Pith Helmets, Sun Helmets, and Sola Topees – No Explorer Should Be Without One

Sun helmets are typically associated with explorers and high adventure, the military, colonial expansion and Victorian wars.  No early to middle 20^th century B movie about “The Dark Continent” or India was complete without kaki clad explorers or adventurers with pistol belt and sun helmet (jodhpurs and elephant gun optional).

The pith helmet holds a special place in the imagination; just put one on and you are transported to a world of high adventure in obscure and dangerous places.  The strong association of this piece of vintage headgear is so powerful that it has become a shorthand iconic image of the adventurer, explorer or colonial military soldier.

Sun helmets tentatively appear about the 1840s, originating in India but by the 1870s they have become so popular most major military powers had a sun helmet for issue to troops in tropical or desert climates.  Supporting civilian colonial employees also had sun helmets as well as common clerks, merchants, factors, and hangers-on.  Sun helmets continued to be common issue for the military from the middle Victorian era through WWII for most armies.  Sun helmets didn’t entirely end with WWII however, some countries continued to issue them such as US forces in Vietnam and interestingly enough, the North Vietnamese.

These sun helmets were made to protect the wearer from the heat and had another advantage:  when the helmet was doused with water, evaporation caused a cooling sensation.  Additional customizations were the use of neck curtains, to keep the neck from dangerous sunburn and a puggaree, which is a cloth wrapping that could be used to indentify the owner or military unit and other military insignia.  Grommet holes let out accumulated heat from the side and the top buttons often had side ventilation holes.  Generally, the helmets were covered with a white, off white or khaki colored material as darker colors tended to defeat the purpose of the sun helmet.  Inside they might be lined in the same colors or a dark color and they had a suspended sweat band and generally a chin strap.

The secret of the sun helmet’s success and popularity was its lightness and broad head coverage.  This was achieved by having a core of heat resistant insulation, which might be cork or a type of plant pith.  The common name for sun helmets in India is sola topee, later corrupted to solar topee.   Sola is an Indian swamp plant and sholapith is the Indian name for the easily formed, spongy material in the core of the plant, placed in the helmet as insulation.  It’s sometimes called Indian cork. 

Civilians took to sun helmets as quickly as the military.  The punishing sun of tropical and desert climates required a headgear that cut the sun’s rays and yet remained light.  As times changed, the sun helmet became simpler, later being made of a sheet pressed fiber or plastic, which left out the insulation for the consideration of cheapness of manufacture.  The fancy spikes on military helmets often also had ventilation holes.  Comfort, ease of manufacture and cheapness made sun helmets the best way to keep out heat stroke and sunburn. 

BlondeSwanHatBotique

You still occasionally see sun helmets in use other than for ceremonial guards; for example the polo players sun helmet, sun helmets worn by life guards, gardeners, and some outdoor workers.  The resurgence in historical reenacting and costuming has seen a boom in making original and historical sun helmets, so costuming is far easier than is was decades ago when you had to use fragile, original and expensive sun helmets as part of your costume.  Victorian RPGs and Call of Cthulhu are two types of role playing games where pith helmets are de rigor headgear, and of course Steampunk.

A hunter from the darkest wild

Sun helmets are de rigor for tropical or desert bound characters, heroes, and villains from popular matinee movie shorts like Jungle Jim, Rama of the Jungle and Republic serials. The sun helmet in graphic novels, movies and literature is still used commonly.  Consider the science fiction artist Mobius’ Major Gurbert with his French colonial sun helmet with the spike that is a radio antenna.  Consider also the mustachioed Victorian character Hunter Van Pelt from the film Jumanji waiving his steampunk gun around, and my favorite sola topee’d bad guy, Renee Belloq from Raiders of the Lost Ark, sporting his “Bombay bowler” – “Doctor Jones; again we see there is nothing you can possess which I cannot take away”.

UPDATE 2 May 2017: I have a new hat/helmet post -- Mr. Pratt’s Gun Hat or How to Be Fashionable But Deadly in the Trenches   http://coastconfan.blogspot.com/2017/05/mr-pratts-gun-hat-or-how-to-be.html

So hat up, adventurers and investigators, the sun’s up and the chase is on!

