the sons and daughters of indegatus had become so well instructed in the art of propagating and training falcons, and withal so much interested under the direction of the volantaphs, that little danger was apprehended of another interruption in the supply. when all the preliminaries required for the voyage across the atlantic had been well matured, soartus, with a fleet of five well equipped falcons, and fifty giantesco companions with their families started from manicul? on their adventurous flight, and on the evening of the third day arrived at corvo without accident, and were overjoyed, in their descent to perch on the corcovado, to observe signals of welcome as if their coming had been anticipated by premonition. in explanation, after a joyful welcome, the corcovadians said, that a watch had been kept constantly on the alert in expectation of their reappearance, during the interval of the many centuries which had elapsed since the last falcon departure. from whatever cause the delay, their confidence had grown in strength, that it would be overcome in time by the enterprise of their parentcedors.
this reunion of the manatitlans with their corcovadian colonistic outposts occurred on or about the 17th day of august, 1071 of your era. the voyage had been well sustained by the novice falcons, notwithstanding their recently acquired art of taking flying fish, and feeding while beating support with their wings under the favoring aid of the parachute. but 194hunger is an apt teacher of method with available means for its appeasement. the first warning the aeronauts received of their near approach to the land of their destination was the invasion from the windward of a suffocating odor, of the most disgusting taint, that pervaded the howdahs and assailed their olfactories, causing a violent retching, that made them apprehend pending calamity. but the pilots, when sufficiently recovered from the sudden invasion, consulted their charts of odor currents “laid down” by old navigators, and found that the nauseating cause of alarm proceeded from the confluent waft of celtic and congo exhalations from humanity, with the conjunctive loom of garlic odor in eructation from the inhabitants of portugal, spain, and south of france conveyed seaward by the evening land breeze, marked f?disima allium exhalata ab homine. after giving vent to humorous instinctive comparisons referring to the gross habits necessary for the production of odors so foul in their distant waft, the old peak of rendezvous on the island of corvo saluted their glad vision.
our reception by the corcovadians was affectionate beyond comparison, fully enlisting our utmost resources in reciprocation. when the exuberance of our mingled congratulations had subsided into the calm current of sympathetic inquiry, we soon became aware of their loving troth to manatitlan habits and customs. in evidence of the lealty of their alliance they had diminished a third in numbers, as they averred, with a marked improvement in all the essentials of affectionate purity and goodness, manifest alike in the conservation of physical and thoughtful development. in answer to our solicitous inquiries with regard to the welfare of the animalculan and giga population of the islands and mainland, they answered that the inhabitants of the islands had become more barbarously enlightened and destructive in tendency than they were in our ancestors’ time; our 195mouthpat deportations having added fuel to the degenerative tendency of the islanders. still the good example of the colonists had attracted a desire on the part of parents that their children should be educated under their instruction.
after a week’s sojourn with the corcovadians, soartus continued his flight to rome, taking with him as many of the islanders as the howdahs could accommodate. “soaring to our first poise above the peaks of the asturian mountains, we hailed with matin song of praise the broad disc of the sun as it reflected, in ascendency from the horizon, the inequalities of the countries beneath in panoramic light and shadow. as it rose in the full splendor of its mellowed morning beams, dispelling with sparkling reflection the dewy mists of night, a scene of surpassing beauty greeted our vision. from north to south, on the western confines of the iberian peninsula, a lofty range of intervaled mountains formed an inviting attraction for the mist clouds, which dispensed their moisture as an ever replenishing source of rivers and streams, that in descent received tributary contributions rendering with their water supply the valleys fertile. in continuation from the extreme south, a sea-coast range of lesser height formed an interior basin, by circle inclosure to the east and north. within this, cities and hamlets were scattered with seeming indications of peaceful repose. our eyes were held entranced with the beautiful scene; and we wondered how man, gifted with rational powers of discernment, could fail to discover in the lovely blendings creative indications designed for his direction in the paths of peace and purity. the falcons, left to the guidance of their own pleasurable instincts, just cleared the topmost sprays of the trees in their gliding circuits, but in soaring above villages and cities the volantaphs raised their flight beyond the reach of missile weapons. while passing over the city of leon from north to south, we 196saw men, women, and children, flocking in crowds to the western gate. curious to learn the cause of this early commotion, so unwonted from the descriptions we had read of iberian habits, the falcons were directed over the point of attraction. clearing in circling descent the spires and towers of the cathedral church, our ears were saluted with the mingled bellowings of a seemingly enraged animal, and loud shouts arising from a multitudinous collection of voices pitched in range from the shrill stridency of childhood, through the medium grades of maturity, to the vacuous piping tones of senility. over-reaching the gate towers, we beheld collected in an amphitheatre within wooden barriers, a large concourse of people, intently gazing with boisterous plaudits upon an encounter between a horned animal of the quadruped species and armed men with garments covered with tinsel. the sides of the enraged beast were dabbled and trickling with gore, from the many wounds inflicted by the knives and spears of the “sportsmen.” in quick apprehension of the effect of this cruel pastime, which had caused our wives to give utterance to a cry of pitying horror, the volantaphs suddenly depressed the falcon’s tail from the “bishop’s run to the pope’s nose” causing it to fan-spread, intercepting the view of objects beneath from the howdah; then soaring to a poise, soon left the revolting scene and arbiters of cruel instinct beyond the compass of eyes and ears. one of our corcovadian correlatives then explained the nature and origin of the amusement. he said that it was styled by the spanish a taurista, and when it commenced at sunrise it was styled “taurista hiquete para almuerzo.” the practice was said to have been derived originally from a race inhabiting an island in the northern ocean, who utilized the flesh of the slain brutes, and as a sequence assimilated their pugnacious characteristics.
