An Antarctic Mystery

ummary of Edgar Poe's romance, which was

ES OF ARTHUR

he principal personage. Arthur Pym states in the preface that on his return from his voyage to the Antarctic seas he met, among the Virginian gentlemen who took an interest in geographical discoveries, Edgar Poe, who was then editor of the Southern Literary Messenger

he association of these youths gave rise to Pym's irresistible vocation to adventurous voyaging, and to the instinct that especially attracted him towards the high zones of the Antarctic region. The first exploit of Augustus Barnard and Arthur Pym was an excursion on board a little sloop, the Ariel, a two-decked boat which belonged to the Pyms. One evening the two youths, both being very tipsy, embarked secretly, in cold October weather, and

ions of extreme difficulty. At length, thanks to the second officer of the Penguin, from New London, which arrived

on which Pym penetrates into the polar circle, the narrative might conceivably be regarded as authentic. But, beyond the polar circle, above the austral i

for whaling in the southern seas. This brig was an old, ill-repaired craft, and Mr. Barnard, the father of Augustus, was its skipper. His son, who was to accompany him on the voy

on the Grampus, for Mr. Barnard would not have authorized him to defy the prohibition of his family. He announced that he had been invited to pass a few days with a friend at New Bedford, took leave of his

g-place, which was a huge wooden chest with a sliding side to it. This chest contained a mattress, blankets, a jar of water, ship's biscuit, smoked sausage, a roast quarter of mutton, a few bottles of cordials and liqueur

he got out of it, and in the dark, while holding on by a rope which was stretched across the hold to the trap of his frie

o get down into the hold again, or he had not ventured to do so, fearing to betray the presence

f raving, and in vain sought some place amid the mass of cargo where he might breathe a little more easily. In one of these fits of delirium he imagined th

, a young Newfoundland. The animal had been smuggled on board by Augustus Barnard unperceived by anybody-(this, at least, is an unlikel

He came out of the chest, and although faint from inanition and trembling with weakness, he felt his way in the direction of the trap-door by means of the rope. But, while he was approaching, one of the bales of cargo, shifted by the rolling of the ship, fell down and blocked up the passage. With immense but quite useless exertion he contrived to get over this obstacle, but when he reac

ng on his back, with his paws up and his hair on end. He then felt Tiger all over, and his hand encountered

eded in rubbing the paper with a little phosphorus-(the details given in Edgar Poe's narrative are curiously minute at this point)-and then by the glimmer

ith only ardent liquor to quench his thirst! And this warning to remain hidden, preceded by the word "blood "-that supreme word, king of words, so full of mystery, of s

ed the resources of his imagination in the terror of suc

th eyes that glared in the midst of the darkness, Tiger with gnashing teeth-Tiger gone mad. Another moment and the dog had sprung upon Arthur Pym, who, wound up to the highest pitch of horror, recovered suffi

of the hold, but his head swam, and, falling ag

ounced, and a bottle of water was held to his lips. He swallowed the w

with his comrade in a corner of the hold, to

le, but we have not yet come to the events which

e, Augustus Barnard had made several attempts to rejoin Arthur Pym in his hiding place, but in vain. On the third day a mutiny broke out

ul to Captain Barnard, then the turning adrift of the captain and four of those men in a small whaler

iling-master of the Grampus. This sailing-master was a half-breed named Dirk Pe

the command of the mate, who intended to pursu

t until "the brig should be no longer a brig." Nevertheless, a few days afterwards, Augustus contrived to get rid of his fetters, to cut through the thin partition between him and the hold, and, followed b

lood-remain hidden-yo

m had received. Just as he had arrived at the la

to take the Grampus towards the Cape Verde Islands; others, and Dirk

fering from terrible thirst, and s

as in constant danger from the shifting of the bales, and Augustus,

rnard, so that the latter began to consider whether the sailing-master

alled in the offing, which some of them wanted to take and others would have allowed to escape. In this quarrel a sailor belonging to the c

rid of the mate, Augustus Barnard readily assured him of his assistance, without, however, revealing the fact of Arthur Pym's presence on board. Next day, one of the cook's adherents, a man named Rogers, died

formed Augustus Barnard that the moment for action had

on righting herself she shipped a tremendous sea, and there was considerable confusion on board. This offered a favourable opportunity for beginning the struggle, although the mutineers had made peace among themselves. The

deck; he thought it likely, if he were to put on the dead man's clothes and appear suddenly in the midst of those superstitious sailors, that their terror would place them at the mercy of Dirk Peters

