Dynasty of Shaotak, that the evocation of spirits (from which modern
spiritualism takes its origin) commenced. Barrahneil was most eager to
see a superphysical manifestation. Being of a somewhat poetical turn
of mind he was particularly enamoured of fairies, and in the hope of
seeing one, constantly frequented their favourite haunts, _i.e._
woods, caves, and lonely isolated habitations. But all to no
purpose--they never would manifest themselves to him. At last, he lost
patience. 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