Aleriel/Part 3/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
THE VOYAGE OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION.
We sailed on over the Airy Sea till we saw the varied white and red outline of Laplace Land; white, because of the snows of the Arctic continent, but rendered most beautiful by the red vegetation, when the cold had not killed vegetable life. We crossed the Arctic circle in the Faye Sea, and then, bordered with glittering icebergs, shining in the sunlight rising from the green waters, the long ranges of snowy mountains of the Arctic continent appeared in all their grandeur. The scenery was very splendid, but, at the same time, not quite unearthly, for you have something like it even in Europe, in the northern shores of Norway, which so many now visit to watch the midnight sun. The red of Mars, however, is missing upon earth—the rich combinations of white and crimson—two of the most beautiful of colour combinations. The white slopes of the Arctic continent blushed like the cheek of a fair girl, brightened by a momentary excitement, while the green ocean and fantastic glittering icebergs formed a magnificent fringe to the blushing slopes of red and white.
We coasted for some days along the Arctic continent in these splendid scenes, passing sometimes vast submarine forests of algae, which tinted the green waters, and made its colour change to such a degree that even your telescopes can notice these tinted spots upon the green ocean of Mars. The ocean was not lifeless. Amidst the icebergs sported huge monsters of the deep, and now and then electric ships of the Martians dashed past us.
At length (having sailed through what men call, from their astronomer's name, the Beer Sea) we crossed over from the icy Arctic continent, and its superb natural scenery, to what you call the Herschel continent. Here we sailed up the narrow channel between it and the Copernicus continent back to the warm and ruddy regions of the tropics. Sometimes the shores of both continents were in sight, with towers and cities rising out of the rich crimson forests. The hum of industry could be heard. The channel was filled with the electric ships. My companion told me the names of the many cities we were passing till, crossing the equator, we pushed on out of sight of land to the great Newton Ocean. We crossed the "tropic of the Lion" (for that is the southern tropic of Mars, as yours is the tropic of Capricorn), then came to the great island of the Southern Ocean, which you call Secchi's Land. The winter was coming on. Thousands of vessels filled with their freights were sailing down the Zollner Sea to bear the Martians of Secchi's Land to more favoured lands. The snow was already appearing. However, we pushed on rapidly to near the antarctic circle, where the sea was already nearly a mass of ice-floes, into Philipp's Sea, just sighting the antarctic isle (now clad in snow) of Rossland. Then pushing down the Terby Sea, we once more came in sight of Webb Land. ****
"Tell me," I said, " how you arrange your exchanges of material things. On earth there is a use of bits of gold and silver, which are stamped to represent a certain amount of things which are wanted, as food or clothes, and people who have many of these bits of gold are called rich; but in our world of Venus there is by a beneficent providence such an abundance of everything that there is little need of exchange, and all our gold and silver are used for ornament. How do you regulate the supply of things that are wanted?"
"There was a time, when we were in our imperfect state, when war existed, and selfishness and all its evils, that we had a system of exchange and barter, and bought and sold, as it seems men do now. Each laboured for himself and his family, and for them alone. The strong prospered, and the weak suffered. But now we arrange that nothing shall belong to the individual, but all to the community. All that is wanted is supplied from the common stores."
"How do you provide against indolence? On earth some theorists have held this view; but it never has been found to answer—human selfishness is too great—each man would grasp all that he could from the common stores intended for all, and some would idle when others would have to work."
"We have stamped out selfishness in our world, or nearly so. The first point in the education of our little ones is to teach them to be truthful and unselfish. If, when they grow up, they are found to have failed to learn the lesson, we first punish them as liars or selfish, and if they are incorrigible, send them through the Tower of Doom out of our world. We pray for them, but we slay them. There is no room in our world either for liars or selfish people."
"It would be well if they could get rid of them on earth also. Men suffer crime to fester in their midst, and to pollute society. But tell me how do you govern your state?"
"By the rule of the wisest. Those who excel in wisdom and virtue are promoted to power; but they are never suffered to use their power for their own advantage, but for that of the community. We do not choose by popular election, but by competitive examination. The wisest of our mathematicians, and those who excel in calculation, are given the care of the treasures; those physicians who are proved to excel above others in physiology are given the care of sanitation; the most able architects the care of public buildings; the greatest botanists the care of the forests. The chief object of the state is to secure the greatest possible happiness to the greatest possible number, and to do this we require the highest available scientific knowledge in each department."
