This simple formula is the universal morning prayer on Meleager, whose inhabitants are true sun-worshippers, in the sense that they attribute all good and all gifts to the sun's visible power and majesty that are daily revealed to them. As for myself, however, being deemed the Child of the Sun, I do not consider it incumbent on me to indulge in this matutinal act of worship, though each dawn I wake to see my servant lying prostrate on the floor with face turned reverently towards the east. The act of prayer performed, he approaches my couch with a goblet filled with some sort of mineral water of a slightly bitter flavour, that is invariably swallowed before arising. I then have a rather perfunctory bath in an adjoining room, submitting myself to a rapid ablution with water slightly perfumed with verbena, a scent that is reserved exclusively for the royal use. I dress in the manner previously described, and am then ready for my breakfast, which is usually set out in the open gallery that is already flooded by the warm early sunlight. My repast consists of coffee (which is extensively cultivated here), together with thick cream, a manchet of fine white bread, and a platter heaped with superb fruit. I leisurely enjoy these dainties and then (what on my first acquaintance afforded me equal pleasure and surprise) I proceed to smoke a cigar, or large cigarette, consisting of coarse granular tobacco rolled in maize leaf, like the type of cigarette affected by the natives of Brazil. For tobacco is largely grown here, and its leaves are put to many uses, including this last-mentioned agreeable purpose.
Whilst I am enjoying my fragrant cigarette, Hiridia invariably appears, bringing me the news of the day, and thus conversing we soon stroll into the gardens that are still fresh and gleaming with the dew. As I stand about six feet three inches, and perhaps a trifle more, and my tutor is of the average Meleagrian height of five foot five inches, I used at first to find our walks on the terrace rendered unsatisfactory by reason of our disparity in stature. To remedy this, I have caused a low platform of stone to be constructed the whole of its length some ten inches above the ground, and along this erection Hiridia now walks beside me so that we can chat at a convenient level. I thought the Arch-priest rather inclined to boggle at this suggestion, but I contrived to carry my point all the same.
At the third hour of the day begins my work. First of all I hold an audience, which is attended by the Arch-priest and some other members of the hierarchy, whereat various matters of state concerning the needs of the community, or the colonies, or the troops are broached and discussed. An hour or more is generally exhausted in this business, and by the fourth hour or a little later I issue from the palace with a military escort and shadowed by the umbrella of state to the judgment hall of the people, which is situated in the city itself. (Or rather, to be quite explicit, I visit thus the two courts of the northern and southern quarters of Tamarida on alternate mornings.) Here I take my seat on a dais, and dispense justice and advice to all and sundry in a fashion that constantly reminds me of the multitudinous duties of a London stipendiary magistrate, though the conditions of the two cases are happily very diverse. My suppliants are drawn almost wholly from the lowest estate of the realm, and sometimes the points submitted to my judgment are of the most trivial character. But I sit and listen with all the patience I can command, and then announce my verdict with all the care and circumspection whereof I am capable. It is pathetic to observe the intense faith my people have in my decisions; a suitor who has lost his plea may perhaps feel disappointment, but he is obviously fully resigned to my judgment, and accepts my award as absolutely just and final. In short, the popular confidence in my wisdom and sense of equity is unbounded, as the large and ever-increasing roll of my daily petitioners can testify.
At noon a discharge of cannon, such as one still hears in the large Italian cities at midday, resounds through the air, and the business of the court is hurried to a conclusion. Everyone now retires to dine and sleep, for at least two hours' space of rest is allotted to the whole community. I return to the palace with my escort, quite ready for my midday meal, which usually consists of eggs, fish, bread and fruit, with plenty of the rough red or white Meleagrian wine, that is both palatable and wholesome. To this repast I am in the habit of inviting various members of the nobility, and I always find these small informal parties far preferable to the rather dreary public supper of the Court, which takes place each evening soon after sundown. After eating, I sometimes play at chess (which is a very popular game here) with one of my invited friends, whilst my other guests amuse themselves as best they may; or at other times I listen to tales or poems recited by such as aspire to become distinguished in this department of Meleagrian social life. About the ninth or tenth hour I walk in the gardens, and after that I change my clothes so as to enjoy a vigorous game of hand-ball, which usually lasts till dusk. After my exercise follows the bath, a lengthy but delightful daily experience, for after the usual sweating and course of rubbing in the heated chambers, one can plunge into a deep basin of cool water. This pool also contains a cascade of artificial construction that one shoots, in the manner employed by some of the islanders of the South Seas, the bather being hurled over the falling volume of water into another deep pool below. By swimming rapidly for a few strokes beneath the surface one emerges farther on in the calm clear water of a large natural basin that is fringed with ferns and verdure. A rapid stream flowing down from the mountain-tops above through a precipitous channel has at some time or other been cleverly utilised in the construction of this cataract and lower pool, which have been incorporated in these bathing arrangements for the palace. Afterwards, I rest a while before dressing, when I proceed at my own convenience to the large banqueting hall, though not before a salvo of trumpets has given the signal that the workaday phase of Meleagrian daily life is ended. All toil save that of domestic service now ceases, and the whole city of Tamarida willingly resigns itself to rest and recreation until the morrow's dawn. At the evening meal eaten in public I remain but a short time, and then retire to my own apartments, whither I summon, if so disposed, such persons as I feel inclined to honour with an interview. Often however I sit or pace alone for hours in the darkened or moonlit solitude of my loggia, meditating on my strange fate and concocting plans for my future course of conduct.
