The New Traveler’s Almanac

"The New Traveler’s Almanac is a 32-page section within the Volume II of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and includes the 32 pages of tightly packed text spread out over six chapters. The text describes an extraordinary travel log depicting some extraordinary locations and peoples .Within this text there are included several picture plates representing some of the locations, peoples, and circumstances.

Chapter Headings and Plates

Chapter One:

The British Isles: From the Streaming Kingdom to The Blazing World: Yalding Towers Garden, Hampshire; Miss A.L., 1871; Bellman Expedition sketch by Miss Beever, 1876; A peculiar breed of salmon, Glyn Cagny, Ireland; Tiny water-breathing humanoid form, reproduced by king permission of The Lancet; “Christian has gone…” (A full page plate).

Chapter Two:

Europe: From Aiolio to Zenda: The imaginary Isle; Cyrill Island; Les Hommes Mysterieux; Example of the extinct Siren Bird; Ruins of the Snow Queen’s Castle; The Castle near Lutha; The City of Dreadful Night.

Chapter Three:

The America’s: In the Rubble of Utopia: The Pirates’ Conference, Rose Island; The Marvelous Islands; Speranza; Goldfinger Expedition, 1928; Scientific Expedition to The Black Lagoon, 1930. No survivors; Orlando; Conversation with Edward Framingham, Lake La Metrie, Wyoming; Arkham.

Chapter Four:

Africa and The Middle East: Lights of the Dark Continent: Nacumera; Skull Island; Parthalia; Un-captioned image; a second Un-captioned image; Fantippo; A third un-captioned image.

Chapter Five

Asia and the Australias: Visions of Cathy: Uncaptioned: Mademoiselle being courted by a monkey dressed like a pirate; Bandelies; Laputa; Feather Island; Great Sage; Shangri-La; Xanadu.

Chapter Six

The Polar Regions: To the Ends of the Earth: Megapatagonia; Mounts of Madness; uncaptioned; Toyland; uncaptioned."

Volume II of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

News from the New Traveler’s Almanac

Excerpt is from New Traveler’s Almanac

"In 1871 Newcastle while on a coal mine rescue mission, rescuers stumble upon an other-worldly subterranean culture called the Vril-ya. The occupants of this world are tall, and winged .The Vril-ya. have red skin and black eyes. They are a race with great longevity and are socially enlightened. It is reported that they can cure sicknesses simply by touching the wound or ill person with their lips.

The Vril-ya have skills in mechanics and artificial intelligence (albeit a very basic form of it) with their mechanical robots which attend to the Vril-ya’s every whim."

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Volume II, Moore & O’ Neil.

Quotes from Four Gentleman and One Extraordinary Woman

Nina Harker

“I feel a wonderful peace and rest tonight. It is as if some haunting presence were removed from me. Perhaps.”

Henry Jekyll

“Edward Hyde alone in the ranks of mankind, was pure evil.”

Harwley Griffen

“This is day one of year one of the new epoch-the epochs of the Invisible Man. I am Invisible Man the First.”

Allan Quatermain

“I’ve killed many a man in my time, but I have never slain wantonly or stained my hand in innocent blood, but only in self-defense.”

Captain Nemo

"I am not what you call a civilized man! I have done with society entirely, for reasons which I alone have the right of appreciating.”

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Volume II, Moore & O’ Neil

The League of Extraordinary Gentleman, Volume II

I have finally gotten around to reading Allan Moore and Kevin o’ Neill’s second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentleman. My first post from volume on was back in March 2014. With its host of extraordinary characters, fantastic story-line, and saucy scenes, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 2 takes over where the last volume left off.

Here are the titles of the novels six chapters:

1. Phases of Deimos
2. People of other Lands
3. And the Dawn Comes Up Like Thunder
4. All Creatures Great and Small
5. Redin Tooth and Claw
6. “You Should see me Dance the Polka…”

The Nautilus

Here is another rendition of Captain Nemo’s Nautilus. This version as depicted in the movie The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is a bit more fanciful than the one rendered in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

I suppose I could have gotten some better screenshots of this craft. Better luck next time.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume 2

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 2 is a graphic novel that is illustrated by Kevin O’ Neill and written by Alan Moore. There are three volumes in this series.

With its host of extraordinary characters, fantastic storyline, and saucy scenes, the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, volume 2 takes over where the last volume left off.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen movie takes its storyline from this series of graphic novels.

SORAIS’ SONG

As a desolate bird that through darkness its lost way is winging,
As a hand that is helplessly raised when Death’s sickle is swinging,
So is life! ay, the life that lends passion and breath to my singing.