                                                                CoastConFan

Here are some additional links that you might enjoy:

A blog about hats and headgear: 

http://thefedorachronicles.com/vintagethreads/pith/index.html

US military sun helmets  http://www.nyc-techwriters.com/militaria/american_helmets3.htm

An excellent source of information on sun helmets and helmets in general try http://www.nyc-techwriters.com/militaria/helmets.htm

New blog entry added 28 April 2013:  Slouch Hats, Bush Hats, Big Game Hunters, and Explorers 

The Thoroughly Modern Lovecraftian Investigator’s Lab Circa 1925

Investigators need a place to gather for meetings and pass information.  Its all the better if they have a fully private place to meet where they can also store both information and equipment.  Less well-funded investigators might have to make do with a single room to dump their stuff and have a folding card table and chairs to same money and space.  But if they have plenty of cash, they can rent an entire floor of a building if not a whole building.  If you are RPGing Call of Cthulhu or the like in the mid 1920s, it might be difficult for modern players to imagine a real laboratory and office from that era so these period images might help.

I found these first four photos of an actual circa 1926 investigator’s lab in an old publication.  It is the lab of Harry Price, a famous and controversial paranormal investigator of the 20s and 30s.  His use of scientific standards and instruments in his investigations set a new level of professionalism for investigators.  I’m not sure how much Lovecraft knew about Harry Price’s investigations, but Price’s work was followed in the mainstream press and he became a bit of a grandstander, so I presume Lovecraft was at least aware of Price’s and his investigations.

These four photos are helpful but I suggest another room in the headquarters which would be a library reference room, which might also have communication equipment such as telephone, standard radio, ham radio, and if you are rich, a telegraph.  If you have a medical doctor or psychiatrist in your group, an examining room would be useful, with attendant lab for specimens.

A storage room is useful too.  That’s where you can put expedition gear and other equipment such as weapons, flashlights & etc.   If you are getting a basement or ground floor headquarters, a drive-in garage works great for loading and unloading, especially when you don’t want the neighbors seeing what you are hauling in or out.

The investigators headquarters/lab is limited by budget constraints and the game master needs to set realistic limits for the players for both a lair and equipment.  The above photos are for a full-blown investigators' lab that is fully funded and should be consider the absolute acme of a mid-20s lab and headquarters.

This period of role playing is challenging because you have to think and plan out your moves much more carefully due to slower communication, fairly good but slower transportation (aircraft are rare, especially commercial), and the basic information system was a book in a library.  You just can’t Google an item on your computer, call for help on your cell phone, use your GPS or night vision goggles or easily fly out to a remote location to check on a site.  You’ll simply have to use your head more.  The 1920s, in fact, was a technologically, communicatively, and transportation-wise much more advanced than just 30 years before, but it can be a little difficult for players and game masters who haven’t done their period research.  It’s a rich time of change and upheaval that I find fascinating which can be challenging and rewarding.  Happy gaming.                                CoastConFan

MOBICON XV – Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror & Anime

Mobicon is a science fiction, fantasy, horror, and anime convention held in Mobile Alabama annually.  This year it was held May 18-20, 2012 at the Asbury Hotel off of Airport Blv.  Attendance was up this year and there were lots of costumers and the game room was full.  They had belly dancers, cosplay, authors (Christopher Rice for one), an art room, and discussion panels. The costume contest had a bumper crop of participants and attendees. 

I really liked the energy this year at Mobicon.  You can feel the crackle of that fannish excitement the moment you walk into a convention.  Some have it and other don’t.  When you see a high proportion of attendees participating by costuming, you know you have a concentration of fannish energy.  I only attended Saturday, this time around and apparently from the photographs, that costuming energy was there on Friday too.  Sundays of course, are a bit more mellow.

I made this video for the enjoyment of fans who attended and for those who could not make it this time.  This video was compiled from the contributions of three photographers who attended Mobicon: Megan Ariel Mobley, Michael W. Moses, and Jason Putnoky. 

My thanks go out to all the fans and hard working staff that made Mobicon possible.  I’m still sorry at the loss of Wayne Hergenroder, a great driving force with Mobicon and the loss of Debbora Wiles, psychic and author (not Deborah Wiles, the children’s book author).

Here is an old Mobicon XI video I did a few years back, for those of you who missed it.

