculty so strongly observable in the inhabitants of these two countries.

“I was highly satisfied—­I had proved much and my discoveries had upset many of the theories advanced by the modern sages.  I could now positively assert that the wisdom of the world came not from the East but from the West.  It was to the golden West—­to Banchicheisi, capital of Atlantis, that humanity owed its knowledge of the sciences and arts, and of all things good and evil.  Eden, if Eden existed at all, was not in Asia, it was in Atlantis; and the Deluge, that is recorded in the Hebrew Bible, and is traditional in the histories of nearly every tribe and nation, was none other than the mighty inrush of the ocean over Atlantis, due to some abnormal submarine earthquake.

“Of what eventually became of the Atlanteans whose relics I had so opportunely alighted upon, I could only surmise.

“The last record I found was on a tablet set up by Niketoth.  On this she spoke of the death of Hullir and Ozilmeave, of the inter-marriage of the crew of the Chaac-molre with native women; of the consequent growth of the colony; and of her determination to leave it, and, accompanied by a chosen few, to push her way further inland.[9]

“The anxiety of my comrades to leave the continent, perforce put an end to my explorations, and in the beginning of the year 1692—­exactly ten months after our landing—­the Peterkin was refloated.

“This time nothing happened to impede our progress, and in April of the same year, we sighted Boston.  Here I remained for some months, making many new friends, and studying magic and sorcery.  But the love of travel had laid so strong a hold on me that I again took to a roving life.  I set sail for Spain in November 1692; landed at Corunna, and made my way to Madrid, where I arrived on January 1, 1693.”

For the rest, Hamar had to turn to Messrs. Fox and Pool’s addendum, i.e. the footnote that Matt Kelson had read aloud.