As the nightingale’s song that is full of a sweetness unspoken,
As a spirit unbarring the gates of the skies for a token,
So is love! ay, the love that shall fall when his pinion is broken.

As the tramp of the legions when trumpets their challenge are sending,
As the shout of the Storm-god when lightnings the black sky are rending,
So is power! ay, the power that shall lie in the dust at its ending.

So short is our life; yet with space for all things to forsake us,
A bitter delusion, a dream from which nought can awake us,
Till Death’s dogging footsteps at morn or at eve shall o’ertake us.

Refrain

Oh, the world is fair at the dawning—dawning—dawning,
But the red sun sinks in blood—the red sun sinks in blood."

CHAPTER XV SORAIS’ SONG, Allan Quartermain

Invocation to the Sun

"Agon’s eyes were fixed upon the altar before him apparently in an ecstasy of contemplation, and mine were fixed upon the small of his back in another sort of ecstasy. Suddenly he flung up his long arm, and in a solemn and resounding voice commenced a chant, of which for convenience’ sake I append a rough, a very rough, translation here, though, of course, I did not then comprehend its meaning. It was an invocation to the Sun, and ran somewhat as follows:—

There is silence upon the face of the Earth and the waters thereof!
Yea, the silence doth brood on the waters like a nesting bird;
The silence sleepeth also upon the bosom of the profound darkness,
Only high up in the great spaces star doth speak unto star,
The Earth is faint with longing and wet with the tears of her desire;
The star-girdled night doth embrace her, but she is not comforted.
She lies enshrouded in mists like a corpse in the grave-clothes,
And stretches her pale hands to the East.

Lo! away in the farthest East there is the shadow of a light;
The Earth seeth and lifts herself. She looks out from beneath
the hollow of her hand.
Then thy great angels fly forth from the Holy Place, oh Sun,
They shoot their fiery swords into the darkness and shrivel it up.
They climb the heavens and cast down the pale stars from their thrones;
Yea, they hurl the changeful stars back into the womb of the night;
They cause the moon to become wan as the face of a dying man,
And behold! Thy glory comes, oh Sun!

Oh, Thou beautiful one, Thou drapest thyself in fire.
The wide heavens are thy pathway: thou rollest o’er them as a chariot.
The Earth is thy bride. Thou dost embrace her and
she brings forth children;
Yea, Thou favourest her, and she yields her increase.
Thou art the All Father and the giver of life, oh Sun.
The young children stretch out their hands and grow in thy brightness;
The old men creep forth and seeing remember their strength.
Only the dead forget Thee, oh Sun!

When Thou art wroth then Thou dost hide Thy face;
Thou drawest around Thee a thick curtain of shadows.
Then the Earth grows cold and the Heavens are dismayed;
They tremble, and the sound thereof is the sound of thunder:
They weep, and their tears are outpoured in the rain;
They sigh, and the wild winds are the voice of their sighing.
The flowers die, the fruitful fields languish and turn pale;
The old men and the little children go unto their appointed place
When Thou withdrawest thy light, oh Sun!

Say, what art Thou, oh Thou matchless Splendour—
Who set Thee on high, oh Thou flaming Terror?
When didst Thou begin, and when is the day of Thy ending?
Thou art the raiment of the living Spirit. {Endnote 16}
None did place Thee on high, for Thou was the Beginning.
Thou shalt not be ended when thy children are forgotten;
Nay, Thou shalt never end, for thy hours are eternal.
Thou sittest on high within thy golden house and
measurest out the centuries.
Oh Father of Life! oh dark-dispelling Sun! "

Chapter XIV the Flower Temple, Allan Quartermain

Umslopogaas’s Battle Axe

Umslopogaas¹ was one of four African tribesmen that accompanied Allan Quartermain and his cohorts as they traveled to the African interior.” To Lamu and thence make their way about 250 miles inland to Mt Kenia; from Mt Kenia on inland to Mt Lekakisera, another 200 miles, or thereabouts, beyond which no white man has to the best of Quartermain’s knowledge, ever been.”

“By a piece of grim humour, Umslopogaas had named this axe ‘Inkosi-kaas’, which is the Zulu word for chieftainess. For a long while I could not make out why he gave it such a name, and at last I asked him, when he informed me that the axe was very evidently feminine, because of her womanly habit of prying very deep into things, and that she was clearly a chieftainess because all men fell down before her, struck dumb at the sight of her beauty and power. In the same way he would consult ‘Inkosi-kaas’ if in any dilemma; and when I asked him why he did so, he informed me it was because she must needs be wise, having ‘looked into so many people’s brains’.