Here is the Nerdy Girl Anthem video.  It has some photos from previous Mobicons as well as CoastCon and OmegaCon

There is also a Studio 10 interview for Mobicon XIV at this link:  http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/studio10/happening_here/studio10-mobicon-xiv .

                                                                                                               CoastConFan

Attending Mobicon XV with The Mysterious Pussy the Cat

Kris Kuksi – Neo-Baroque Post-Postmodern Sculptor and Artist

The only evil you will see here is the historic evil of man and his creations.

Taking lessons from Pieter Bruegel the Elder and the overall Baroque and Rococco Eras, yet following his own path, Kris Kuksi’s new spin on “less is more” into “more is more” setting the Old World on it’s collective ear.  His iconic post-apocalypse look at modern times is set through the lens of the past using classical and western pop culture figures in a symbolist style that makes the monumental works of Gustave Moreau look austere.

I saw a few of his works several years back on the web and was highly impressed, but at the time the web just didn’t have a large selection of his art available.  The other day, while I was doing research on the kris (kreis), the wavy bladed daggers of Indonesia and Malaysia, his works began showing up in a Google images search because of name similarity.  Well, I found that there were a lot of Kris Kuksi images and the kris research got shelved while I enjoyed the decadent art sculpture of this genius.

I spent quite a while perusing his works and enjoying the infinite detail of the vignettes, so filled with baroque whimsy and grotesqueries lurking within his symbolist work.  His sculptures work on many levels – macro and micro.  Each scene correlates to another scene, which is a substratum of the overall thesis with absolutely no hint of hip irony that mars and so often passes as authentic critique.  The viewer is challenged to decide if humanity can change and learn from its mistakes or doomed forever to folly.

The utter richness of enunciation and depth of correlative symbolism in space and time references, leaves me speechless on the cunningness, artistry and the just plain artisanship of the works of this allegorical polyglot.  Interesting enough, I sense a hint of gentleness and naivete in all the grandeur, that keeps the works human.  Yes, this sounds rather gushy and it is.  I could get cliche too and say it is post postmodernism expressionism, but I'll leave that to the academics.

For me, I have an immediate visceral connection when I see his art.  You need not know western history, art history or have any kind of art background to enjoy his evocative works, but it helps.  I like to think of each figure or grouping like a haiku, grouped together in a book, like Matsuo Basho's works -- each poem standing alone, but forming a whole structure. 

I suggest to those interested to go to his website to see more images of his works and also consider his book, Divination and Delusion, ISBN:  978-0-9803231-3-9, which has 140 color pages of decadent enjoyment.  I had to work pretty hard to narrow down the images I wanted to use in this blog entry since space is limited. You really need to see more of his stuff.

                 CoastConFan

For more images, a bio, and other information I recommend his website: http://kuksi.com/

Another website that features many of his works: http://funguerilla.com/kris-kuksi/

A rare interview of Kuksi on deviantArt.com: http://gromyko.deviantart.com/journal/Interview-with-Kris-Kuksi-214218936

  Ill on a journey; 

        My dreams wander

             Over a withered moor.

                                                 Basho

--------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE:  24 May, 2012 -- I just found this YouTube video about Kris Kuksi.called Jushua Liner Gallery present Kris Kuksi's Imminent Utopia from 2008:

A Brief History of Trench Coats

From Macintosh to Burberry:  adventures, private eyes, military officers, and the fashionable trench coat.

The trench coat, in its present configuration, has been around for a just over a century now and they continue to be both fashionable and functional.  A trench coat is a medium weight single or double-breasted belted coat that is knee length or slightly longer.  They can be made of gabardine or of closely woven cotton and even leather.  Trench coats can also have a removable liner to make them lighter for milder weather.  Generally they function as a lightweight greatcoat and have the added benefit of being rain proof as well as a windbreaker for brisker weather.  They usually come in a variety of colors, although lighter colors are predominating, such as cream or fawn.

 Trench coats evolved from a need for a much lighter weight greatcoat that was also weatherproof.  The military in particular embraced the concept, although early on it was a private purchase item.  The civilian coat was militarized into the form we know now with epaulets and equipment d rings just before the First World War.  In fact, the term trench coat was coined in the First World War by troops, as it wasn’t military nomenclature to describe the handy coat.  By this time many European powers and the U.S. adopted the trench coat I the form we know.

