oct. 5. for seven days we have ascended this silent, flowing river, and to-night we rest in the palace of the prince. at least we call him the prince, though ferratoni has explained to us that the word hardly carries the thought as conveyed to him. one whom the others follow and emulate, he thinks would be more exact, but this would mean prince, too, in our acceptation of the word, and so “prince” he has become to us, and we would not wish for a better title for this fair serene youth, whose unvexed spirit and gentle sway of those about him have wrought a spell upon us all.
we have enjoyed his bounteous hospitality, and often he has traveled in our boat, conversing with ferratoni, who has translated to us. i have made no previous record, as i desired first to get some definite impression of this new-found country and its people. what their impression of us has been it would not be easy to say.
i am not surprised that we have awakened in them a vague wonder and uneasiness rather than admiration. 236at least ferratoni says that this is the case. our boat with its propeller has been examined with what seemed to me a mingling of mild curiosity and respect, and i think with very little idea of adopting its plans or processes. its unbeautiful lines and the jar of its propeller would not accord with their placid and graceful lives. our various instruments and our watches they regard with something akin to fear. perhaps like our ancestors they consider them the result of witchery. when our balloon bag which preceded us was explained to them, as well as our adventures since leaving the billowcrest, they showed little interest, and certainly found no pleasure in any episode of this somewhat turbulent period. the picture of chauncey gale being jerked and battered through a snowdrift did not, as to us, give joy, now that it was all over, and gale’s neck and limbs still properly adjusted. to them it was a distressing, because unbeautiful, incident. something to be deplored quietly and forgotten quickly.
for the people of this secluded land, if we may judge by those we have seen, are all grace, all repose, all serenity of demeanor. ambition and achievement—of such kind at least as we know and prize—seem foreign to their lives. they do not venture—or very rarely—beyond the violet boundaries, even during the long summer day. the region 237without—the land of the silent cold—is to them the country of the dead.
any lingering doubt i may have cherished that my lost uncle had found harbor here has been destroyed by the fact that they have no knowledge of the world without. something of its existence seems to have been dimly known to them by tradition, and perhaps through vague mental impressions, but heretofore no word from those beyond the great outer barrier has ever come to them. they have speculated very dreamily upon the matter—even more so than we have upon the inhabitants of other planets—and have made as little attempt to reach them. when we came nearer to their zone of vibration the prince and his sister, who it seems are the high priests of this peculiar development, were able to establish some sort of communication with ferratoni, whose mental adjustment is less foreign to them than ours. but it was an imperfect chord—a poor connection as we would say—and not until the prince and ferratoni were face to face and palm to palm was the result definite and tangible.
their progress, such as it is, has been along lines totally different from those of our people. they resemble the orientals in some respects—or at least the idea we have of the orientals of a long ago time. from what i have seen i judge that their mechanical 238appliances are as those of a far antiquity. beautiful, indeed, but to a people like us valuable only as curios. to this, however, there appears to be one exception. the prince has to-day explained to ferratoni a new process, invented by himself and his serene sister, the princess of the lilied hills, for dispelling darkness. it seems to be a large plate of metal (probably a sort of yellow aluminum, which we at first took for gold and is the only metal we have seen thus far), and this is arranged to receive, by induction, electric waves from the aurora australis, radiating them again in the form of a continuous glow. at least, it is expected to do so—we do not understand that it has been perfected as yet, and as we are to see it later it is more than likely that ferratoni and gale will be able to improve it greatly. it appears to be the one real mechanical attempt of this languid race—the child of their one great necessity—and the prince believes that when perfected it will strengthen their people and give them longer life.
as it is, they are enervated by the long summer day, and depleted still further by the long night that follows. when the first vigor of youth wanes, and often before, they pass quickly out of life, and usually, the prince tells us, without pain. they regard gale as old—and mr. sturritt as a veritable patriarch.
the contrast between them and us is very great. 239between chauncey gale and the prince it is worth going far to see. the one, all languorous grace and spiritual repose; the other, all nerve force and vigor, all action and muscle and overflowing energy.
at least, the latter applied to gale a few days ago. the spell of quiet content that lies upon this land has possessed him now, somewhat, as it has the others. like us, he is willing to rest after our hard battle with the snowdrifts—to sail without question, almost without comment along these peaceful shores.
