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258 endeavouring to solve the continental problem from the one only. Indeed, had I acted from impulse, as I felt strongly tempted to do, I should have commenced to study it on concluding the former. But I was trying to be methodical and digest every piece of intelligence as I went along. It was now, however, an easy matter to arrive at the only possible conclusion, right or wrong, from the evidence at hand concerning the solution of the continental mystery—Arawarria must be identical with the last continent of Lemuria, of which, according to many of our own geographers, the South Sea Islands once formed a part.

After finding this manuscript, the enthusiasm of the nation was aroused, and several expeditions left Neuroomia for the Northern Seas, all pledged to return. Their prolonged absence, however, caused some uneasiness, and the Government sent out parties of the hardiest men to keep a look-out in the vicinity of the ice; but nothing was ever seen of the wanderers, and only one manuscript was found. It was dropped by the ship Orobeda, which had been sailing for some time on her own account. It gave a very gloomy narrative of the voyage, stating that they believed the other vessels of the expeditions, two in number, to have been wrecked.