"I am aware of that, but there are some things [p. 43] which are difficult to explain, unless the two hemispheres were once united, or, at any rate, were close enough together to permit travel from one part to the other."
"What evidence is there on that point?"
"Well, in the first place, the root of the languages in Central America, and in Mexico, are the same as in the corresponding latitude in Europe and Africa. Then the Pyramids of Mexico are built on the same plan, and located, astronomically, the same as those in Egypt."
"But could not the ancients have crossed the seas, and in that way given the same knowledge to both sections?"
"There is absolutely no evidence that the ancients had vessels capable of traversing 2000 miles of ocean."
"But the book I read said that the Western Hemisphere merely broke away from the main body of the land, and that is why the people here knew all that those in Europe had learned."
"That is very plausible, and for the purpose of giving you a fair understanding of the matter, I make a sketch, showing ([Fig. 2]), the Atlantean theory, in which the western shores of Europe and Africa, and the eastern shores of North and South America are outlined, and between them, in dotted lines, is Atlantis, the only part of that vast continent now being visible being the Azore Islands, at the northern extremity."
"But what evidence is there that such a continent existed? Is it only a theory?"