The beginning of trench coat saga begins with Aquascutum in the 1850s, claiming to have come up with the clothing item, although their coat wasn’t quite the trench coat we have come to know.  It wasn’t until the invention of gabardine a hundred years ago by Burberry, that the coats became the lightweight accessory we now know and love.  Previously, there were coats treated with rubber and other waterproofing along with having a tight weave fabric.  The new gabardine coats pretty much replaced the oilcloth dusters and rubberized raincoats of the 19^th century.

Although the British military had made the trench coat an acceptable military item as early as 1901, it was still private purchase.  When World War One began, trench coats were in high demand.  Even America caught trench coat mania and stocks disappeared as fast as they could be made and shipped.  Arising out of the horrors of the trenches, the trench coat became an acceptable item for everyday civilian wear, even to this day.  Dealers in outdoor and adventure equipment such as Harrods and Abercrombie and Fitch (founded 1892) carried trench coats along with other adventure gear.

 

Wearing a trench coat meant that you might have military experience or was prepared for every eventuality from foul weather to foul deeds.  The pulp writers picked up on trench coat mania and ground out endless stories of trench coast clad private eyes and adventurers.   

Even Tintin, the Hergé comic book hero, often wears a trench coat.  Film also celebrated the trench coat and it’s no nonsense image, by having both heroes and villains wearing them along with snap-brim fedoras.  Trench coats could also mean menace and not only with P.I.s but spies as well.  An aura of mystery and danger surrounded the trench coat.  Consider that the popular cartoon character Carmen Sandiego sports a trench coat and matching fedora as a modern illustration of danger in a trench coat and intrigue.

For you H. P. Lovecraft fans, Burberry gabardine clothing was worn by polar explorers including Roald Amundsen, the first man to reach the South Pole, and Ernest Shackleton, who led a 1914 expedition to cross Antarctica.  George Mallory wore a gabardine jacket on his attempt on Mount Everest in 1924.  I can only imagine that Miskatonic Antarctic Expedition would be using the same garb in their trek to the Mountains of Madness.  

                                                CoastConFan

Image and patch by Propnomicon

  

Updates:  see the post on fedora hats, 2 July 2012

See post about slouch hats, 28 April 2014,

Slouch Hats, Bush Hats, Big Game Hunters, and Explorers

Dragon Sculpture BBQ Grill

Not for the faint of heart or the faint of pocketbook

 

Here is a bit of heavy metal for you backyard warriors.  It’s a steel sculpture BBQ grill by master metal fabricator and artist Ed McBride.  Rather than running on dragon’s breath, this creature belches flaming propane to cook his goods.  Hank Hill would be so proud.  His works are crafted from steel segments welded together and set on it’s own medieval dolly.  I don’t have any estimates on weight, but both size and mass preclude putting it in your car’s trunk.

So far, Ed McBride has made three of these ingenious devices, but they aren’t cheap.  The first was shown at the 33^rd Annual Hunter’s Convention put on by Safari Club International in 2005.  The functional and original dragon cooker sold for $65,000.

The second dragon BBQ cooker is nine feet tall and was ten feet wide (wingspan).  Not content with one dragon, it had a second smaller dragon breathing fire between the feet of the big one.  The little fellow heats a dutch oven for beans and the like. The asking price for this behemoth is $90,000 but it does have stage presence (top picture).

The most recent dragon BBQ is a bit smaller and is only six feet tall and wide, which makes it perfect for your backyard cookout. It was completed in 2009 and the list price is $40,000 (left)

Welding metal monsters is not all McBride does.  He also paints, sculpts, and produces other works like his nature-inspired steel saw art artifacts.  Hopefully he will also make some H. P.Lovecraft inspired Cthulhu works as well.

Please take time out and visit his website.  As for me, I’m hoping to win the lottery and replace my ho hum grill with something more interesting.   Below is my humble portable grill, purchased last week at a discount house.  Behind, you’ll notice Jack, my pet velociraptor who is clearly ready to start a cookout.

                                                                                                    CoastConFan

100th Anniversary of the Titanic Sinking and Its Forgotten Precursors

The Kaiser Wilhelm, which set trends which others struggled to attain or surpass.