I took up the axe and closely examined this formidable weapon. It was, as I have said, of the nature of a pole-axe. The haft, made out of an enormous rhinoceros’ horn, was three feet three inches long, about an inch and a quarter thick, and with a knob at the end as large as a Maltese orange, left there to prevent the hand from slipping. This horn haft, though so massive, was as flexible as cane, and practically unbreakable; but, to make assurance doubly sure, it was whipped round at intervals of a few inches with copper wire—all the parts where the hands grip being thus treated. Just above where the haft entered the head were scored a number of little nicks, each nick representing a man killed in battle with the weapon. The axe itself was made of the most beautiful steel, and apparently of European manufacture, though Umslopogaas did not know where it came from, having taken it from the hand of a chief he had killed in battle many years before. It was not very heavy, the head weighing two and a half pounds, as nearly as I could judge. The cutting part was slightly concave in shape—not convex, as it generally the case with savage battleaxes—and sharp as a razor, measuring five and three-quarter inches across the widest part. From the back of the axe sprang a stout spike four inches long, for the last two of which it was hollow, and shaped like a leather punch, with an opening for anything forced into the hollow at the punch end to be pushed out above—in fact, in this respect it exactly resembled a butcher’s pole-axe. It was with this punch end, as we afterwards discovered, that Umslopogaas usually struck when fighting, driving a neat round hole in his adversary’s skull, and only using the broad cutting edge for a circular sweep, or sometimes in a melee. I think he considered the punch a neater and more sportsmanlike tool, and it was from his habit of pecking at his enemy with it that he got his name of ‘Woodpecker’. Certainly in his hands it was a terribly efficient one.

Such was Umslopogaas’ axe, Inkosi-kaas, the most remarkable and fatal hand-to-hand weapon that I ever saw, and one which he cherished as much as his own life. It scarcely ever left his hand except when he was eating, and then he always sat with it under his leg.”

Chapter IV, Alphonse and His Annette, Allan Quartermain

---

¹Umslopogaas was an old venerable Zulu warrior.

The Glorious Trees-A Host of Characters

“We would, from time to time, pay visits to the country seats at some of the great lords’ beautiful fortified places, and the villages clustering beneath their walls. Here we saw vineyards and corn-fields and well-kept park-like grounds, with such timber in them as filled me with delight, for I do love a good tree. There it stands so strong and sturdy, and yet so beautiful, a very type of the best sort of man. How proudly it lifts its bare head to the winter storms, and with what a full heart it rejoices when the spring has come again! How grand its voice is, too, when it talks with the wind: a thousand aeolian harps cannot equal the beauty of the sighing of a great tree in leaf. All day it points to the sunshine and all night to the stars, and thus passionless, and yet full of life, it endures through the centuries, come storm, come shine, drawing its sustenance from the cool bosom of its mother earth, and as the slow years roll by, learning the great mysteries of growth and of decay. And so on and on through generations, outliving individuals, customs, dynasties—all save the landscape it adorns and human nature—till the appointed day when the wind wins the long battle and rejoices over a reclaimed space, or decay puts the last stroke to his fungus-fingered work.

Ah, one should always think twice before one cuts down a tree!”

Chapter XV Sorais’ Song, Allan Quartermain, H. Rider Haggard

The Tree at The Mission Station

"In the centre of the square thus formed was, perhaps, the most remarkable object that we had yet seen in this charming place, and that was a single tree of the conifer tribe, varieties of which grow freely on the highlands of this part of Africa. This splendid tree, which Mr Mackenzie informed us was a landmark for fifty miles round, and which we had ourselves seen for the last forty miles of our journey, must have been nearly three hundred feet in height, the trunk measuring about sixteen feet in diameter at a yard from the ground. For some seventy feet it rose a beautiful tapering brown pillar without a single branch, but at that height splendid dark green boughs, which, looked at from below, had the appearance of gigantic fern-leaves, sprang out horizontally from the trunk, projecting right over the house and flower-garden, to both of which they furnished a grateful proportion of shade, without—being so high up—offering any impediment to the passage of light and air.

‘What a beautiful tree!’ exclaimed Sir Henry.'

