The Smoky God; Or, A Voyage to the Inner WorldEmerson, Willis George
Science
The Smoky God; Or, A Voyage to the Inner World
Emerson, Willis George
Voyages, Imaginary
After our giant brothers had launched our little craft for us, they were
most cordially regretful at parting, and evinced much solicitude for our
safety. My father swore by the Gods Odin and Thor that he would surely
return again within a year or two and pay them another visit. And thus
we bade them adieu. We made ready and hoisted our sail, but there was
little breeze. We were becalmed within an hour after our giant friends
had left us and started on their return trip.
The winds were constantly blowing south, that is, they were blowing from
the northern opening of the earth toward that which we knew to be south,
but which, according to our compass's pointing finger, was directly
north.
For three days we tried to sail, and to beat against the wind, but to no
avail. Whereupon my father said: "My son, to return by the same route as
we came in is impossible at this time of year. I wonder why we did not
think of this before. We have been here almost two and a half years;
therefore, this is the season when the sun is beginning to shine in
at the southern opening of the earth. The long cold night is on in the
Spitzbergen country."
"What shall we do?" I inquired.
"There is only one thing we can do," my father replied, "and that is to
go south." Accordingly, he turned the craft about, gave it full reef,
and started by the compass north but, in fact, directly south. The wind
was strong, and we seemed to have struck a current that was running with
remarkable swiftness in the same direction.
In just forty days we arrived at Delfi, a city we had visited in company
with our guides Jules Galdea and his wife, near the mouth of the
Gihon river. Here we stopped for two days, and were most hospitably
entertained by the same people who had welcomed us on our former visit.
We laid in some additional provisions and again set sail, following the
needle due north.
On our outward trip we came through a narrow channel which appeared to
be a separating body of water between two considerable bodies of land.
There was a beautiful beach to our right, and we decided to reconnoiter.
Casting anchor, we waded ashore to rest up for a day before continuing
the outward hazardous undertaking. We built a fire and threw on some
sticks of dry driftwood. While my father was walking along the shore, I
prepared a tempting repast from supplies we had provided.
There was a mild, luminous light which my father said resulted from the
sun shining in from the south aperture of the earth. That night we slept
soundly, and awakened the next morning as refreshed as if we had been in
our own beds at Stockholm.
After breakfast we started out on an inland tour of discovery, but had
not gone far when we sighted some birds which we recognized at once as
belonging to the penguin family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
The Smoky God; Or, A Voyage to the Inner World — John Shaqi
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