Ragnarok : the age of fire and gravel, str. 390

380 CONCLUSIONS.

Hindoo legends refer, (see page 238, ante) : on its top was heayen, Olympus ; below it was hell, where the Asuras, the comets, dwelt ; and between was Meru, (Mero Merou,) the land of the Meropes, Atlantis.

The Asas were clearly a human race of noble and godlike qualities. The proof of this is that they perished in Ragnarok ; they were mortal. They rode over the bridge every day going from heaven, the heavenly land, to the earth, Europe.

We read on:

“Kormt and Ormt, And the two Kerlaugs ; These shall Thor wade Every day, When he goes to judge Near the Yegdrasil ash ; For the Asa-bridge Burns all ablazeThe holy waters roar.” *

These rivers, Kormt and Ormt and the two Kerlaugs, were probably breaks in the long ridge, where it had gradually subsided into the sea. The Asa-bridge was, very likely, dotted with volcanoes, as the islands of the Atlantic are to this day.

“Then answered Ganglere, ‘Does fire burn oyer Bifrost?’ Har answered: ‘The red which you see in the rainbow is burning fire. The frost-giants and the mountain-giants would go up to heaven if Bifrost were passable for all who desired to go there. Many fair places are there in heaven, and they are protected by a divine defense.’ ”

We have just seen (p. 371, ante) that the home of the godlike race, the Asas, to wit, heaven, Asgard, was surrounded by the ocean, was therefore an island; and that around the outer margin of this ocean, the Atlantic,

* Elder Edda, “ Grimner’s Lay,” 29.