Chapters I-XV: Extremely boring and irrelevant tales of adventures on the high seas.

Chapter XVI: The ship Pym is on decides to sail South from an island chain off the Cape of Good Hope, for general exploration and in the hope of finding a sea route to the pole. Evidence from previous expeditions is discussed which may indicate that there is a somewhat warmer sea past the pack ice on this side which may extend as far as the eighty-fifth parallel.

Chapter XVII: They sail through the pack ice. An immense flock of albatross is seen passing overhead, going from southeast to northwest. An American named Peter Vredenburgh falls overboard and dies.

"Some driftwood floated by during the evening, and a great quantity of birds flew over, among which were nellies, peterels, albatrosses, and a large bird of a brilliant blue plumage." They find a passage through the ice and come to an open sea, with a southwardly current. The temperature starts getting warmer.

Innumerable flights of birds fly overhead. On an ice floe, they discover and, with difficulty, kill "a gigantic creature of the race of the Arctic bear, but far exceeding in size the largest of these animals . . . This bear, upon admeasurement, proved to be full fifteen feet in his greatest length. His wool was perfectly white, and very coarse, curling tightly. The eyes were of a blood red, and larger than those of the Arctic bear, the snout also more rounded, rather resembling the snout of the bulldog. The meat was tender, but excessively rank and fishy, although the men devoured it with avidity, and declared it excellent eating."

They find and explore a desolate island, and discover upon it a fragment of a carved canoe. They continue south and, despite scurvy and low fuel, decide to continue on, since, as the temperature is growing milder the farther south they go, there is a chance they will find fertile land from which they can replenish.

Chapter XVIII: The current and the warming trend both continue south. More albatrosses fly overhead, and the crew finds in the water right wales, a hawthorn like-bush, and the carcass of an odd land animal "three feet in length, and but six inches in height, with four very short legs, the feet armed with long claws of a brilliant scarlet, and resembling coral in substance. The body was covered with a straight silky hair, perfectly white. The tail was peaked like that of a rat, and about a foot and a half long. The head resembled a cat's, with the exception of the ears- these were flopped like the ears of a dog. The teeth were of the same brilliant scarlet as the claws." They discover an island group (at 83 degrees south, by this point), inhabited by canoe-riding natives of jet-black complexion, clothed in the skins of some unknown black-furred animal. They greet the seafarers in a friendly enough manner with cries of "Anamoo-Moo!" and "Lama-Lama!", but recoil from the white complexion of their skin. The natives appear to believe that the ship is a living being. The natives appear to have some fear of the color white . . . "we could not get them to approach several very harmless objects- such as the schooner's sails, an egg, an open book, or a pan of flour."

Exploring the island, they find that everything is bizarre - there are strange trees, never-before-seen types of rocks, and, most oddly, the water "bore resemblance, as regards consistency, to a thick infusion of gum arabic in common water . . . It was not colourless, nor was it of any one uniform colour- presenting to the eye, as it flowed, every possible shade of purple; like the hues of a changeable silk . . . we perceived that the whole mass of liquid was made up of a number of distinct veins, each of a distinct hue; that these veins did not commingle; and that their cohesion was perfect in regard to their own particles among themselves, and imperfect in regard to neighbouring veins. Upon passing the blade of a knife athwart the veins, the water closed over it immediately, as with us, and also, in withdrawing it, all traces of the passage of the knife were instantly obliterated. If, however, the blade was passed down accurately between the two veins, a perfect separation was effected, which the power of cohesion did not immediately rectify."

Chapter XIX: They reach the native's village. The habitations are incredibly primitive, sometimes little more than a hole covered by a skin. The vast majority, however, are "small shallow caverns, apparently scratched in the face of a precipitous ledge of dark stone . . . At the door of each of these primitive caverns was a small rock, which the tenant carefully placed before the entrance upon leaving his residence, for what purpose I could not ascertain, as the stone itself was never of sufficient size to close up more than a third of the opening."

The islanders keep strange game animals, mostly dark in color, and a black albatross is seen. The seafarers interact with the natives.

Chapter XX: The natives supply the voyagers with food. Things proceed amicably for several days, as the voyagers stay around for a bit to cure the abundant beche de mer they find. Finding a lot of it, they stay for longer, remaining on excellent terms with the islanders. Shortly before they are to leave, the majority of seafarers go back to the village one more time. On the way there, Pym leaves the main group of the party to gather some nuts, along with a couple of other men, and suddenly feels a strange concussion, as if "the whole foundations of the solid globe were suddenly rent asunder, and that the day of universal dissolution was at hand."

Chapter XXI: Pym finds he has been caught in a landslide. He is buried under earth, along with his friend Peters, but they manage to did themselves into a sort of natural cavern which has been formed. The explore their surroundings in the darkness. They find a passage up to air, and also the corpse of their comrade Adams. They climb up the soft soapstone-like sides of the ravine.

They make their way back to the where they split from the main group, and find that the entire ravine where there party was has been filled in with millions of tons of dirt. They soon discover evidence that the landslide was deliberately caused by the islanders, through a system of ropes and stakes taking advantage of the soft and stratified nature of the local stone.

Chapter XXII: The island is now swarming with people, many of whom seem to have come from other, more southerly islands to help out with the killing of the ship's crew. They attempt to overpower the remaining crewmen on the ship and take it over. Despite blowing a large number of islanders to pieces with ship's guns, eventually the crew is overwhelmed through sheer numbers. They kill the crew and start to destroy the vessel. Pym and Peters stealthily obtain food and water and make a concealed shelter.

