Kind to me as I found all in this household, the young daughter of my host was the most considerate and thoughtful in her kindness.At her suggestion I laid aside the habiliments in which I had descended from the upper earth, and adopted the dress of the Vril-ya, with the exception of the artful wings which served them, when on foot, as a graceful mantle.But as many of the Vril-ya, when occupied in urban pursuits, did not wear these wings, this exception created no marked difference between myself and the race among whom I sojourned, and I was thus enabled to visit the town without exciting unpleasant 60curiosity.Out of the household no one suspected that I had come from the upper world, and I was but regarded as one of some inferior and barbarous tribe whom Aph-Lin entertained as a guest.
The city was large in proportion to the territory round it, which was of no greater extent than many an English or Hungarian nobleman's estate; but the whole if it, to the verge of the rocks which constituted its boundary, was cultivated to the nicest degree, except where certain allotments of mountain and pasture were humanely left free to the sustenance of the harmless animals they had tamed, though not for domestic use.
So great is their kindness towards these humbler creatures, that a sum is devoted from the public treasury for the purpose of deporting them to other Vril-ya communities willing to receive them (chiefly new colonies), whenever they become too numerous for the pastures allotted to them in their native place.They do not, however, multiply to an extent comparable to the ratio at which, with us, animals bred for slaughter, increase.It seems a law of nature that animals not useful to man gradually recede from the domains he occupies, or even become extinct.It is an old custom of the various sovereign states amidst which the race of the Vril-ya are distributed, to leave between each state a neutral and uncultivated border-land.In the instance of the community I speak of, this tract, being a ridge of savage rocks, was impassable by foot, but was easily surmounted, whether by the wings of the inhabitants or the air-boats, of which I shall speak hereafter.
Roads through it were also cut for the transit of vehicles impelled by vril.These intercommunicating tracts were always kept lighted, and the expense thereof defrayed by a special tax, to which all the communities comprehended in the denomination of Vril-ya contribute in settled proportions.By these means a considerable commercial traffic with other states, both near and distant, was carried on.The surplus wealth on this special community was chiefly agricultural.The 61community was also eminent for skill in constructing implements connected with the arts of husbandry.In exchange for such merchandise it obtained articles more of luxury than necessity.
There were few things imported on which they set a higher price than birds taught to pipe artful tunes in concert.These were brought from a great distance, and were marvellous for beauty of song and plumage.I understand that extraordinary care was taken by their breeders and teachers in selection, and that the species had wonderfully improved during the last few years.Isaw no other pet animals among this community except some very amusing and sportive creatures of the Batrachian species, resembling frogs, but with very intelligent countenances, which the children were fond of, and kept in their private gardens.
They appear to have no animals akin to our dogs or horses, though that learned naturalist, Zee, informed me that such creatures had once existed in those parts, and might now be found in regions inhabited by other races than the Vril-ya.
She said that they had gradually disappeared from the more civilised world since the discovery of vril, and the results attending that discovery had dispensed with their uses.
Machinery and the invention of wings had superseded the horse as a beast of burden; and the dog was no longer wanted either for protection or the chase, as it had been when the ancestors of the Vril-ya feared the aggressions of their own kind, or hunted the lesser animals for food.Indeed, however, so far as the horse was concerned, this region was so rocky that a horse could have been, there, of little use either for pastime or burden.The only creature they use for the latter purpose is a kind of large goat which is much employed on farms.The nature of the surrounding soil in these districts may be said to have first suggested the invention of wings and air-boats.The largeness of space in proportion to the space occupied by the city, was occasioned by the custom of surrounding every house with a separate garden.The broad main street, in which Aph-Lin dwelt, expanded into a vast square, in which were 62placed the College of Sages and all the public offices; a magnificent fountain of the luminous fluid which I call naptha (I am ignorant of its real nature) in the centre.All these public edifices have a uniform character of massiveness and solidity.They reminded me of the architectural pictures of Martin.Along the upper stories of each ran a balcony, or rather a terraced garden, supported by columns, filled with flowering plants, and tenanted by many kinds of tame birds.
>From the square branched several streets, all broad and brilliantly lighted, and ascending up the eminence on either side.In my excursions in the town I was never allowed to go alone; Aph-Lin or his daughter was my habitual companion.In this community the adult Gy is seen walking with any young An as familiarly as if there were no difference of sex.
