Two highly important measures were at once agreed to by the world-parliament—first, the limitation of tenure of land to the cyclical period of life, which had been already adopted by most nationalities, was made a universal law; and, secondly, very stringent penalties were annexed to the crime of procuring the evanescence of any one. Whether it was effected directly or indirectly no difference was made in the penalty, which was evanescence of the perpetrator by the ten-million-unit process applied by a cat-o’-nine tails.
Some years later another resolution was passed to the effect that it is inexpedient that any city should be allowed to exceed the limit of one hundred thousand inhabitants. This was issued rather as a recommendation than as a binding statute; but its expediency was so plain that it was almost universally adopted. The legislature were induced to pass it, in consequence of the congestion of the population at Lasondre, which had been unanimously selected as the metropolis and seat of government. The natural advantages of its situation, at the head of a vast indentation of the continent by a bay of the central ocean, its magnificent scenery and delightful climate, rendered it so desirable a residence, that, at the time when this resolution was passed, the population had already reached the incredible number of two millions; it was still on the increase, and the resulting inconveniences were so manifold and severe, that it was further resolved to emigrate the superabundant citizens gradually, by the help of the cyclical law.
It must not be supposed that, during all the ages which had elapsed before the establishment of the world-parliament, speculation had not been rife among the Hesperians as to the nature and significance of the sudden and mysterious wakening into life which they had all simultaneously experienced. Quite the reverse was the fact. From the very earliest period, even from the time when small groups of them had invented the first rude forms of speech, the questions how they had been formed, how summoned into life, whence had they come, and whither were they going, had been started, discussed, solved, the solutions rejected, abandoned for a time as hopeless, again resumed, and as zealously as ever re-discussed, with the same results as before. All were agreed that Something had made them, and had made them for some purpose. But that the Something either could not or would not speak to them, or hold any sort of communication with them was a patent fact, and this caused unutterable sorrow to the Hesperian mind.
In the earlier ages all persons were so much engrossed with the cares unavoidable for the supply of the necessaries of life; and, besides, were so deeply interested in investigating the physical laws of the world in which they were placed, that this increasing source of grief and anxiety did not produce as much effect upon them as it did in later times. But even then there was hardly a small town to be found which had not, among its public buildings, some sort of a temple, with the inscription ‘To the Unknown God,’ whom they ignorantly worshipped and longed after, but in vain.
And, not only were they in this state of darkness respecting their Maker in consequence of the absence of any form of a direct revelation, but, being absolutely cut off from all knowledge of the remainder of the universe, by the physical structure of their atmosphere, they were also debarred from reaching Him through the medium of His works. The cloud-screen which shelters them from the fierce solar rays is impenetrable to vision, and thus, so far as any knowledge of the sun, and planets, and stars is concerned, they might as well have been a race of blind men. How it was that the canopy over their heads passed regularly in the course of about twenty-three hours and a-half through the two phases of brightness and darkness, was to them an inexplicable phenomenon. All sorts of conjectures, hypotheses, theories, were hazarded, but none were accepted. The phenomenon was not even universal. At one place, near the centre of the continent, and for a considerable distance around it, the alternation of light and darkness followed quite a different law. For, instead of the change taking place at intervals of a few hours, light shone steadily for more than a hundred and twenty days, and was followed by nearly as long a period of darkness. It was an inscrutable puzzle. Some said that on one or two occasions a round and shining body had been dimly seen for a few moments through the mist, and that this might possibly have something to do with the illumination. But the fact was discredited, and the alleged appearance ascribed either to an optical illusion or deliberate mendacity. The observers, accordingly, being invariably treated with either contempt or personal violence, the theory disappeared.
Meanwhile great progress continued to be made in all departments of physical science. The various branches of mathematics were extensively and successfully studied, and the Hesperians became most expert geometers. The art of ship-building was soon carried to a high pitch of excellence, and various methods of propelling the vessels through the water were devised by the mechanical engineers. Some such artificial propulsion was almost indispensable, as the prevailing calms rendered the use of sails unavailable. One of the earliest motive powers extensively employed was the expansive force of the vapour of water, raised at a high temperature; and for many hundred years these curious ships were in actual use. I have seen several of them which are still kept in a vast marine museum at Lasondre. The vapour-engines propelled the ships either by means of great wheels furnished with boards which turned in the water, or by the action of one or more screws at the stern, which worked much as the tail of a fish does in shoving the animal along. But the use of the vapour of water as a motor was found to involve a terrible waste of power, and it has been long since abandoned.
The progress of chemical science led to the discovery of an inexhaustible supply of force, which combines all the advantages of small cost, extreme portability, resistless strength, immunity from risk, and universal applicability. All this was obtained by the steady work and indomitable perseverance of three chemists who, contrary to usage, devoted themselves to this one branch of science for several consecutive cyclical periods of their career. Not being skilled in chemical learning, I was unable to comprehend the nature of their discovery; but I was told that it consisted in the application of certain laws of combination among various gases, each of which is easy to manufacture and store up.
CHAPTER VII.
Of the first attempt to pass the Equatorial Tornado; and its tragical issue—Of the attempt to pass the Cloud-Screen.
These improvements in ship-building and ship-propelling were naturally followed by a great development of the science of navigation, to which the mathematical powers of the Hesperians formed an invaluable auxiliary. And thus all that was possible for them to ascertain concerning the physical universe was soon learned. The circumnavigation of the globe was easily effected, for the shape of the continent was such that it could be made without going out of sight of land. Other and more adventurous ships were sent on voyages of discovery in a southerly direction, and these made the discovery of the frightful tempest, mentioned before, which rages everlastingly in the equatorial zone. Not one of these ships succeeded in getting within two hundred miles of the equator itself. The crews reported unanimously that, even at that distance, the seas were simply terrific, and appeared to increase rapidly in violence towards the south. Some of them escaped from the vortex with extreme difficulty.