boasted achievements are in advance of the inhabitants of
"darkest Africa."

The distance directly across the space from inner surface to
inner surface is about six hundred miles less than the recognized
diameter of the earth. In the identical center of this vast
vacuum is the seat of electricity -- a mammoth ball of dull red
fire -- not startlingly brilliant, but surrounded by a white,
mild, luminous cloud, giving out uniform warmth, and held in its
place in the center of this internal space by the immutable law
of gravitation. This electrical cloud is known to the people
"within" as the abode of "The Smoky God." They believe it to be
the throne of "The Most High."

Olaf Jansen reminded me of how, in the old college days, we were
all familiar with the laboratory demonstrations of centrifugal
motion, which clearly proved that, if the earth were a solid, the
rapidity of its revolution upon its axis would tear it into a
thousand fragments.

The old Norseman also maintained that from the farthest points of
land on the islands of Spitzbergen and Franz Josef Land, flocks
of geese may be seen annually flying still farther northward,
just as the sailors and explorers record in their log-books. No
scientist has yet been audacious enough to attempt to explain,
even to his own satisfaction, toward what lands these winged
fowls are guided by their subtle instinct. However, Olaf Jansen
has given us a most reasonable explanation.

The presence of the open sea in the Northland is also explained.