[ 28 | friends the conclusions derived from such revelation—conclusions which appear to give the only real solution of this geological puzzle ; and I frust that these conclusions will sland the lesi of modern scientific theories of which I have very liffle knowledge. li will, hovevor, bo necessary ło relate some of the prevalent views and beliefs on ihis subjeci, both ancient and modern, before selling forih my own views as revealed to me. It is well known that the ancient sages of India cared more for ihe spiritual salvation of mankind ihan for their malerial welfare. Their writings, and in fact much of the ancient literalure of this country, are gerbed in such abstruse and myslerious parables that they appear like fairy teles to ihe modern scienlific world. Mension is made in some of the Puranas, in the Epics, and in a large number of ancient works, of the existence of an Underworld (i.e., Patala) inside the earth. It appears that men believed in those days that such an underworld would be revealed to them if they could dig deep beneath the earth's surface. In the Ramayana We are fold that the sixty thousand sons of King Sagar came in sight of the sage Kapila after they had dug such a passage into the inierior of the Earth. The existence of such a world is also referred to in the Devi-Mahatmya, i.e., in the
