Across the Zodiac (30 page)

As we were watching them, Eveena, wrapped in a cloak of fur not a
little resembling that of the silver fox, but far softer, stole her
hand into mine and whispered a request that I would lend her the
instrument I was using. With some instruction and help she contrived
to adjust it, her sight requiring a decided alteration of the focus
and an approach of the two eye-pieces; the eyes of her race being set
somewhat nearer than in an average Aryan countenance. She expressed no
little surprise at the clearness of definition, and the marked
enlargement of the discs of the two satellites, and would have used
the instrument to scan the stars and visible planets had I not
insisted on her retirement; the light atmosphere, as is always the
case on clear nights, when no cloud-veil prevents rapid radiation from
the surface, being bitterly cold, and her life not having accustomed
her to the night air even in the most genial season.

As we could, of course, see nothing of the country through which we
passed during the night, and as Esmo informed me that little or
nothing of special interest would occur during this part of our
voyage, our vessel went at full speed, her pilot being thoroughly
acquainted with the river, and an electric light in the bow enabling
him to steer with perfect confidence and safety. When, therefore, we
came on deck after the dissipation of the morning mist, we found
ourselves in a scene very different from that which we had left. Our
course was north by west. On either bank lay a country cultivated
indeed, but chiefly pastoral, producing a rich herbage, grazed by
innumerable herds, among which I observed with interest several flocks
of large birds, kept, as Esmo informed me, partly for their plumage.
This presented remarkable combinations of colour, far surpassing in
brilliancy and in variety of pattern the tail of the peacock, and
often rivalling in length and delicacy, while exceeding in beauty of
colouring, the splendid feathers which must have embarrassed the Bird
of Paradise, even before they rendered him an object of pursuit by
those who have learnt the vices and are eager to purchase the wares of
civilised man. Immediately across our course, at a distance of some
thirty miles, stretched a range of mountains. I inquired of Esmo how
the river turned in order to avoid them, since no opening was visible
even through my glass.

"The proper course of the river," he said, "lies at the foot of those
hills. But this would take us out of our road, and, moreover, the
stream is not navigable for many stoloi above the turning-point. We
shall hold on nearly in the same direction as the present till we land
at their foot."

"And how," I said, "are we to cross them?"

"At your choice, either by carriage or by balloon," he said. "There is
at our landing-place a town in which we shall easily procure either."

"But," said I, "though our luggage is far less heavy than would be
that of a bride on Earth, and Eveena's forms the smallest portion of
it, I should fancy that it must be inconveniently heavy for a
balloon."

"Certainly," he replied; "but we could send it by carriage even over
the mountain roads. The boat, however, will go on, and will meet us
some thirty miles beyond the point where we leave it."

"And how is the boat to pass over the hills?"

"Not over, but under," he said, smiling. "There is no natural passage
entirely through the range, but there is within it a valley the bottom
of which is not much higher than this plain. Of the thirty miles to be
traversed, about one-half lies in the course of this valley, along
which an artificial canal has been made. Through the hills at either
end a tunnel has been cut, the one of six, the other of about nine
miles in length, affording a perfectly safe and easy course for the
boat; and it is through these that nearly all the heavy traffic
passing in this direction is conveyed."

"I should like," I said, "if it be possible, to pass through one at
least of these tunnels, unless there be on the mountains themselves
something especially worth seeing."

"Nothing," he replied. "They are low, none much exceeding the height
of that from which you descended."