‘That reminds me,’ I said, ‘the Consul at Lamu told me that he had had a letter from you, in which you said that a man had arrived here who reported that he had come across a white people in the interior. Do you think that there was any truth in his story? I ask, because I have once or twice in my life heard rumours from natives who have come down from the far north of the existence of such a race.’ ”

Chapter III Allan Quartermen, H. Rider Haggard

Human Nature is God’s Kaleidoscope

"Man’s cleverness is almost indefinite, and stretches like an elastic band, but human nature is like an iron ring. You can go round and round it, you can polish it highly, you can even flatten it a little on one side, whereby you will make it bulge out the other, but you will never, while the world endures and man is man, increase its total circumference. It is the one fixed unchangeable thing—fixed as the stars, more enduring than the mountains, as unalterable as the way of the Eternal. Human nature is God’s kaleidoscope, and the little bits of coloured glass which represent our passions, hopes, fears, joys, aspirations towards good and evil and what not, are turned in His mighty hand as surely and as certainly as it turns the stars, and continually fall into new patterns and combinations. But the composing elements remain the same, nor will there be one more bit of coloured glass nor one less for ever and ever."

Introduction, Allan Quartermen, H. Rider Haggard

The Curious Endnotes of the Allan Quatermain Novel

Endnote 1
Among the Zulus a man assumes the ring, which is made of a species of black gum twisted in with the hair, and polished a brilliant black, when he has reached a certain dignity and age, or is the husband of a sufficient number of wives. Till he is in a position to wear a ring he is looked on as a boy, though he may be thirty-five years of age, or even more.—A. Q.

Endnote 2
One of the fleetest of the African antelopes.—A. Q.

Endnote 3
Alluding to the Zulu custom of opening the stomach of a dead foe. They have a superstition that, if this is not done, as the body of their enemy swells up so will the bodies of those who killed him swell up.—A. Q.

Endnote 4
No doubt this owl was a wingless bird. I afterwards learnt that the hooting of an owl is a favourite signal among the Masai tribes.—A. Q.

Endnote 5
Since I saw the above I have examined hundreds of these swords, but have never been able to discover how the gold plates were inlaid in the fretwork. The armourers who make them in Zu-vendis bind themselves by oath not to reveal the secret.—A. Q.

Endnote 6
The Masai Elmoran or young warriors can own no property, so all the booty they may win in battle belongs to their fathers alone.—A. Q.

Endnote 7
As I think I have already said, one of Umslopogaas’s Zulu names was the ‘Woodpecker’. I could never make out why he was called so until I saw him in action with Inkosi-kaas, when I at once recognized the resemblance.—A. Q.

Endnote 8
By a sad coincidence, since the above was written by Mr Quatermain, the Masai have, in April 1886, massacred a missionary and his wife—Mr and Mrs Houghton—on this very Tana River, and at the spot described. These are, I believe, the first white people who are known to have fallen victims to this cruel tribe.—Editor.

Endnote 9
Mr Allan Quatermain misquotes—Pleasure sat at the helm.—Editor.

Endnote 10
Where Alph the sacred river ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea

Endnote 11
Mr Quatermain does not seem to have been aware that it is common for animal-worshipping people to annually sacrifice the beasts they adore. See Herodotus, ii. 45.—Editor.

Endnote 12
There is another theory which might account for the origin of the Zu-Vendi which does not seem to have struck my friend Mr Quatermain and his companions, and that is, that they are descendants of the Phoenicians. The cradle of the Phoenician race is supposed to have been on the western shore of the Persian Gulf. Thence, as there is good evidence to show, they emigrated in two streams, one of which took possession of the shores of Palestine, while the other is supposed by savants to have immigrated down the coast of Eastern Africa where, near Mozambique, signs and remains of their occupation are not wanting. Indeed, it would have been very extraordinary if they did not, when leaving the Persian Gulf, make straight for the East Coast, seeing that the north-east monsoon blows for six months in the year dead in that direction, while for the other six months it blows back again. And, by the way of illustrating the probability, I may add that to this day a very extensive trade is carried on between the Persian Gulf and Lamu and other East African ports as far south as Madagascar, which is of course the ancient Ebony Isle of the ‘Arabian Nights’.—Editor.

Endnote 13
There are twenty-two letters in the Phoenician alphabet (see Appendix, Maspero’s Histoire ancienne des peuples de l’Orient, p. 746, etc.) Unfortunately Mr Quatermain gives us no specimen of the Zu-Vendi writing, but what he here states seems to go a long way towards substantiating the theory advanced in the note on p. 149.—Editor.

Endnote 14
These are internal measurements.—A. Q.

Endnote 15
Light was also admitted by sliding shutters under the eaves of the dome and in the roof.—A. Q.

