had seen earth's miseries and sorrows, made me unwilling again to launch forth into immeasurable space; but I was unwilling to deny myself the pleasure of beholding new works of the Creator's love, new evidences of His mercy and His majesty, and also I reasoned that, perchance, other worlds might be as beautiful as earth, but less fallen and spoilt by sin. So, perchance, in other worlds I might behold better and fairer things, by which I might learn more. I consulted with the chief sages of our city. They were of opinion that now I had been able to pass to two of our sister orbs, it would be well to try if we could proceed further. Some suggested Mercury as suitable for a trial; but my own feeling, and that of the great majority of our senate, was that, if we should again plunge forth into space, we should select the outer worlds rather than the inner planet of our system. The gorgeous realm of Mars, and even the huge systems of the giant and the ringed worlds (as we call Jupiter and Saturn) might be visited.
I went to Saldonio in our air car. It was a long journey of three days, half round our world, for Saldonio was in a far-off continent. Thousands of fair cities, vast territories of beauteous vegetation, lakes, rivers, and seas did
