A Visit to Sauri Page 5

  CHAPTER IV

  Certain Traits Are Universal

  "Before speaking of these amusements of the Suarians, I must tell you something of their strange characters and habits. Though they are so filled with conceit that they imagine themselves the superiors of all other races, even the superiors of all beings in the universe, and though they boast that they rule Suari, yet do their females rule them, and the strongest submit to the rule of weak, illiterate, unintelligent beings. Still, in a way, the whites do rule Suari, for so loudly do they cry out to all that they are the lords of their planet, that the others are made to believe it to be the truth and so submit to their wills. And though during my stay on Suari I lived for most of the time amidst these whites and mingled with all kinds, yet never could I learn why they should be so exalted in their opinions of themselves.

  "Of all the inhabitants of Suari, they are the most superficial, the most artificial, the most inconsequential, the most illogical and paradoxical. They are as aimless in their lives as butterflies, as casual as drifting leaves. Like hordes of ants they scurry about, rushing madly to save a minute of time, yet in the midst of this wild bustle they will stop and gaze for hours upon some simple childish thing. Their lives are one ceaseless round of toil, for so primitive are they and so badly organized and so jealous of one another that they must toil to live. But even when by toil they have gathered more of the metal discs than they can use in their lives, yet do they continue to toil, working to live and living to work, but constantly crying out for a rest, for a chance to live without thus toiling. Yet when they cease for a space to labor, they entertain themselves by toiling. Even when, weary with the labor of day, they have a chance to rest, they spend the night rushing about, each male with a female, in great crowds, running and prancing over a floor, though they do not win the metal discs by so doing. Or when there is no need of toil, they will hurry and pant for great distances in the hottest sun, laboring to strike a small globule with a crooked stick, or perchance with their feet kicking an object about and fighting amongst themselves, or striking a ball with a club and then dashing swiftly away trying to outpace the ball. Always they are laboring, even fighting to outdo something, even if by so doing nothing is gained. They strive and labor to outdo one another, and each toils to win more of the metal discs than the others, and they take great joy in watching two of their fellows struggle and fight with their hands until one outdoes the other and thereby wins vast stores of the metal discs and bits of paper they prize so greatly.

  "To these beings of Suari nothing seems to afford so much pleasure and interest as for some one of them to outdo some other one, yet it is a foolish and ridiculous thing, for always, as fast as one outdoes another, so, surely, another will outdo that one. They even force the four-footed beings to strive to outdo one another, and because these beings are more intelligent and are superior to the others, and will not waste their strength by foolishly laboring to surpass one another, the two-legged beings mount upon their backs and beat and force them to do their bidding.

  Often times too, these Suarians will remain for many hours seated at tables and passing bits of colored paper from hand to hand, and going without needed rest and sleep in a mad attempt to outdo one another in securing certain of the bits of paper. Many other strange ways do they have of occupying themselves, yet one of the strangest is that they will flock in great herds unto certain cubicles of large size, and will give up stores of the metal discs to gaze at certain of their fellows, both males and females, who standing upon a platform, do and say exactly the same things that these beings do each day. Moreover, when these beings cannot see their fellows thus repeating their actions and their words, they will flock to other places wherein are pictures of beings doing the same things. These pictures were at first a great puzzle to me, for I thought that they were reality and were like unto our vision-disseminators, for they both moved and spoke. But soon I found they were accomplished by means of machines, and though cleverly managed, were not real but merely images that were made to appear at will. Very often both the beings who appear upon the platforms, as well as the pictured beings, do and say things that are in violation of the laws, whereas those who watch show great pleasure and shout aloud and strike their hands together in delight, for so illogical are they that though they may make laws and may punish those who transgress them, yet ever are they overjoyed to see the laws broken. Yet in this are they no more illogical than in many other ways. Thus while they will give many discs to be delighted and made happy, they will give an equal number to be made sad, and of their own will they will gaze upon sights or will harken to musk and because of these will weep and will find joy in weeping, which led me to feel at times that these strange beings are all imbeciles.