The islanders, in burning the ship, ignite the gunpowder and kill a large number of themselves off. They begin shouting "Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!" This seems to actually be caused by the body of the strange white-furred scarlet-clawed rat/cat creature, which has been blown onto the shore by the explosion. They drive stakes in a circle around it and flee from it into the interior, continuing their loud screams of "Tekeli-li!"

Chapter XXIII: After a week or so on the island, trying to figure some means of escape, Pym and Peters notice the the chasm they have made their home in is constructed oddly (sides of differing materials until fifty feet from the bottom, where it is thereafter entirely smooth black granite. The chasm is also oddly shaped, looking like a letter or a rune. The picture can be seen in the on-line "Pym".)

Exploring, they discover that they are in a connected series of enormous chasms, all of which are shaped with curious regularity, resembling letters or runes.

Peters discovers a set of indentures in the rock, which look remarkably like a bipedal figure with a long snout (kind of reminded me of an Egyptian god) followed by a couple of words in an unknown alphabet. Pym is certain the formation is natural and coincidental. (Pictures in on-line "Pym".)

Chapter XXIV: They continue to try to find a way out. They encounter "immense" scorpions, and various equatorial reptiles. They are set on by a group of islanders, but they kill all but one, whom they subdue. They take the islander and set off in a stolen canoe, pursued by many more islanders in another. They manage to disable the following canoe with their guns.

Chapter XXV: They continue, in a canoe, into the "desolate Antarctic Ocean", at a latitude of greater than 84 degrees. They determine that the canoe is too sophisticated to have been built by the islanders, and learn from their captive that it was stolen from a different island group lying to the southwest. The hostage refuses to touch or come near the (presumably white) sails they rig up, crying out "Tekeli-li!"

They continue south. It is again remarked upon that the ocean is warm and entirely free of ice.

"Many unusual phenomena now indicated that we were entering upon a region of novelty and wonder. A high range of light gray vapour appeared constantly in the southern horizon, flaring up occasionally in lofty streaks, now darting from east to west, now from west to east, and again presenting a level and uniform summit- in short, having all the wild variations of the Aurora Borealis. The average height of this vapour, as apparent from our station, was about twenty-five degrees. The temperature of the sea seemed to be increasing momentarily, and there was a very perceptible alteration in its colour."

They learn from their captive that the name of the island group was Tsaleman or Psaleman, and the specific island they were on was Tsalal. "The commencement of the words Tsalemon and Tsalal was given with a prolonged hissing sound, which we found it impossible to imitate, even after repeated endeavours, and which was precisely the same with the note of the black bittern we had eaten up on the summit of the hill."

"The heat of the water was now truly remarkable, and in colour was undergoing a rapid change, being no longer transparent, but of a milky consistency and hue. In our immediate vicinity it was usually smooth, never so rough as to endanger the canoe- but we were frequently surprised at perceiving, to our right and left, at different distances, sudden and extensive agitations of the surface- these, we at length noticed, were always preceded by wild flickerings in the region of vapour to the southward."

"The gray vapour had now arisen many more degrees above the horizon, and was gradually losing its grayness of tint. The heat of the water was extreme, even unpleasant to the touch, and its milky hue was more evident than ever. To-day a violent agitation of the water occurred very close to the canoe. It was attended, as usual, with a wild flaring up of the vapour at its summit, and a momentary division at its base. A fine white powder, resembling ashes- but certainly not such- fell over the canoe and over a large surface of the water, as the flickering died away among the vapour and the commotion subsided in the sea."

They discover that even the teeth of the natives of Tsalal are black. Another dead white cat/rat creature floats by. The islander ("Nu-Nu") has been sick for days, and falls unconscious.

At this point, the polar winter begins.

"A sullen darkness now hovered above us- but from out the milky depths of the ocean a luminous glare arose, and stole up along the bulwarks of the boat. We were nearly overwhelmed by the white ashy shower which settled upon us and upon the canoe, but melted into the water as it fell. The summit of the cataract was utterly lost in the dimness and the distance. Yet we were evidently approaching it with a hideous velocity. At intervals there were visible in it wide, yawning, but momentary rents, and from out these rents, within which was a chaos of flitting and indistinct images, there came rushing and mighty, but soundless winds, tearing up the enkindled ocean in their course."

"The darkness had materially increased, relieved only by the glare of the water thrown back from the white curtain before us. Many gigantic and pallidly white birds flew continuously now from beyond the veil, and their scream was the eternal Tekeli-li! as they retreated from our vision. Hereupon Nu-Nu stirred in the bottom of the boat; but upon touching him, we found his spirit departed. And now we rushed into the embraces of the cataract, where a chasm threw itself open to receive us. But there arose in our pathway a shrouded human figure, very far larger in its proportions than any dweller among men. And the hue of the skin of the figure was of the perfect whiteness of the snow."

At this point, the narrative abruptly ends. The postscript mentions that this is due to the sudden and distressing death of Mr. Pym while composing the document in America. It is implied that Peters, the other witness to the events, may have lived (or at least live longer), however.

The preface and postscipt, however, mention the following details:

"Several gentlemen in Richmond, VA" urged Pym to publish the manuscript. One of them was Mr. Poe, who agreed to publish part of it under his own name as a work of fiction.

The chasms explored on the island, when put together in a line, appear to be an Ethiopian verbal root meaning "to be shady", or dark, or shadowed.

The indentations found by Peters appear to consist of the Arabic root for "to be white" and the Egyptian word for "the region of the south". The arm of the figure (which I thought looked like an Egyptian god) is stretched toward the south.

Things to think about

All of this took place about 100 years before the Starkweather-Moore expedition.

Note the message about "the land of the black and the white" in the warnings we were sent.

What were the stones the islanders placed in front of their homes?

What was up with the water?

What was up with the all-black and all-white people?

On to Part II.