“here the volantaph directed our attention to the 197cultivated beauties of the apuljarras of the sierra constantina, glowing in the morning sun with the brightest tints of verdure. wooded and vine-covered slopes in ever varying contrast with the colored transitions of moslem taste in the adornment of their dwellings, offered the strongest evidence of peaceful desire, notwithstanding minarets indicating fanatical worship abounded in cities, villages, and hamlets. as we neared these scenes, citizens and busy cultivators were seen engaged in their varied occupations, their forms reduced by distance from giga size to tits, reminded us of our own happy manatitlan homes. the swift flight of the falcons conveyed the impression, from change in perspective, of gliding transitions of the same persons into varied employments, as if endowed with illimitable versatility. these pleasing illusions, which in slower flight, and nearer approach, would have truthfully depicted the miserable realities of servile selfishness, so much dreaded in foreboded encounter with the giga races of europe and asia, caused uffea, the wife of soartus, to exclaim, with a long drawn sigh—“if they could only see and know us, i am sure they could not resist our happy example that would make this scene a reality? they surely would not refuse a joyous boon that would make these blooming valleys and verdant hills echo with songs of gladness raised in morning and evening praise? what joy for the future manatitlan voyagers while floating over these lovely creations, if our people could be made the means of making these groves and hill-sides resound with songs of praise to unite in their fullness, with our peoples, in mid air responses?” our hopeful sighs united with the desire that her vision might prove prophetic. but alas, our falcons had scarce attained their poise for descent to the valentinian shore, when fierce human cries, and the loud clangor and blasts from cymbals and trumpets, resounded from the plain below. the volantaphs 198reverse in the direction of the falcons for descent, brought into view two hosts engaged in battle encounter, each in defiant utterance shouting their war cries, one, “dios y santiago,” and the opposed “allah é profeta.” no persuasion could induce our wives to venture a glance toward the fearful scene, and at their request the volantaphs changed the falcon’s course to shut out the view.
our corcovadian correlative in defining the casus belli, said, that those fighting under the standard that bore the device of a grotesque head covering, supported by crossed keys, were styled christians, and the words, god and saint james, which they ejaculated with their blows, were the names of the alleged author and favorite supporter of their creed, which theoretically inculcated peace and goodwill among men. while those arrayed under the crescent banner, who were as vehemently calling upon their god and prophet, were enjoined by their creed to destroy all who denied the divinity of the prophet. both alike, in practice, upheld the absurd inconsistency of their creeds with the destructive fanaticism of instinctive passion. “as you will in rome be forced to give heed to the brutal enactments practiced under the style of religion, and opposing variations in constantinople and jerusalem, it will be well to advise you of the texts that are quoted in train by the christian sect, who are exhorted, in the battle cry, to strike for the god of israel, and saint james,—kill and spare not! the grateful teeth of the saws read in this wise, do good to those who despitefully treat thee! he that smiteth thee on one cheek turn to him the other also! he that gives to the poor, lendeth to the lord. cast your bread upon the waters, and after many days it will return to you increased an hundred fold. these renderings of implied selfishness in mild vapory language, you have seen exemplified in enactments this morning; but you have 199still to undergo the painful infliction of sympathy for physical torments that priestcraft imposes, with the anticipation of ‘hellish’ power, for the punishment of dissenting heretics. the moslems, who are fighting under the crescent standard, advocate sensual lunacy, with the prescribed belief in a heavenly haram peopled with houri,—a name that they bestow upon sensuously beatific women, who in christian terms are styled angels,—these are used as lures for inciting the lusts of the faithful in blind subserviency to the commands of their leaders. like their christian opponents, the masses depend solely upon priestly interpretation for the reconciliation of contradictory passages in their creed, openly bestowing their reverential fealty upon the sensually mad, who are called saints or santons, esteeming the touch of their lewd filthiness as a vise for heavenly reward. their priests, who are styled dervishes, wear the same hermaphrodite vestments in ceremonial enactments that distinguish their christian counterparts, deriving oracular inspiration from dizziness invoked by rapid whirling gyrations. but as i see that you are oppressed with sorrowful disgust, in view of the rank stupidity you are about to encounter, we will allow you, with these premonitions, to verify the construction we give of the ancient giga roman senator’s apothegm, which should have been, ‘whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make sensually mad.’ with the instinctive example of destructive hatred inculcated as a morning lesson for appetizing the kindred germ of children’s passions, in the bloody struggle between inhuman art aids and brute strength, exhibited in the bull’s blind rage, we can easily fill the intervening space in life with occupations in qualification for the battle enactments of the meridian.”
