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. Hamar was now inclined to regard the book in a very different light. What he had read seemed to him to be set down in too simple,
straightforward, and, at the same time, detailed a manner to be other
than true. Up to the present he had not believed in ghosts and
witches, for the very simple reason that--like all sceptics--he had
never inquired into the testimony respecting them. He had pooh-poohed
the subject, because every one he knew pooh-poohed it, and also
because it had never seemed worth his while to do otherwise. But
provided he thought it would pay him, he was ready to believe in
anything--in Christianity, Mahommedanism, Buddhism, Theosophy, or
any other creed; and granted the book he had in his hands was
really written by Maitland, and Maitland was _bona fide_ (which Hamar
saw no reason to doubt), and granted, also, that Maitland was sane and
logical--which from his writing he certainly appeared to be--then
there was a certain amount in the volume that in Hamar's opinion
was "a find." Needless to say, he referred to the magic of the
Atlanteans--the art through the practice of which they had got in
touch with the Powers that could endow them with riches. The actual
history of Atlantis--once he was satisfied there had been such a
place--did not interest him. He skimmed through it quickly, and I
append a brief summary, only, for the benefit of more intelligent and
disinterested readers. The Atlanteans were the oldest intelligent race in the world--they
existed contemporaneously with Paleolithic man, with whom their
mariners and explorers frequently came in contact, and about whom
their novelists wrote the most delightful stories, just as Fenimore
Cooper and Mayne Reid, in these days, have written the most delightful
stories about the Red Indians. In religion they were polytheists; they
believed that, in the work of Creation, many Powers participated; that
some of these Powers were benevolent, some malevolent, whilst
others--neither benevolent nor malevolent--were merely neutral. To the
benevolent creative Powers they attributed all that is beautiful in
the world (_i.e._ certain of the trees, plants, flowers, animals,
insects, and pleasing colours and scents); all that is fair and
agreeable in the human being, such as affection, love, kindness, the
arts and sciences--in a word all that in any degree affected the
welfare of mankind; and to the malevolent creative Powers they
attributed all that was noxious in creation; all that was harmful to
man, and detrimental to his moral and physical progress (_i.e._
diseases, and all savage and filthy passions); all races of low
intelligence, viz. Paleolithic and Neolithic man--and all those born
with black or red skins (those colours being particularly significant
of the malignant Occult Elements); all destructive animals; (_i.e._
reptiles such as the teleosaurus, steneosaurus, etc. ; birds, such as
the ptereodactyl, vulture, eagle, etc. ; mammals, such as the cave
lion, cave tiger, etc. ; fish, such as the shark, octopus, etc. ); and
all ugly and venomous insects. These earliest records show that at one time the physical and
superphysical world were in close touch; all kinds of spirits--trolls,
pixies, nymphs, satyrs, imps, Vagrarians, Barrowvians, etc.--mixing
freely with living human beings; but that as the population increased
and civilization evolved, superphysical manifestations became more and
more rare, until finally they became restricted to certain conditions
dependent on time and locality. [10]

Up to this period there had been no state religion--no temples in
Atlantis. If any one wished for a particular favour from the Occult
Powers--for example, from the Rabsés, the Occult Powers of music; the
Brakvos, the Occult Powers of medicine; or the Derinas, the Occult
Powers of love, they retired to some secluded spot and held direct
intercourse with these Powers. The idea of praying to an invisible
being--who might or might not hear them--never entered their minds;
they were far too matter of fact for that--and it was not until
superphysical manifestations had become confined to a very select few,
that the plan of erecting public buildings in spots frequented by the
spirits, so that all who wished could assemble there and communicate
with them, was proposed and put into operation. In these buildings,
however, the spirits did not choose always, to appear to
order--sometimes they quitted the spot where the edifice had been
erected; sometimes they would only appear there periodically; and
sometimes, out of perversity, they would appear when least expected. But whether occult manifestations really took place in these buildings
or not, those assembled to see them were persuaded by those in charge
of the building, who saw thereby an opportunity of making money, that
the spirits were actually there; and in due time these buildings
became known as temples, and their showmen as priests. Every temple
was dedicated to an individual spirit--one to the Spirit Bara-boo;
another to the Spirit Karaboro, and so on; whilst in the absence of
genuine spirit manifestations, prayers, incantations and rituals,
invented by the priests, always attracted a large concourse of people
to these temples, and finally proved a greater source of attraction
than the spirits themselves. It was to gain favours from the Occult Powers that donations from the
public were at first invited, then demanded; and the priests in this
manner accumulated vast fortunes. Later on, too, there sprang up, in
connection with these temples, colleges for the training of young
men--invariably selected from the wealthy classes--to the priesthood;
and from the parents of these youthful aspirants large fees, which in
course of time became exorbitant, were extracted, thereby furnishing
another source of revenue to the priests. The most famous colleges for
the training of priests in Atlantis were those of Bara-boo-rek[11] at
Keisionwo, Karaboro-rek at Diniangek, and Ballygarap-rek at Tijimin. It was in the reign of Barrahneil,[12] fifty-first sovereign of the
Dynasty of Shaotak, that the evocation of spirits (from which modern
spiritualism takes its origin) commenced. Barrahneil was most eager to
see a superphysical manifestation. Being of a somewhat poetical turn
of mind he was particularly enamoured of fairies, and in the hope of
seeing one, constantly frequented their favourite haunts, _i.e._
woods, caves, and lonely isolated habitations. But all to no
purpose--they never would manifest themselves to him. At last, he lost
patience.