m, so disguised as to present the appearance of the dead man, and his comrade, posted themselves close to the head of the forecastle gangway. The

ously; it was impossib

forecastle. This order was transmitted to the man at the helm, no other than Dirk Peters, who wen

with his hands, and fell down dead. Then Dirk Peters rushed upon the others, seconded by Augustus Barnard, Arthur Pym, and th

had to cut down the mainmast, and, when morning came, the mizen. That day was truly awful, the night was more awful still! If Dirk Peters and his companions h

en with corpses, which poisoned the atmosphere and passed on like a huge coffin, the sport of a wind of death; the torments of hunger and thirst; the impossibility of reaching the provision store; the drawing of lots by straws-

died. On the 3rd, the brig foundered in the night, and Arthur Pym and the half-breed, crouching upon the upturned keel, were reduced to feed upon the barnacles with which the bottom was covered, in the midst of a crowd of

to the utmost limits of possibility; but that does not surprise us, for the writer is the American magician-poet, Ed

fects of their sufferings, they remembered them no more. With alternations of fine and bad weather the Jane sighted Prince Ed

ing this time that the captain of the Jane buried the bottle in which his namesake of the Halbrane claime

tan d'Acunha she sailed to reconnoitre the Auroras in 35° 15' of south latitude, and 37°

the Antarctic pole. On the 26th, the first icebe

sed in the midst of ice-floes, the icebergs' point was doubled and the ship sailed on the surface

sh Navy, who did not get beyond the seventy-fourth parallel in 1822. But the achievement of the Jane, although difficult of belief, is trifling in comparison wi

lican which is shot. On a floating piece of ice is a bear of the Arctic species and of gigantic size. At last land is signalled. It is an isla

less, while the temperature became milder, with a sky always clear and a uniform northerly br

til, on the 18th of January, land was sight

nging to a numerous group scatte

intentions, but cried out continuously "anamoo" and "lamalama." When the canoes were alongside the schooner, the chief, Too-Wit, was permitted to go on board with twenty of his companions. There was profound astonishment on their part then, for they took the ship for a living creatu

ion of the rocks revealed a stratification unknown to modern mineralogists. Over the bed of the streams ran a liquid substance without any app

ts entirely formed of black skins; it possessed domestic animals resembling the common pig, a sort of she

ared, at least to be kept at a distance, so noisy and demonstrative were they. Finally, after a long halt at the hut of Too-Wit, the strangers returned to the shore, where the

of sheds in which some of the men of the Jane might prepare the bêche-de-mer, while the schooner should hold on her course towards the Pole. Too-W

in readiness to oppose an approach of the natives. Too-Wit, escorted by a hundred warriors, came out to meet the visitors. Captain William Guy and his men, although the place was propitious to an ambuscade, walked in close order, each pressing upon the other. On the right, a little in advance, were Arthur Pym, Dirk Peters, and a sailor named Allen. Having reached a spot where a fissure traversed the hillside, Arthur Pym turned into it in orde

heir knees, and opening a way with their bowie knives, to a projecting mass of harder clay, which had resisted the movement from above, and from thence they climbed to a

ace. Captain William Guy and his twenty-eight companions had disappeared

eing paddled towards the ship. The six men on board fired on them, but their aim was uncertain in the first volley; a second, in which mitraille and grooved bu

owder store-killing a thousand natives and mutilating as many more

at extent. The two men could not live in the midst of these successive abysses, and after several attempts they let themselves slide on one of the slopes of the hill. Instantly, six savages rushed upon them; but, thanks to their pistols, and the extraordinary strength of the half-breed, four of the assailan

was that the temperature would become more mild by degrees as they approached the pole. They tied together two white shirts which they had been wearing, and hoisted them to do duty as a sail. At sight of these shirts the native, who answered to the name of Nu-Nu, was ter

s rays, such as are projected by the polar aurora. A very strong current came to the aid of the breeze. The boat sailed rapidly upon a liquid surface of milky aspect, exceeding

hand could no longer bear it. The immense curtain of vapour, spread over the distant perimeter of the southern horizon r

rrowed by luminous streaks darting from the milky depths of the Antarctic O

Arthur Pym. In the midst of this frightful darkness a flock of gigantic birds, of livid white plumage, swept

d ready to swallow it up. But before the mouth of this gulf there stood a veiled human figure, of greater

ed by the more than human genius of

species of pumas and not formidable en