“they don’t seem to need homes and firesides, nor johnnie’s missionary work in this country,” he remarked to-day, after a long silence. then we both grew sad, remembering that we had received no word from the vessel for so long. the bell of the telephone rang a little yesterday, and we thought there was a sound of mingled words in the receiver, but nothing intelligible. the prince, when the nature and use of the invention was explained to him, regarded us with what seemed a mild added wonder, as well as pity, that we should need such an affair when we already have, each within his head, a far better means of communication if we would but develop it.
there are trees along the banks now—curious semi-tropical trees, most of them—and the violets have been replaced here by a multitude of more gorgeous 240blossoms. dwellings and people we saw to-day for the first time. the people congregate it would seem—the result of the long night—and there are no dwellers of the fields, save in midsummer. then they inhabit tents until the harvests, which the warm, untilled earth bountifully provides for them, are gathered. such as we have seen were collected along the shore to see us pass. there was no eager curiosity or excitement. some, indeed, slowly waved their arms or banners as we approached, but this i take it was more as a tribute to the prince than a greeting to the strangers.
their houses, like everything else of this unvexed land, appear to have grown, rather than to have been built, and are essentially a part of the landscape. whatever the contour of the location the house conforms to it. many are against hillsides, and are built in terrace form, with flowers at the top of each story, forming, as it were, a garden for the next. they are for the most part laid up of unhewn stone, logs, limbs, and even interwoven brush. frequently some surface of the living rock, or a huge bowlder, or a growing tree may become a part of, and blend into, the habitation. it is not always easy to tell where nature ends and artifice begins, or even to distinguish some of the humbler dwellings at first glance.
the terrace form prevails more than any other it 241seems; so much so that gale has conferred on this race the name of “terrace dwellers,” which effort we regard as more of a success than some of his former attempts at nomenclature. even when the home is built upon a level spot the lower story usually extends and forms a floral garden for the one above.
flowers there are, everywhere—many that we seem to recognize, but many more that we have not seen. from what the prince tells ferratoni, i gather that while they last, every ceremonial of whatever sort, is a great feast of flowers.
the fact that my camera was not on board when we took our premature flight into the unknown is a matter of deep regret to me, for i would fain preserve some more permanent impressions of these placid and beautiful shores.
but we have reached the prince’s palace. it is a succession of wonderful terraces, beginning at the river front, and extending back to the hills behind it. each terrace is supported by a row of slender columns, and on the outer edge of each a carved railing leads to a graceful outside stairway that ascends from one step of flowers to the next. at the summit, on a level with the hills, the last step forms a round colonnaded eyrie, on the top of which the sun still lingers. along the terraces are groups of waiting people who, as we approach, wave tranquilly 242their white arms to the prince. their dress and attitudes suggest some dim, forgotten land of the east. us they regard with placid curiosity, yet with a gentle friendliness evident in their faces.
now, from the wide portal of the lower story, come many down the broad, white steps to greet us. young are they all, and beautiful—creatures of an unknown world, while from either side troop bare-armed boys and girls, chanting a low, rhythmic melody of welcome.
so are we come at last to the land of my fancy. and a land of fancy indeed it seems to us. a harbor for vanished argosies and forgotten dreams. a port for lost rhymes and strayed melodies—for discarded magic and alchemies long dead. and it is in this enchanted vale that we find once more the shelter of human habitation.
we shall rest to-night with the prince of the purple fields.
the palace of the prince.
“a harbor for vanished argosies and forgotten dreams.”—page 242.