  "Yet they do most amazing things and perform feats that we of Sonko-Huara cannot equal. They can project their voices and all other sounds for vast distances through the air and it was these that we heard here in Sonko-Huara, as I surmised, this being done by some means akin to the manner in which I transported myself to Suari and back. By devices which I do not fully comprehend even yet, the beings alter the sounds to electronic forces, by a reversal of the process transform the forces into sounds, just as I may change a solid body into free electrons, and then may reform the free electrons to reproduce the original body.

  "And though they have never learned the secrets of our vision-disseminators and audio-extensors nor of our projectors by means of which we may move swiftly from spot to spot and may hear the voices and see the forms of others at great distances, and though they have not yet learned to draw all power, all sustenance and all that is needed for life directly from the sunshine and the atmosphere, yet they have devices that serve many purposes and that are unknown to us. Perchance, by the time their planet has been exhausted, as has Sonko-Huara, and the Suarians have by necessity been forced to develop their intelligences and have cast aside the foolish and inconsequential things, and have learned that uniformity of purpose, thought and act is essential to existence, they may reach to a plane comparable to ours at this time. I have already told you of the strange machines that rush over the earth and by means of which they move from place to place. In addition, they have other great machines that can move only upon metal rods laid upon the earth, and they possess immense projectorlike devices that fly through the air.

  "Unlike our projectors that may remain poised at any height and which are operated by the atomic power, these draw their power from fuel burned within them, and if by chance the fuel is exhausted or if any portion of the mechanism goes wrong, they crash to the ground and are destroyed.

  "It is written in our histories that our ancestors, some thousand Chukitis in the past, used similar means for traveling, and so it is possible that a thousand Chukitis hence the Suarians may learn to make projectors. But Suari, being so much greater than Sonko-Huara and hence with greater body-attraction, presents problems that we of Sonko-Huara do not face. Thus upon Suari there are, as all know, great bodies of water, and to cross these and to go from place to place separated by them, the beings use immense machines, carrying vast numbers of Suarians, that move swiftly upon the surface of the water and do not sink within it even though they are made of metal heavier than the water. This to us of Sonko-Huara seems more wonderful than would our projectors or our vision-disseminators to the Suarians, for we, having no great masses of water, and no need to cross such, know little of such matters, and in all things pertaining to water, the beings of Suari are in advance of us. Yet could I, even with my ignorance of such things, see plainly that in all these matters as in everything else the Suarians waste far more than they use, and do many things for the benefit of their own pride and pleasure rather than for the benefit of the race and posterity as a whole. Thus the structures in which they dwell and which, clustered together, form those spots that we of Sonko-Huara long ago recognized as made by intelligent beings, are often made of vast size and beauty, towering unto the skies, whereas for the purposes of the
beings' lives and labors no beauty is required, and cubicles of no greater height than would accommodate the beings would serve as well. For that matter, such small structures, separately placed, would serve better, and with the sunshine and the air would greatly preserve the health of the dwellers within. Yet in their self-pride and glory the beings will erect the great structures and will nest them together by thousands, thus shutting off the sunshine and air and rendering their dwelling places as dark and noisome as caverns in the earth. And the material that is needed to make such great structures would serve to make many thousand smaller cubicles for those beings who have not enough of the metal discs to obtain shelter. On the other hand, so commercial are the minds of these beings, so fixed on matters that result only in gain to themselves, so selfish in their attitude, that science is regarded with little respect and often with scorn. And those beings who have amassed great quantities of the metal they crave will give freely of what they have for such pleasures as they desire, but will bestow none upon those beings who delve in the mysteries of science and who devote their lives to the betterment of others by studies and by writings. There are some few who will bestow their discs in this way, else all the Suarian scientists and those of great intelligence would succumb.

  "Yet even the scientists are ever filled with the conceit that possesses the two-legged inhabitants of Suari, and most of all, the whites.

  "Though they possess means of studying the planets, and have devoted much time to studying our own Sonko-Huara, yet they know nothing in regard to them. Those signals that we of Sonko-Huara arranged to draw their eyes and to let them know that our planet was inhabited, were seen by those on Suari, yet they deemed them not signals—feeling assured no beings more intelligent than themselves could dwell here—that our signals were but natural formations. And then to apprize whatever beings might dwell on Sonko-Huara that more intelligent beings inhabited Suari, they caused great numbers of lights to be placed at night—which we saw—meaningless things carrying no message. And having projected their voices into space and having received no response (for they stupidly failed to arrange for replies and even failed to let us know they were striving to communicate with us) they decided that there were no intelligent beings.

