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——————— THE circumstances connected with the late sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym are already well known to the public through the medium of the daily press. It is feared that the few remaining chapters which were to have completed his narrative, and which were retained by him, while the above were in type, for the purpose of revision, have been irrecoverably lost through the accident by which he perished himself. This, however, may prove not to be the case, and the papers, if ultimately found, will be given to the public.  No means have been left untried to
remedy the
deficiency.
The gentleman whose name is mentioned in the preface, and who, from the
statement there made, might be supposed able to fill the vacuum, has
declined
the task — this for satisfactory reasons connected with the general
inaccuracy
of the details afforded him, and his disbelief in the entire truth of
the
latter portions of the narration. Peters, from whom some information
might
be expected, is still alive, and a resident of Illinois, but cannot be
met with at present. He may hereafter be found, and will, no doubt,
afford
material for a conclusion of Mr. Pym's account. The loss of the two or three final
chapters (for
there were but two or three) is the more deeply to be regretted, as, it
cannot be doubted, they contained matter relative to the Pole itself,
or
at least to regions in its very near proximity; and as, too, the
statements
of the author in relation to these regions may shortly be verified or
contradicted
by means of the governmental expedition now preparing for the Southern
Ocean. On one point in the Narrative some
remarks may be
well offered; and it would afford the writer of this appendix much
pleasure
if what he may here observe should have a tendency to throw credit, in
any degree, upon [page 187:] the very singular pages now
published. We allude to
the
chasms found in the island of Tsalal, and to the whole of the figures
upon
pages 182, 183, 184, 185.Mr. Pym has given the figures of the
chasm
without
comment, and speaks decidedly of the indentures found at the
extremity
of the most easterly of these chasms as having but a fanciful
resemblance
to alphabetical characters, and, in short, as being positively not
such.
This assertion is made in a manner so simple, and sustained by a
species
of demonstration so conclusive (viz., the fitting of the projections of
the fragments found among the dust into the indentures upon the wall),
that we are forced to believe the writer in earnest; and no reasonable
reader should suppose otherwise. But as the facts in relation to all
the figures are most singular (especially when taken in connexion with
statements made in the body of the narrative), it may be as well to say
a word or two concerning them all — this, too, the more especially as
the
facts in question have, beyond doubt, escaped the attention of Mr. Poe.
Figure 1, then figure 2, figure 3,
and figure 5,
when conjoined with one another in the precise order which the chasms
themselves
presented, and when deprived of the small lateral branches or arches
(which,
it will be remembered, served only as means of communication between
the
main chambers, and were of totally distinct character), constitute an
Ethiopian
verbal root — the root 
"To be shady" — whence all the inflections of shadow or darkness. In regard to the "left or most
northwardly" of
the
indentures in figure 4, it is more than probable that the opinion of
Peters
was correct, and that the hieroglyphical appearance was really the work
of art, and intended as the representation of a human form. The
delineation
is before the reader, and he may, or may not, perceive the resemblance
suggested; but the rest of the indentures afford strong confirmation of
Peters's idea. The upper range is evidently the Arabic verbal root 
"To be white," whence all the inflections of brilliancy and whiteness.
The lower range is not so immediately perspicuous. The characters are
somewhat
broken and disjointed; nevertheless, it cannot be doubted that, in
their
perfect state, they formed the full Egyptian word  ,
"The region of the south." It should be observed that these
interpretations
confirm the opinion of Peters in regard to the "most northwardly" of
the
figures. The arm is outstretched towards the south. Conclusions such as these open a wide
field for
speculation
and exciting conjecture. They should be regarded, perhaps, in connexion
with some of the most faintly-detailed incidents of the narrative;
although
in no visible manner is this chain of connexion complete. Tekeli-li!
was
the cry of the affrighted natives of Tsalal upon discovering the
carcass
of the white animal picked up at sea. This also was the
shuddering
exclamation of the [page 188:] captive Tsalalian upon
encountering
the white materials in possession of Mr. Pym. This also was the
shriek of the swift-flying, white, and gigantic birds which
issued
from the vapory white curtain of the South. Nothing white
was to be found at Tsalal, and nothing otherwise in the subsequent
voyage
to the region beyond. It is not impossible that "Tsalal," the
appellation
of the island of the chasms, may be found, upon minute philological
scrutiny,
to betray either some alliance with the chasms themselves, or some
reference
to the Ethiopian characters so mysteriously written in their windings. "I have graven it within the
hills, and my
vengeance
upon the dust within the rock." |
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