with the volantaph’s announcement that he was about to bring the falcon to a poise which would afford the occupants of the howdah an equidistant 200view of the peninsulas of spain and italy, a retrospective glance was cast backward. the keen manatitlan sight, intensified with ardent admiration for the glowing beauties of the iberian landscape, soon became absorbed in tracing the rare combinations of mountain and valley verdure, merging and varying in blending tints from the sun’s declining cast of light and shadow, until startled with uffea’s sudden call, alew! (look!) recalled by her startled cry, our attention was attracted by her steadfast look, to the valentian shore, and there beheld the victorious christians in pursuit of the vanquished moslems, vindicating the cry of their priests, “kill and spare not.” “alas,” tearfully sighed uffea, “is it not enough that they yield the victory? of what avail the bodies of the flying, living or dead, that the victors still ruthlessly pursue and slay?”
anxious to escape from even a distant view of the carnage, the volantaph brought the falcon to a poise and in descent opened to view the peninsula of italy. in anxious search for the abiding place of their colonistic correlatives, their attention was soon attracted to the largest collection of buildings, and as the falcon’s circuits narrowed in near approach, their eyes sought for signals of recognition. these, from a “bird’s eye” view chart of the prominent buildings in the vicinage of rome, soon became visible, not only from the coliseum, the chief settlement of their colonies, but from every town and hamlet within the reach of vision. with a near approach to the arcades every available place in the ionic range was filled to overflowing with beaming faces and outstretched arms in token of joyful welcome. but a few moments elapsed before the falcons were safely moored in the old “new port,” and the howdahs thronged with forms and faces that required no introduction by speech for the test of nationality. without words, joyful tears, sighs, kisses, and embraces were not 201alone conceded as the special privilege of womanly affection, but the interchange of these instinctive tokens under the kindly promptings of gladness became general. if there was hesitation indicating speech, those on the outside pressed forward to interrupt the useless waste of words. for at least a full half hour this voiceless scene continued unabated, then the pr?tor of coliseo parleyed. “citizens of romelia, forbear? what have these, of our kin, done in the lapse of ages, that you suffocate them with kisses and embraces? are they, in the fullness of our joy, to be denied the viaticum of welcome words? or do you intend to despatch them with the silent interdiction of tidings we have waited and longed for while yet unborn to the world of mortality? make way for your pr?tor! fie upon you, oluissandra! that you, the wife of the chief magister of coliseo, should fail to use your tongue in speech, when its words would be welcome!”
with this laughing admonition a tall active giantesco sprang into the howdah, and seizing a sprightly medium woman by the shoulders, as she was about to embrace uffea, turned her briskly round, with the exclamation, “now for some system? i am ashamed of you, olui! where is your boasted presence of mind and pity? and voice, so easily aroused in gratuitous sympathy for your giga auramentees? do you suppose that this little handful of women can withstand the battery of coliseo’s thousands, softly placable as they are, without having their lips and faces flayed? now signorina manatitliana, this is my wife oluissandra peasiffea, of the twelfth generation in descent from the peasiffeas of manicul?,—that is, i am, and she shares my loving pedigree, with a worthy merit that exceeds my own.”