"I think you are wise. One of the greatest thinkers on earth—Plato—thought it would be best if philosophers were kings, or kings philosophers. Men now derive much of their trials and sorrows from giving power to political empirics, who know how to talk or to intrigue, or to toady, or to cringe and flatter, and then by their stupidity misapply the power entrusted to them, or else use it for their own selfish ends. You are wise in giving power to these who know the most. But is power hereditary with you, as in a majority of the lands of earth?"
"As long as the son proves himself worthy of a wise sire, I do not see why he should not possess his father's privileges; but we find sons and fathers often dissimilar, so we never put a son into his father's position until he has proved himself worthy of it."
"Then you do not recognise the family as the basis of society, as much as men do. I found among more cultured races, and especially in that continent so like your world, which men call America, a tendency against this family basis. But here is a danger from engendering selfishness by making individuals live for themselves and struggle for themselves. The strongest prosper, the weak are crushed."
"In our world duties are balanced. Each individual has his duty defined to himself, to his family, to his village or civic community, to his nation, to the whole world. The community is the most important basis. The family is too small, the nation too large; but the sphere of duty is really balanced to all relations. In our earliest state each lived for himself. Then wars arose, and mutual assistance was required. Since we have had universal peace, we have tried to insist on each realising his duty to all society, and to the whole world."
"You spoke of common stores. How do you fill them?" I asked. "It seems to me there is a great deal more idle time and amusement in this world than on earth."
"Most of our work is done, as you see, by our control of natural forces. We convert the storm and the ocean wave into electricity, and by this we have a vast—almost an immeasurable—command of power. Thus, we can do our work, control and turn nature to our will, with little effort. So the more our control of the forces of nature has increased, the more leisure we have found for recreation, for development of the inner life, for study, for mental improvement, for relaxation. There was a time when our ancestors had to labour very hard, and life was one round of endless toil. Then the rich and the strong made the poor and weak labour for them; but since we have reached our present state, we have been able to adjust labour wisely, to give all their fair share of work and fair share of healthy recreation, and to get our efforts aided by the forces of nature subdued to our will through the master force of electricity."
"You have done wisely," I said. "Perhaps in time man may do the same, when he had advanced further in knowledge."
"How do you divide the day in your communes?" I asked.
"One-third is given to work, if required (which it rarely is), one-third to amusement and refreshment, one-third to sleep. That is on our working-days. On all feast-days there is no work, but only recreation and devotion to God's service. On working-days an hour out of the working time is ever given to prayer and praise."
"What do you understand by recreation?"
"It is left to the individual taste. The Government provides amusement. We have no need now to fritter our means in armaments. In every village, in every town there are bodies of trained musicians, who nightly perform music for their neighbours' amusement, for music we regard as an important element of happiness. Then every village has its theatre and its body of actors, where scenes are represented nightly for the recreation of the people. Then we have games of many kinds, mostly to develop the energy of the young. Lectures or speeches on subjects bearing on science are delivered by competent teachers. Then we have books and libraries for the enlightenment of all. Everything, of course, is provided by our rulers, one of whose chief duties is to provide healthy amusement and recreation for all. Then again, in most of our villages we take our meals together in a common hall. All work for the common good, and all are fed from the common stores. But to do this we must have perfect unselfishness."
"How do you manage with regard to the relation of the sexes? On earth this constant throwing young people together would be fraught with danger."
"Where the females are not taught modesty it would be so; but modesty and self-restraint are, after unselfishness, the first lessons we inculcate. But there is a great advantage in letting the young people of both sexes mix together, and know each other well before they marry. So we soften the character of the males by friendly and supervised conversation with the females."
"How do you manage about marriages? There is the chief difficulty in the societies of earth, and men have divers ways of dealing with it in divers nations."
"We expect those who wish to be married to know each other many years before the marriage is completed, and to obtain the consent of the elders."
**** We had many such conversations, which I cannot now describe to you, but the more he told me, the more I thought that in many things men might learn from the Martians—a class of beings not unlike men in many things, and living in a world very like your earth, but further advanced.
When passing Webb's Land, I asked if I might see one of the common feasts and recreations of the Martians. After some delay and consideration, my friend assented, on condition of my being very careful about preserving my secret, and not of exposing myself to detection. He promised to show me the Hall of Feasting and the Hall of Recreation of his own commune, when we got back to Tycho land, which we did next morning.