Yesterday was the 100^th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic.  It’s a story pretty well known to most people so the Titanic link will fill in anybody who doesn’t know the story.   A lesser-known story is that the Titanic and others were created to steal the glory from the Germans with their fast luxury ships and near-decade of domination of the Atlantic speed record.

Set the Wayback Machine and jump back to 1897 and the launching of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Große a ship of the Norddeutscher Lloyd Line, the first of the Kaiser class ships.  It had a several firsts that the other liners envied and copied.  For example, it was the first liner to have four funnels.  Since the steam driven Victorians seemed to equate smokestacks with power, the Kaiser Wilhelm sported four, more than anybody else and set a new trend.  Never mind that two of the smoke stacks were unnecessary, it’s on the same principal as having a noisy muffler on a car:  it must be fast, look at all the noise it makes.  By the way, the Titanic also had four funnels, only one of which was fake, keeping to the trend of more smokestacks make for a faster, more powerful and safer ship as well as keeping up appearances.

The Kaiser Wilhelm didn’t need a playing card in the spokes to make it seem to go faster, it was faster.  In fact, it held the world record for Atlantic crossing from 1898 and holding the coveted Blue Riband until 1900 until it lost the title the Deutschland of the Hamburg Amerika Line.  German ships held the Blue Riband from 1898 to 1907.  Losing to the British Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania in 1907, which has it’s own tragic history and controversy in connection to WWI, being sunk less than a year after the Kaiser Wilhelm.

The ship was comfortable and luxurious too.  Although fast, the engines were couched with shock absorbers so that the ship would not shake unduly while under steam, ensuring a comfortable, but swift ride.  The engines were two massive triple expansion reciprocating engines and sported two propellers, which could act independently, adding to power and maneuverability.  The Kaiser Wilhelm record-breaking speed over a trans-Atlantic trip averaged 22.09 miles per hour over five days and 20 hours.

Another first was the installation of the new wireless Marconicommunication system that allowed the use of telegraph signals anywhere, which increased safety and security.  It was the first one on a commercial vessel, installed February 1900.  As an aside, an Arsène Lupin story, features just such a communications system as plot device on a pleasure cruiser, in the story The Arrest of Arsène Lupin from the collection of short stories by Maurice LeBlanc, called Arsène Lupin Gentleman-Cambrioleur published in 1906.

To get around military arms treaty limits on military vessels, Germany made sure that many of their ships could be converted quickly and easily to military roles.  The Kaiser Wilhelm had been built for just such an eventuality, with areas predesignated for cannon mounts and ammunition magazines.  When the order came to arm, many of Germany’s civilian ships could be converted to warships, supply vessels and troopships easily.   The British also had the same scheme, as in the case of the Lusitania, which although never armed, carried military supplies and arms.

When war was declared in August of 1914, the Kaiser Wilhelm was set up as a weapon of war, rather than a pleasure vessel.  It was armed with six four-inch guns and two 37mm cannon and painted in military black & gray.  With its speed and range, it was a perfect commerce raider.  Captain Max Reymann of the Imperial German Navy, commanded the war vessel and conducted himself with all the rules of Victorian chivalry.   The Kaiser Wilhelm sank three ships in short order, but the crews were allowed to escape before being sunk.  In fact, Capt Reymann came across two enemy liners, but declined to sink them because of the large number of women and children aboard the vessels. 

Needing to refill her coalbunkers, she approached the west coast of Africa; she went to Rio de Oro a neutral port.   Prisoners and other survivors of the sinkings were released at that time and reprovisioning began..  The recoaling was still going on when a British warship appeared, the obsolete, but still formidable, HMS Highflyer.  Although low on ammunition and not fully recoaled, the Kaiser Wilhelm sailed out to battle the British on the 26^th of August, less than a month after war was declared.

Accounts vary greatly about the Battle of Rio del Oro.  The Kaiser Wilhelm soon exhausted her scanty ammunition and Captain Reymann ordered the Kaiser Wilhelm destroyed rather than surrender.  After the crew abandoned ship, pre-placed scuttling explosives were set off, blowing a hole in the side of the ship and it capsized quickly and sank.  Conversely, the British record indicated that the Kaiser Wilhelm had been badly damaged in battle with the HMS Highflyer, when it was abandoned by the crew.  Nobody has yet sorted out which story is true, but clearly the Kaiser Wilhelm had little armor and we know that they were nearly out of ammunition when they entered battle.  The HMS Highflyer was an armored warship with more guns as well as having torpedo tubes.