Endnote 16
This line is interesting as being one of the few allusions to be found in the Zu-Vendi ritual to a vague divine essence independent of the material splendour of the orb they worship. ‘Taia’, the word used here, has a very indeterminate meaning, and signifies essence, vital principle, spirit, or even God.

Endnote 17
Alluding to the Zulu custom.—A. Q.

Endnote 18
In Zu-Vendis members of the Royal House can only be married by the High Priest or a formally appointed deputy.—A. Q.

Endnote 19
Alluding to the Zu-Vendi custom of carrying dead officers on a framework of spears.

Endnote 20
The Zu-Vendi people do not use bows.—A. Q.

Endnote 21
Of course, the roof of the Temple, being so high, caught the light some time before the breaking of the dawn.—A. Q.

Endnote 22
Of course the Court of Probate would allow nothing of the sort.—Editor.

Endnote 23
It is suggested to me that this book is The Cruise of the “Falcon”, with which work I am personally unacquainted.

An Epitaph to Allan Quatermain - A Host of Characters

Sir Henry Curtis being with Quatermain to the end gives these remarks as an epitaph to his dear friend and comrade Allan Quatermain:

“And so passed away a character that I consider went as near perfection as any it has ever been my lot to encounter. Tender, constant, humorous, and possessing of many of the qualities that go to make a poet, he was yet almost unrivalled as a man of action and a citizen of the world. I never knew any one so competent to form an accurate judgment of men and their motives. ‘I have studied human nature all my life,’ he would say, ‘and I ought to know something about it, ‘and he certainly did.

He had but two faults--one was his excessive modesty, and the other a slight tendency which he had to be jealous of anybody on whom he concentrated his affections. As regards the first of these points, anybody who reads what he has written will be able to form his own opinion.”

Allan Quatermain, H. Rider Haggard

A Description of Allan Quatermain-A Host of Characters

“Imagine to yourself a small, withered, yellow-faced man of sixty-three, with thin hands, large brown eyes, a head of grizzled hair cut short and standing up like a half-worn scrubbing-brush—total weight in my clothes, nine stone six—and you will get a very fair idea of Allan Quatermain, commonly called Hunter Quatermain, or by the natives ‘Macumazahn’—Anglicè, he who keeps a bright look-out at night, or, in vulgar English, a sharp fellow who is not to be taken in.”

Allan Quatermain, H. Rider Haggard

A Fanciful Nautilus Design

When Jules Verne wrote his Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, he envisioned his nautilus in a rather conical design, it sort of resembled are large cigar. Not a very fanciful design at all. Disney came along and redesigned the Nautilus and gave it Victorian aspect. Although many have taken to envisioning what the Nautilus could have looked like. Some of the designs were rather fanciful like Disney’s, however the Disney design became one of the most popular. You might have seen miniatures, and scale models using this very design.

However, there is Nautilus design in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen that is even more fanciful than all others. It is big and ominous. It sports an orange livery and features several, what look like tentacles like a squid or octopus have. These tentacles do not seem to have any purpose except to give the vessel a frightful appearance. In addition, there is coat of arms of Captain Nemo, or should I say Prince Dakkar on the submarines conning tower and the vessel spouts water like a whale would from its blow hole.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Okay, I know I said that I probably would not get to this text any time soon, but I couldn't keep myself away from it. The story actually has a decent plot and is written in a most intelligent way. It holds your attention with its elements of adventure, melodrama, some adult content, and moments of tongue and cheek. I am finding the comic good reading and will be ordering the second and third volumes shortly.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

I received my copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume One in the mail today. I was a bit surprised by the medium in which it was published. I was expecting a normal comic book with thin pages and low resolution graphics, but the text is published on thick glossy pages and the graphics are colorful and vibrant.

I look forward to reading this volume. I am right in the middle of three other books at this time so I may not get to it for a little while. I will keep you updated.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

In preparation of my receiving my first The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comic book from Amazon, I have been doing some research into this topic and have come up with the following resources that might be of some benefit.

• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Wiki
Summarizes the plots of the different volumes and offers information about a few other fine resources.

• Extraordinary Gentlemen’s Journal Blog
There is even an Extraordinary Gentlemen’s Journal Blog. This site offers so much in the way of information about Extraordinary Gentlemen miniatures and other topics, as well.

• The Chaos Manifesto
The Chaos Manifesto offers up descriptions of the Extraordinary Gentlemen mentioned in the same. Click on the links to access peripheral information on other miniatures.