Dennis Wheatley - They Found Atlantis

'By Jove, Zakar must have been a great fellow,' murmured the McKay. 'I wonder though that, knowing there was still land left up in the Azores he did not attempt to dig a tunnel up to them and get out safely after all?'

'He did attempt it, years later, in his old age, but you must remember that none of the survivors had any idea at first that some portion of our land remained above water. Spirit travel was almost unknown then, and nearly as rudimentary as it is with you today. Zakar was its first practical exponent. When he was very old he dreamed much and, had it not been for the respect in which he was held he would have been laughed at for his insistence that the Atlantean mountain tops still protruded above the ocean in the form of islands. The direction of each peak was known, of course, to a half point of the compass and one of the larger abandoned mine galleries ran towards the island which you call Pico. He explored it for some miles and then set the slave creatures who had bred and multiplied again after this lapse of fifty years, to the task of clearing the passage. Much of the work was done but Zakar was never able to lead his people out into the sunshine because he was killed by a fall of rock before his last great effort was completed.'

'Why didn't the others carry on?' asked Sally.

'Because my child a great slab of stone barred the way and, with the death of Zakar we lost our power to control the slave creatures who might have moved it. He was a High Priest and what you would call a White Magician of the first order. Mass hypnosis may be known to you and is even practised by some people of the upper world upon a few dozen subjects at a time, but to dominate thousands so that they give their lives to your will requires very exceptional mental endowments. Zakar had those, and, unfortunately, believing that he still had many years to live, he had only just begun to train his successor. At his death the slaves turned hostile and revolted. The Atlanteans were forced to take refuge here. Between them they had just sufficient power to prevent the hordes entering this chamber, but that was all—and none of their descendants since, have ever left it.'

'I see,' the McKay nodded, 'then that's the reason for your defences—the deep ditch and the cactus hedge?'

'Yes, at first there were attacks when the earthshine was dim at night so these barriers were erected. The slaves cannot swim so the fifteen foot canal became a trap for them and the thorn hedge made it impossible for them to land if they did succeed in floundering to the other side. Now they remain as an almost unnecessary precaution from surprise for it is thousands of years since the slaves made any attempt upon us. Like true animals they guzzle the two meals of fish a day which arrive, as far as they know by a natural process, and for the rest they breed and sleep without thought, governed only by their brute instincts.'

Menes paused again and it seemed that the tale was done when Camilla spoke in her most persuasive voice: 'Won't you tell us more about the making of this island?'

He smiled at her. 'There is little more to tell my child. The debacle occurred on November the 1st, in your calendar, which is the new year with us. On that date the memory of the great destruction was perpetuated by those who escaped into the Upper World as the Feast of the Dead. Egyptians, Persians, Mexicans, Eskimos, Celts, all kept that festival during the first days of November long after its origin had been forgotten. When the Christian Church rose to Power they encountered what they considered to be this pagan rite, both in Europe and America. Since they could not suppress it they gave a legal cloak to its celebration by calling it "All Saints Day". Yet, even then, they found that their converts gave more thought to the Dead than to the Saints, so strongly ingrained is custom in mankind. Very reluctantly, at last, they admitted "All Souls Day' to their calendar as well, making it the 2nd of November since, to go back on their previous decision of giving November 1st to the Saints, was hardly politic. So you see that those little cakes which are baked and eaten, or left for the spirits of the dead, in a million peasant homes on both sides of the Atlantic still are not offered on that one day in all the year by chance, but in unconscious awe on the anniversary of the most terrible calamity which has ever befallen mankind.

'Under the earth here, immediately the remaining Atlan-296

teans found that they were cut off from the upper world, Zakar ordered the strictest supervision of all stores. Then, a few days later, when they realised that they were permanently entombed he directed that nothing should be consumed without a full examination as to its future usefulness. Petru's garden was enlarged to the full extent of the cavern, pips and fruit stones were saved, dried and planted in it, corn and vegetable roots were likewise husbanded. Since then many new varieties have been evolved but all our trees and plants are descendants of his original stock. The lake was dug and suitable species of fish bred in it; the first of course being taken from the subterranean harbour. Very gradually they were acclimatised to fresh water instead of salt to save the labour of carting tanks of sea water through the tunnels. That was accomplished before Zakar's death. The ancestors of our little herd of deer were originally kept in the mines because they were very sensitive to poisonous gases, so were stalled in new workings to give warning of such dangers. Later they were concentrated here and carefully tended by Zakar's orders. After his death the island was fenced about to protect our people from the rebellious slaves as 1 have told you. The number of its population was fixed and the sexes regulated, so that the number of men and women should be equal. Since then Atlantis has passed into that happy state where it no longer has any history to record.'

'Happy state indeed,' Doctor Tisch nodded solemnly, 'for history is only a record of man's brutality and folly caused by fear. The murder of Kings—the butcheries inspired by religious fanaticism—or senseless slaughters to pile up more possessions or gold—all caused by fear. That is history. But tell please mein Herr how you have managed to regulate the sexes for it seems you have no marriage here and must be all one family.'

'It was not difficult,' Menes assured him. 'Of the six women each bears two children only, generation by generation, a boy and a girl. Thus the original strains are perpetually intermingled at their most distant point of relationship —having regard to age.'

'How then are you related to each other mein Herri'

'Listen and I will tell you for these are the generations of Atlantis in our day.

'Semiramis is the eldest amongst us and to her uncle— now dead—she bore a daughter, Tzarinska. Then twelve years later to me, her half-brother, she bore a son, Nahou.

'Tzarinska bore to me her uncle a daughter, Laotzii— then twelve years later to her half-brother Nahou, she bore a son, Quet.

'Laotzii bore to her uncle Nahou a daughter, Rahossis— then twelve years later to her half-brother Quet, she bore a son, Peramon.

'Rahossis bore to her uncle Quet a daughter, Lulluma— then twelve years later to her half-brother Peramon she bore a son, Karnoum.

'Lulluma bore to her uncle Peramon a daughter, Danoe —then twelve years later to her half-brother Karnoum, she bore a son, Ciston.'

The doctor inclined his bristly head in his formal little bow. 'I thank you mein Herr , but tell me one thing more—-You are one family, yet you defy the laws of heredity. No one of you bears any resemblance to another. You range in type from Fraulein Danoe who might be a maiden of East Prussia to young Herr Karnoum who appears to be of African descent or yourself who has the features of one of our Biblical patriarchs. How can this be?'