Against the advice of his oldest and most trusty
counsellors, and accompanied by one or two of his favourite courtiers,
he went to an excessively lonely spot in the heart of a desert, and
besought spirits--spirits of any sort--he did not care what--to
manifest themselves. To his surprise--for he had grown extremely
sceptical--an Occult form, half man and half beast,[13] materialized. It informed them that it was Daramara, _i.e._ in Atlantis, the
Unknown--that it had no beginning and no end, and that it would remain
an impenetrable mystery to them during their existence in the physical
sphere, but would be fully revealed to them when they passed over into
Malanok--one of the superphysical planes. On this, and on several
subsequent occasions, when it manifested itself to them, it gave them
instructions with regard to evocation, and described to them the tests
they must undergo before they could acquire the great powers the
Unknown was able to bestow on them, namely, (1) second sight; (2)
divining other people's thoughts and detecting the presence of waters
and metals; (3) thought transference, _i.e._ being able to transmit
messages, irrespective of distance, from one brain to another without
any physical medium; (4) hypnotism; (5) the power to hold converse
with animals; (6) invisibility, _i.e._ dematerializing at will; (7)
walking on, and breathing under, water; (8) inflicting all manner of
diseases and torments; (9) curing all kinds of diseases; (10)
converting people into beasts and minerals; (11) foretelling the
future by palmistry, pyromancy, hydromancy, astrology, etc. ; (12)
conjuring up all manner of spirits antagonistic to men's moral
progress, _i.e._ Vice Elementals--Vagrarians, Barrowvians, etc. Taking every care to observe the greatest secrecy, Barrahneil caused a
full account of these interviews with Daramara, together with all the
instructions the latter had given him, to be transcribed in a book,
which he called _Brahnapotek_[14]--or the _Book of Mysteries_; and
which he kept sealed and guarded in a room in his palace. During his lifetime no one held communication with Daramara saving
himself and his friends, but after his death the secret of black magic
leaked out; countless people sought to acquire it, and ultimately the
practice of it became universal. But the Atlanteans little knew the
danger they were incurring. The spirits they conjured up--though at
first subservient, that is to say, mere instruments--at length
obtained complete dominion over them--the whole race became steeped in
crime and vice of every kind--and so horrible were the enormities
perpetrated that, fearful lest Man should be entirely obliterated the
benevolent Occult Powers, after a desperate struggle with the
malevolent Occult Powers, succeeded, by means of a vast earthquake, in
submerging the Continent and hurling it to the bottom of the Atlantic
Ocean, where, what remains of it, now lies. This catastrophe took
place in the reign of Aboonirin, twentieth sovereign of the Dynasty of
Molonekin--three thousand years after the reign of Barrahneil. So ran the history of Atlantis, or at least all of it that need be
quoted for the elucidation of this story. That Black Magic--the Black
Art of the Atlanteans was by no means dead--Hamar felt convinced, and
if Maitland could resuscitate it--why could not he? At any rate he
might try. He could lose nothing by giving it a trial--at least
nothing to speak of--the outlay on chemicals would be a mere
song--whereas, on the other hand, what might he not gain! He eagerly
perused the tests--the test he must impose upon himself before he
could get in touch with the Unknown, and acquire the magic
powers--which, according to Thomas Maitland, were copied from the
original Brahnapotek, and including a preface, ran as follows:
(_Preface_) "It is essential that the person desirous of being
initiated into the Black Art--the Art of communicating with the
Unknown (Daramara) in order to acquire certain great powers, should
dismiss from his mind all ideas of moral progress, and wholly
concentrate on the bettering of his material self--on acquiring riches
and fame in the physical sphere. His aspirations must be entirely
earthly, and all his affections subordinate to his main desire for
wealth and carnal pleasures. Having acquired this preliminary
psychological stage, for one clear week he must give himself up
entirely to the breaking of all the conventionalities of morality with
which society is hedged in. He must practice every kind of
deception--lie, cheat and steal, and go out of his way to seek an
opportunity to avenge any personal injury; and if his mind is
earnestly and wholly concentrated on acquiring knowledge of the Black
Art no bodily mishap will befall him. During this time of probation he
must will himself to dream, at night, of all the deeds he had it in
his mind to do, during the day; when he will know, by his visions, to
what extent he is progressing. At the end of the week he must apply
the tests to see if he is in a ripe state to proceed. "The tests--

    "No. 1. At midnight, when the moon is full, place a mirror, set in
    a wooden frame, in a tub of water, so that it will float on the
    surface with its face uppermost. Put in the water fifteen grains
    of bicarbonate of potash, and sprinkle it with three drops of
    blood, not necessarily human If the reflection of the moon in the
    mirror then appear crimson, the test is satisfactorily
    accomplished. "No. 2. At midnight, when the moon is full, take a black cat, place
    it where the moonbeams are thickest, sprinkle it with three drops
    of blood, not necessarily human, and rub its coat with the palm of
    the hand. Sparks will then be given out, and if those sparks
    appear crimson the test is satisfactorily done. "No. 3. Take a human skull--preferably that of some person who has
    met with an unnatural end, pour on it a single drop of fresh,
    human blood--place it on a couch, and go to sleep with the back
    part of the head resting on it. If you are awakened, at the second
    hour after midnight, by hearing a great commotion close at hand,
    and the room is then discovered to be full of crimson light, the
    test is satisfactorily fulfilled. "No. 4. Take half a score of the berries of enchanter's
    nightshade,[15] two ounces of hemlock leaves in powder, and one
    ounce of red sorrel leaves. Heat them in an oven for two hours,
    pound them together, in a mortar, and at midnight boil them in
    water. As soon as the contents begin to bubble, remove them from
    the fire and stand them in a dark place; and if the experiment is
    to prove satisfactory, three bubbles of luminous green light will
    rise simultaneously from the water and burst. "No. 5. In the above preparation after the test described, soak a
    hazel twig, fashioned in the shape of a fork.