Hyperborea and the Quest for Mystical Enlightenment
Dr. Raymond Bernard on Gardner's book:
In addition to driftwood found in the extreme north, whose origin, according to Gardner, could only be the earth's interior, there are found trees with green buds in the Arctic seas. Seeds of unknown tropical species have also been found drifting down in the northern currents, coming from the north, not the south. Among these was the seed of the entada bean, a tropical seed, which was found by a Swedish expedition near Trurengerg Bay. Gardner comments: "This seed must have come from the interior of the earth, for it is of a tree that only grows under tropical conditions, and it would have been disintegrated had it been drifting all over the world for many months, as would be the case if it had come up from the tropical regions of the exterior of the planet."
Sverdrup found so many hares around 81 degrees north latitude that one inlet was called Hare Fiord. There was also enough other game to keep the whole exploring party well fed with meat.
Captain Beechey saw so many birds on the west coast of Spitzbergen that the place reverberated with their cries from dawn till dark. The little auk were so numerous and so close together that sometimes a single shot killed thirty of them. With sixteen birds to a cubic yard, there were about four million of them. Rotgers were so numerous as to darken the sky, and their chorus could be heard for four miles. There were also reindeer and ducks. There were four varieties of seagulls over the surrounding ocean, plus fish and amphibious animals, front the huge whale to the minute clio on which it fees, swallowing perhaps a million with each mouthful.
Franklin saw large numbers of geese migrating to the unknown north, at a high latitude, indicating land there. He notes that no matter how far north the explorer goes, he always finds the polar bear ahead of him. No matter how far north these bears are met, they are always on their way north.
At latitude 82, Kane found butterflies, bees and flies, as well as wolves, foxes, bears, geese, ducks, water-fowls and partridges. A strange fact all explorers observe is that animals do not migrate south to escape the cold Arctic winter, but instead go north.
Posted by Dharma/Dean