Summary

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym… (1838)

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
Source: Wikisource

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym… (1838)

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 ⲡⲁⲑⲩⲣⲏⲥ, "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.
Source: Wikisource

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