Captain Reymann swam to shore and in disguise worked as a common stoker on a neutral ship and made his way back to Germany.   I did a good deal of on line research but could not find much further information about Capt Max Reymann. On a list of Chef des Stabs of the Marinestations, Kapitän zur See Max Reymann (26 Sep 1919-16 Mar 1920) is listed but nothing more.  The Kaiser Wilhelm lay on the bottom until 1952 when it was salvaged and broken up for scrap, taking away any evidence and chance of determining the true end of the ocean liner and commerce raider.

So on the 100^th anniversary to the Titanic sinking, I took a little time out to talk about the ship that started the trend of fast, super luxury liners, way back in 1897, but forgotten by all but a few, while the Titanic is one of the most celebrated vessels in memory.  I cannot afford an authentic object from the Titanic, but I do have an original hat tally from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Große, the ship that started it all.  I wonder if anybody will remember the 100^th Anniversary of the sinking of the Kaiser Wilhelm der Große, 26^th August 2014, 4:45 p.m. off the coasts of Africa or will it simply pass on quietly.       
                                                                                         CoastConFan

Other useful links:

Collecting hat tallies   http://southcoastantiques.blogspot.com/2012/03/collecting-naval-hat-tallies.html

Early radio   http://earlyradiohistory.us/1899marc.htm

http://oceanlinerblog.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/famous-four-stackers-ss-kaiser-wilhelm-der-grosse/

http://www.thegreatoceanliners.com/kwdg.html

http://www.simplonpc.co.uk/NDL1.html

http://www.greatships.net/kwilhelmdergrosse.html

http://www.maritimequest.com/liners/kaiser_wilhelm_der_grosse/kaiser_wilhelm_der_grosse.htm

Maurice LeBlanc’s copyright free works can be downloaded for free on the web.

John Carter: the Movie, the Reality, and the Fan

How a story written in 1912 could seem so fresh today.

The other night I went to see John Carter, a movie treatment of several of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars novels.  Originally, I was trepidatious at best, with yet another Hollywood treatment of a beloved classic.  Face it, Hollywood has seldom done other than to mangle, misinterpret, and maul favorite science fiction stories.  The trailer did nothing to change my mind, with its endless hard cuts to CGI explosions and three second action sequences piled on each other.

However, a strange thing happened.  All my friends, those whom I trusted for their judgment, urged me to see the film and lauded it as a better than passable product.  Sure that this was some early April Fool’s Day joke, I went to see John Carter and was pretty pleased with the result that I was pleasantly surprised.

First, let’s take into account first of all that Princess of Mars was published in 1912 (that's a century ago) and therefore was pre-cliché because Burroughs created the alien world genre.  Burroughs not only had a story about planetary travel and encounter, but the aliens were believable and fully filled out as characters.   Although the film grazed information for a couple of different books and added an unnecessary backstory, it still managed to work fairly well.  The Tharks, specifically, Tars Tarkas and family, really had a lot of nuance and character for CGI figures.  Uh, lets don’t forget Woola either, he had lots of heart and many legs.

I’d like to retract my earlier skepticisms, and give an endorsement to this Mars movie.  Despite a few flaws and Hollywoodizations, the film comes off as a good reflection of this 80 plus year old classic.  By the way, I made a blog entry about John Carter back last summer, on 26 September 2011, that might prove to be good reading to Burroughs fans.  Interestingly enough, the entry made well before the movie release still holds up in the light of the movie.

John Cater was pretty heavily panned by film critics because of its obsolete heroic style and clichés.  Princess of Mars and the other subsequent books of the series pretty much predated most of what we consider golden age Science Fiction, it was from these books and others of this vintage that the clichés were created.  For those of you who want to read Edgar Rice Burroughs' works which are now copyright-free and available for download, here are the URLs from Project Gutenberg.        
                                                                                   CoastConFan
Just click and enjoy.                       

A Princess of Mars

Gods of Mars

Warlord of Mars

Thuvia, Maid of Mars

Chessmen of Mars
if you don't like Mars, try the center of the earth: 

Pellucidar