  "So conceited are they and so filled with their own importance and the belief that they are lords not only of Suari but of all the Universe, that they cannot conceive of any other form of intelligent beings. To them the denizens of Sonko-Huara or of any planet, must be like themselves—with but two legs and two arms, the same bodies, heads and features—or, in the minds of some few, perchance like certain four or six-legged creatures of Suari.

  "And nothing can convince them of the contrary, nor can they be convinced that an inhabitant of Sonko-Huara could do what they cannot and visit another planet as I have done. For a long time after my arrival upon Suari I said nothing of who I was or whence I came, thinking it better to learn their ways and all regarding them, by mingling with them as one of their own kind. And when, after having talked with their scientists and those credited with being the most intelligent, I learned how vast was their ignorance of Sonko-Huara, I sought to set them right, none would listen to my words. In vain did I endeavor to tell them of the true facts, of how we of Sonko-Huara lived, of the customs and our ways, of how we obtained our power and our sustenance, of how our race was propagated and ever improved by science, and of how those strange marks, which they had thought were canals, were but the tracks made by our small areas of water as they were dragged across the surface of our planet by our two small satellites.

  "And when I told them of the form of ourselves they shook their heads and declared it was all but a tale, and asked where I had secured such wild and foolish ideas. Then, angered somewhat that they should doubt the truth of my words, I told them I was from Sonko-Huara and how I had come to Suari. At this they but scoffed and derided me the more, and argued that proof of the untruth of my words lay in the fact that I was like themselves in form, though I had said the denizens of Sonko-Huara were unlike any forms they had ever seen or imagined. In vain I argued and reasoned with them, but they, being so inferior in intellect and so self-assured that they were right, demanded that I should give them proof. What better proof could they ask than that I was there on Suari? What more convincing that I could tell them of the Sonko-Huaran beings, of our lives, our customs, the things we have accomplished? "Yet they were not convinced, they demanded more, and at last, out of patience and to prove I was no imposter, I adjusted my instruments and, before their incredulous eyes, vanished from their sight to materialize once more in our beloved Sonko-Huara."

  The End.

  About the Author

  Alpheus Hyatt Verrill, known as Hyatt Verrill, (1871-1954) was an American archaeologist, explorer, inventor, illustrator and author. He was the son of Addison Emery Verrill (1839–1926), the first professor of zoology at Yale University. Hyatt Verrill wrote on a wide variety of topics, including natural history, travel, radio and whaling. He participated in a number of archaeological expeditions to the West Indies, South, and Central America. He travelled extensively throughout the West Indies, and all of the Americas, North, Central and South. Theodore Roosevelt stated: "It was my friend Verrill here, who really put the West Indies on the map.” During 1896 he served as natural history editor of Webster's International Dictionary., and he illustrated many of his own writings as well. During 1902 Verrill invented the autochrome process of natural-color photography. Among his writings are many science fiction works including twenty six published in 'Amazing Stories' pulp magazines.

  Other works by A. Hyatt Verrill

  Into the Green Prism

  Beyond the Green Prism

  The Golden City: A Tale of Adventure in Unknown Guiana

  The Boy Adventurers: In the Land of the Monkey Men

  The Treasure of the Golden God

  Through the Andes

  The Inner World

  Magazine Appearances:

  The Bridge of

  When the Moon Ran Wild (by Ray Ainsbury)

  Beyond the Pole

  Through the Crater's Rim

  The Man Who Could Vanish

  The Plague of the Living Dead

  The Voice from the Inner World

  The Ultra-Elixir of Youth

  The Astounding Discoveries of Doctor Mentiroso (by H. Hyatt Verrill)

  The Psychological Solution

  The King of the Monkey Men

  The World of the Giant Ants

  Death From the Skies

  Vampires of the Desert

  Dirigibles of Death

  The Feathered Detective

  The Non-Gravitational Vortex

  Monsters of the Ray

  A Visit to Suari

  When the Moon Ran Wild

  The Exterminator

  The Death Drum

  The Mummy of Ret-Seh

  The Flying Head

  The Ghostly Vengeance

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