Such is the outline of my average day, but this programme is often varied. In the first place, every seventh day being a public day of thanks-giving and rest from labour, I have to attend the necessary ceremonies in the temple instead of holding my informal court in the city. On these days, too, I usually ride afield with some of my courtiers, generally to go hunting into the wild mountainous region behind the temple, where the keen air and the wide views over sea and land seem to freshen my body and my spirits. Occasionally I pay a visit on horseback to the seat of some hospitable nobleman, whence we return late at night. At other times I honour some country village with my presence, much to the delight and surprise of its inhabitants. There are no books, as I have already explained, so that in reality my life is necessarily compounded of action and meditation, which on the whole has not hitherto caused me weariness or disgust. Whether or no I shall always rest thus contented with this monotonous routine of splendour and duty is a disagreeable and anxious question that I try, with only moderate success, to thrust into the background of my thoughts.
VI
Not a day passes here but that I lament my crass ignorance of even the elementary principles of astronomy. In my school-days I was never taught the use of the celestial globe, though my young brains were burdened with the problems and theorems of Euclid, with Greek enclitics and other scholastic lumber, dear to the dry-as-dust soul of the English pedagogue. Such books dealing with the heavens as I chanced to read in later life failed to leave an abiding impression on my adult mind, with the result that now I can only bewail uselessly the gaps in my early education. I mention this defect for a special reason—namely, to crave allowance for the tentative character and amateurish account of the features of my planet, which I want to present to the reader.
From such calculations as I have made for myself and by myself I believe the planet of Meleager to be insignificant in comparison with the Earth. Possibly I may be mistaken in stating that its whole surface is barely equal to the area of Australia, yet that is my opinion. Its climate is subtropical in the central zone, gradually tapering to temperate and cold towards its poles. Roughly speaking, the "Regio Solis," the spreading peninsula that forms the main portion of the kingdom of the Child of the Sun, possesses the climate of Egypt or Mexico. Its summers are long and warm, though never disagreeably torrid; its winter is of brief duration and normally wet rather than cold, snow rarely falling near the coast. The changes of spring and autumn are little marked, so that the whole course of the year seems to consist of an extended warm season followed by a spell of wet and cold. Southward of the Region of the Sun there extends an apparently trackless ocean, on whose waters, I am told, there is no land visible save a few barren islets and rocky reefs. But then exploration for exploration's sake is wholly alien to the Meleagrian outlook, and I much doubt whether the light sailing vessels of the fishermen (who alone tempt these southern seas) have penetrated very far in this direction, especially in face of the storms that are apt to arise without warning in this quarter and are consequently much dreaded by mariners. The ensuing little sketch map according to Mercator's projection, though very rough and imperfect, may perhaps afford the reader some idea of the lands and seas of Meleager, as I conceive them to exist.
It will be observed that the capital lies, presumably of intention, exactly on the line of the Equator and that it faces due east; whilst Zapyro, the second city of the realm, is also situated in the same latitude but looking towards the west. The whole coast-line of the Regio Solis is much indented, and it forms a pendent peninsula to the large partially unexplored region to the north, which I always speak of as Barbaria, though it is commonly known merely as the North Land. Of the size of the main kingdom I am uncertain; at times I conceive it to be as large as Great Britain, at other times I think it can be hardly more extensive than Ireland. The centre of the kingdom is largely covered by mountain ranges and elevated plateaux. None of these mountains however are of any great height, with the sole exception of a tall isolated rocky peak in the promontory north of Tamarida, from which it is clearly visible. This conspicuous cloven peak I have named Mount Crystal on account of its shining crags, but it is known to the Meleagrians as the Altar of the Sun, and it is obviously invested in popular belief with many mystical attributes. Below the summit, which at a mere guess I should say was about seven thousand of our feet above sea-level, I can clearly distinguish a group of buildings on a narrow ledge to eastward; and Hiridia has told me that these belong to a temple of peculiar sanctity which none save the priests and their trusted servants are ever permitted to enter, or even to approach. Naturally I often speculate as to the uses of this lofty and jealously guarded shrine, and I have come to the conclusion that here are preserved the paraphernalia necessary to the due working of the details of The Secret. Be that as it may, the solitary mountain and its mysterious temple form a prominent feature in all the eastern portion of the kingdom.