



Produced by Judith Boss.  HTML version by Al Haines.











  The Lost Continent was originally published
    under the title Beyond Thirty




THE LOST CONTINENT


by

Edgar Rice Burroughs


JTABLE 3 9 1



1


Since earliest childhood I have been strangely fascinated by the
mystery surrounding the history of the last days of twentieth century
Europe.  My interest is keenest, perhaps, not so much in relation to
known facts as to speculation upon the unknowable of the two centuries
that have rolled by since human intercourse between the Western and
Eastern Hemispheres ceased--the mystery of Europe's state following the
termination of the Great War--provided, of course, that the war had
been terminated.

From out of the meagerness of our censored histories we learned that
for fifteen years after the cessation of diplomatic relations between
the United States of North America and the belligerent nations of the
Old World, news of more or less doubtful authenticity filtered, from
time to time, into the Western Hemisphere from the Eastern.

Then came the fruition of that historic propaganda which is best
described by its own slogan: "The East for the East--the West for the
West," and all further intercourse was stopped by statute.

Even prior to this, transoceanic commerce had practically ceased, owing
to the perils and hazards of the mine-strewn waters of both the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  Just when submarine activities ended we
do not know but the last vessel of this type sighted by a Pan-American
merchantman was the huge Q 138, which discharged twenty-nine torpedoes
at a Brazilian tank steamer off the Bermudas in the fall of 1972.  A
heavy sea and the excellent seamanship of the master of the Brazilian
permitted the Pan-American to escape and report this last of a long
series of outrages upon our commerce.  God alone knows how many
hundreds of our ancient ships fell prey to the roving steel sharks of
blood-frenzied Europe.  Countless were the vessels and men that passed
over our eastern and western horizons never to return; but whether they
met their fates before the belching tubes of submarines or among the
aimlessly drifting mine fields, no man lived to tell.

And then came the great Pan-American Federation which linked the
Western Hemisphere from pole to pole under a single flag, which joined
the navies of the New World into the mightiest fighting force that ever
sailed the seven seas--the greatest argument for peace the world had
ever known.

Since that day peace had reigned from the western shores of the Azores
to the western shores of the Hawaiian Islands, nor has any man of
either hemisphere dared cross 30dW. or 175dW.  From 30d to 175d is
ours--from 30d to 175d is peace, prosperity and happiness.

Beyond was the great unknown.  Even the geographies of my boyhood
showed nothing beyond.  We were taught of nothing beyond.  Speculation
was discouraged.  For two hundred years the Eastern Hemisphere had been
wiped from the maps and histories of Pan-America.  Its mention in
fiction, even, was forbidden.

Our ships of peace patrol thirty and one hundred seventy-five.  What
ships from beyond they have warned only the secret archives of
government show; but, a naval officer myself, I have gathered from the
traditions of the service that it has been fully two hundred years
since smoke or sail has been sighted east of 30d or west of 175d.  The
fate of the relinquished provinces which lay beyond the dead lines we
could only speculate upon.  That they were taken by the military power,
which rose so suddenly in China after the fall of the republic, and
which wrested Manchuria and Korea from Russia and Japan, and also
absorbed the Philippines, is quite within the range of possibility.

It was the commander of a Chinese man-of-war who received a copy of the
edict of 1972 from the hand of my illustrious ancestor, Admiral Turck,
on one hundred seventy-five, two hundred and six years ago, and from
the yellowed pages of the admiral's diary I learned that the fate of
the Philippines was even then presaged by these Chinese naval officers.

Yes, for over two hundred years no man crossed 30d to 175d and lived to
tell his story--not until chance drew me across and back again, and
public opinion, revolting at last against the drastic regulations of
our long-dead forbears, demanded that my story be given to the world,
and that the narrow interdict which commanded peace, prosperity, and
happiness to halt at 30d and 175d be removed forever.

I am glad that it was given to me to be