Eveena now joined us on deck, and we amused ourselves for the next two
hours in observing the different animals, of which such numbers were
to be seen at every turn, domesticated and trained for one or other of
the many methods in which the brutes can serve the convenience, the
sustenance, or the luxury of man. Animal food is eaten on Mars; but
the flesh of birds and fish is much more largely employed than that of
quadrupeds, and eggs and milk enter into the cuisine far more
extensively than either. In fact, flesh and fish are used much as they
seem to have been in the earlier period of Greek civilisation, as
relish and supplement to fruits, vegetables, and farinaceous dishes,
rather than as the principal element of food. As their training and
their extreme tameness indicate, domestic creatures, even those
destined only to serve as food or to furnish clothing, are treated not
indeed with tenderness, but with gentleness, and without either the
neglect or the cruelty which so revolt humane men in witnessing the
treatment of Terrestrial animals by those who have personal charge of
them. To describe any considerable number of the hundred forms I saw
during this short period would be impossible. I have drawings, or
rather pictures, of most, taken by the light-painting process, which I
hope herewith to remit to Earth, and which at least serve to give a
general idea of the points in which the Martial chiefly differs from
the Terrestrial fauna. Those animals whose coats furnish a textile
fibre more resemble reindeer and goats than sheep; their wool is
softer, longer, and less curly, free also from the greasiness of the
sheep.

It seemed to me that an extreme quaintness characterised the domestic
creatures kept for special purposes. This was not the effect of mere
novelty, for animals like the
ambâ
and birds like the
esve
,
trained to the performance of services congenial to their natural
habits, however dissimilar to Terrestrial species, had not the same
air of singularity, or rather of monstrosity. But in the creatures
bred to furnish wool, feathers, or the like, some single feature was
always exaggerated into disproportionate dimensions. Thus the
elnerve
is loaded with long plumes, sometimes twice the length of
the body, and curled upward at the extremity, so that it can neither
fly nor run; and though its plumage is exquisitely beautiful, the
creature itself is simply ludicrous. It bears the same popular repute
for sagacity as the goose of European farmyards. The
angasto
has
hair or wool so long that its limbs are almost hidden, just before
shearing-time, in the tresses that hang from the body half way to the
ground. The
calperze
, a bird no larger than a Norfolk turkey, has
the hinder part developed to an enormous size, so that the graceful
peacock-like neck and shoulders appear as if lost in the huge
proportions of the body, and the little wings are totally unfit to
raise it in the air; while it lays almost daily eggs as large as those
of the ostrich and of peculiar richness and flavour. Nearly all the
domestic birds kept for the sake of eggs or feathers have wings that
look as if they had been clipped, and are incapable of flight.
Creatures valued for their flesh, such as the
quorno
(somewhat like
the eland, but with the single horn so common among its congeners in
Mars, and with a soft white hide), and the
viste
, a bird about the
size of the peacock, with the form of the partridge and the flavour of
grouse or black game, preserve more natural proportions. The
wing-quills of the latter, however, having been systematically plucked
for hundreds of generations, are now dwarfed and useless. These
animals are not encouraged to make fat on the one hand, or to develop
powerful muscles and sinews on the other. They are fed for part of the
year on the higher and thinner pastures of the mountains. When brought
down to the meadows of the plain, they are allowed to graze only for a
few hours before sunset and after sunrise. They thus preserve much of
the flavour of game or mountain sheep and cattle, which the oxen and
poultry of Europe have lost; flavour, not quantity, being the chief
object of care with Martial graziers. Sometimes, however, some
peculiarity perfectly useless, or even inconvenient, appears to be
naturally associated with that which is artificially developed. Thus
the beak of the
elnerve
is weak and often splits, so as to render
its rearing troublesome and entail considerable losses; while the
horns of the wool-bearing animals are long and strong enough to be
formidable, but so rough and coarsely grained that they are turned to
no account for use or ornament.

