that the dark moon is caused by the Great Spirit trying to
hide it in anger?" asked George.

"It is singular when it is considered that the same superstition is
found in many, many tribes, on different continents, and it induces the
belief that this idea had one common origin, and that the people all
sprang from one source, or, that the different peoples worked out the
ideas independently of each other."

This statement caused considerable discussion, the natives being of the
opinion that the idea was worked out by the different peoples and could
not have been spread broadcast by one set of people.

"Why do you think it could not have come from one race?" asked George,
as Uraso urged.

"Because," he answered, "how did the people in olden times cross the big
ocean? Even now, people like my own, dare not venture on the sea, for
any distance from shore."

"But," said John, "the surface of the earth was not originally like it
is now. In many places over the earth, new lands have appeared,--that
is, they come up out of the sea, and other lands have disappeared. We
have records of islands, and parts of continents, hundreds of times
larger than Wonder Island, which have disappeared in a single day. One
of those, near Japan, sank, and engulfed over 200,000 people."

"You surprise me," said Muro.

"Furthermore, there is pretty conclusive evidence that the continents of
Europe and America, were once joined, or that there was an immense
continent, called Atlantis between the eastern and western hemispheres."

"I read something on that subject some time ago, in which the writer
denied that such a thing was possible," said Harry.

[Illustration: _Fig. 2. The Atlantean Plateau._]

"I am aware of that, but there are some things which are difficult to
explain, unless the two hemispheres were once united, or, at any rate,
were close enough together to permit travel from one part to the other."

"What evidence is there on that point?"

"Well, in the first place, the root of the languages in Central America,
and in Mexico, are the same as in the corresponding latitude in Europe
and Africa. Then the Pyramids of Mexico are built on the same plan, and
located, astronomically, the same as those in Egypt."

"But could not the ancients have crossed the seas, and in that way given
the same knowledge to both sections?"

"There is absolutely no evidence that the ancients had vessels capable
of traversing 2000 miles of ocean."

"B