s.")

Beyond question, this new land "within" is the home, the cradle, of the
human race, and viewed from the standpoint of the discoveries made by
us, must of necessity have a most important bearing on all physical,
paleontological, archaeological, philological and mythological theories
of antiquity.

The same idea of going back to the land of mystery--to the very
beginning--to the origin of man--is found in Egyptian traditions of
the earlier terrestrial regions of the gods, heroes and men, from
the historical fragments of Manetho, fully verified by the historical
records taken from the more recent excavations of Pompeii as well as the
traditions of the North American Indians.

It is now one hour past midnight--the new year of 1908 is here, and this
is the third day thereof, and having at last finished the record of my
strange travels and adventures I wish given to the world, I am ready,
and even longing, for the peaceful rest which I am sure will follow
life's trials and vicissitudes. I am old in years, and ripe both with
adventures and sorrows, yet rich with the few friends I have cemented to
me in my struggles to lead a just and upright life. Like a story that
is well-nigh told, my life is ebbing away. The presentiment is strong
within me that I shall not live to see the rising of another sun. Thus
do I conclude my message. OLAF JANSEN.

PART SEVEN. AUTHOR'S AFTERWORD

I FOUND much difficulty in deciphering and editing the manuscripts of
Olaf Jansen. However, I have taken the liberty of reconstructing only
a very few expressions, and in doing this have in no way changed the
spirit or meaning. Otherwise, the original text has neither been added
to nor taken from.

It is impossible for me to express my opinion as to the value or
reliability of the wonderful statements made by Olaf Jansen. The
description here given of the strange lands and people visited by
him, location of cities, the names and directions of rivers, and other
information herein combined, conform in every way to the rough drawings
given into my custody by this ancient Norseman, which drawings together
with the manuscript it is my intention at some later date to give to the
Smithsonian Institution, to preserve for the benefit of those interested
in the mysteries of the "Farthest North"--the frozen circle of silence.
It is certain there are many things in Vedic literature, in "Josephus,"
the "Odyssey," the "Iliad," Terrien