We were rapidly approaching the foot of the hills, where the river
made another and abrupt turn. At this point the produce of the whole
upper valley is generally embarked, and supplies from all other
quarters are here received and distributed. In consequence, a town
large and important for this planet, where no one who can help it
prefers the crowded street to the freedom and expanse of the country,
had grown up, with about a hundred and fifty houses, and perhaps a
thousand inhabitants. It was so much matter of course that voyagers
should disembark to cross the hills or to pursue their journey along
the upper part of the river by road, that half-a-dozen different
partnerships made it their business to assist in the transfer of
passengers and light wares. Ahead of us was a somewhat steep
hill-slope, in the lower part of which a wall absolutely perpendicular
had been cut by those who pierced the tunnel, the mouth of which was
now clearly visible immediately before us. It was about twelve feet in
height, and perhaps twenty feet in width. The stream, which, like
nearly all Martial rivers, is wide and shallow, had during the last
fifty miles of our course grown narrower, with a depth at the same
time constantly lessening, so that some care was required on the part
of the pilot to avoid running aground. A stream of twenty inches in
depth, affording room for two boats to pass abreast, is considered
navigable for vessels only carrying passengers; thirty inches are
required to afford a course which for heavy freight is preferable to
the road. Eveena had taken it for granted that we should disembark
here, and it was not till we had come within a hundred yards of the
landing-place—where the bank was perpendicular and levelled to a
height above the water, which enabled passengers to step directly from
the deck of the boat—without slackening our speed, that the
possibility of our intending to accompany the boat on its subterrene
course occurred to her. As she did not speak, but merely drew closer
to me, and held fast my hand, I had no idea of her real distress till
we were actually at the mouth of the black and very frightful-looking
passage, and the pilot had lighted the electric lamp. As the boat shot
under the arch she could not repress a cry of terror. Naturally
putting my arm round her at this sign of alarm, I felt that she was
trembling violently, and a single look, despite her veil, convinced me
that she was crying, though in silence and doing her utmost to conceal
her tears.

"Are you so frightened, child?" I asked. "I have been through many
subterranean passages, though none so long and dark as this. But you
see our lamp lights up not only the boat but the whole vault around
and before us, and there can be no danger whatever."

"I am frightened, though," she said, "I cannot help it. I never saw
anything of the kind before; and the darkness behind and before us,
and the black water on either side, do make me shiver."

"Stop!" I called to the boatman.

"Now, Eveena," I said, "I do not care to persist in this journey if it
really distresses you. I wished to see so wonderful a work of
engineering; but, after all, I have been in a much uglier and more
wonderful place, and I can see nothing here stranger than when I was
rowed for three-quarters of a mile on the river in the Mammoth Cave.
In any case I shall see little but a continuation of what I see
already; so if you cannot bear it, we will go back."

By this time Esmo, who had been in the bows, had joined us, wishing to
know why I had stopped the boat.

"This child," I said, "is not used to travelling, and the tunnel
frightens her; so that I think, after all, we had better take the
usual course across the mountains."

"Nonsense!" he answered. "There is no danger here; less probably than
in an ordinary drive, certainly less than in a balloon. Don't spoil
her, my friend. If you begin by yielding to so silly a caprice as
this, you will end by breaking her heart before the two years are
out."

"Do go on," whispered Eveena. "I was very silly; I am not so
frightened now, and if you will hold me fast, I will not misbehave
again."

Esmo had taken the matter out of my hands, desiring the boatman to
proceed; and though I sympathised with my bride's feminine terror much
more than her father appeared to do, I was selfishly anxious, in spite
of my declaration that there could be no novelty in this tunnel, to
see one thing certainly original—the means by which so narrow and so
long a passage could be efficiently ventilated. The least I could do,
however, was to appease Eveena's fear before turning my attention to
the objects of my own curiosity. The presence of physical strength,
which seemed to her superhuman, produced upon her nerves the quieting
effect which, however irrationally, great bodily force always
exercises over women; partly, perhaps, from the awe it seems to
inspire, partly from a yet more unreasonable but instinctive reliance
on its protection even in dangers against which it is obviously
unavailing.

Presently a current of air, distinctly warmer than that of the tunnel,
which had been gradually increasing in force for some minutes, became
so powerful that I could no longer suppose it accidental. Kevimâ being
near us, I asked him what it meant.