before the last clause, uffea had embraced the wife of the coliseo pr?tor with cousinly warmth. the husband laughingly thanked her for honoring his 202spouse with such affectionate returns upon the strength of relationship, but hoped that the slight deviation from the “giga lineal” would not prove a bar to the full expression of loving confidence. this diversion set the women’s tongues in motion, with trills and fugues, which were followed by the men’s deeper tones, in more measured accents of curious inquiry. with the sun’s decline all united in a hymn of thanksgiving. as the gathering shades of twilight deepened, oluissandra reminded her husband that the manatitlan howdahs were poorly adapted for the reception of the pr?tor of coliseo’s guests upon an occasion so extraordinary? “if the public records are to be trusted,” she said, “they will bear testimony that it has been customary for the chief magisters to offer their guests the hospitality of their houses. it will hardly consort with precedent, if the scribe should in record addenda state that the pr?tor peasiffea entertained his manatitlan relatives in their own howdahs, at the reunion of their peoples, after centuries of separation. i am sorry,” she continued, “that courtesy obliges me to give you this public reproof, but your ‘head and heart’ should have been on the alert to give a suitable welcome, as the long delay might conjure sensitive doubts questioning the sincerity of your joy.”
the pr?tor gave his wife a look of quizzical gratitude at this rejoinder couched in giga style, reminding the chief and his wife of the dosch’s humorous sallies. in like manner they were constantly reminded of home faces and scenes by revived similitude in impression. among the manatitlans, and their corcovadian correlatives, the questioning query would pass, “who does this or that person remind you of?” or “how familiar that voice sounds.” when the resemblance was mentioned, the likeness was found to have been transmitted by collateral branches. the pr?tor, acting upon his wife’s suggestion, 203our falcons received the attention they required from coliseo volantaphs, the mews having been kept in readiness for their reception from generation to generation, in constant expectation of their reappearance. our own apartments, which adjoined those of the pr?tor, were in the foliated cyma of the capital surmounting the second arch of the corinthian arcade. on our way the pr?tor pointed out the improvements devised and executed by his predecessors, regretting that their comparatively indestructible works should be ingrafted upon one of the perishable follies of the roman empire for its more extended time durability.
at dawn, on the morning succeeding our arrival, anxious throngs were awaiting to greet us with salutations of joyful welcome. many of these had come from distant districts to participate in the rejoicings of an occasion so auspicious for the united welfare of the colonies. among the visitors, there came from the st. angelo department the dosch of romalia. he had started with the first announcement of the falcons, and traversed the city of the gigas during the height of one of their saturnalian feasts of flesh, which precedes the lighter indulgences of fasting upon a fish and lentil diet. after the morning salutations, the falcons were employed in excursions for the practical instruction of the native volantaphs. on the third day after our arrival, the dosch and pr?tor consulted the chief of the manatitlans upon a subject that had been a source of disquietude to the colonists.
“we have deferred the unpleasant subject we are about to introduce, to the latest possible moment consistent with the responsibility of our charge,” said the pr?tor of coliseo, “that the impression of our welcome might remain cheerful until you had fully compared the extent of our worthiness with your expectations. the sooner anxiety is dispelled with 204a knowledge of impending evil the better. the mouthpat seed our mutual ancestors sowed, just before the close of the first falcon era, in taking root assimilated with the native animalculan races, and in process imparted their own deleterious habits and prejudices to their entertainers. with a wider scope for the gratification of their sensual instincts, they soon united with the democratic rabble of rome in opposing what they termed our pedantic puritanism. with their coadjutive stimulation our allies in the exampled practice of purity and goodness were subjected to annoyances and persecutions and were denied the right of local option, as natives, in selecting for themselves a choice of education for their children. as we could not extend our protection to the good throughout the broad expanse of rome, we established self-supporting colonies in the country as asylums of resort for the oppressed, so that in consolidated association they might receive our more effective support and aid. still, in defiance of intimidation and actual injuries, we had more applications for the admission of roman children to our schools than we could accommodate. the deported mouthpats, from the first, became adherent imitators of giga habits and customs, and fanatically zealous in support of the catholic dogmas. before their advent, the animalculans of rome had been content that the giga priests should enact their parts in ceremonial worship. but the mouthpats urged that the practice of vicarious worship through a race barred from direct communication by mouth interlocution was a subterfuge of the most damnable tendency. their labors for the reconstruction of the ritualistic tenets, and regeneration of the animalculans from proxied dependency upon giga religious administration, was finally rewarded with the election of a pope of mouthpat descent. this pope, innocent the first, in mouthpat designation, now occupies the silicoth residences 205relinquished to the first cargo of his ancestors, by ours on their removal to the coliseum. in imitation of giga example, although he claims higher merit from his strict administration of the ordinances of the church, he has established a court of inquisition for the trial and punishment of heretics.
“one of the first acts of the court was the proclamation of an interdict prohibiting the romans from holding communication with the coliseos under the penalty of excommunication from the only true and holy church. we well understood the term excommunication in context, although the court was wary in using threats of torture and death, against the parents who had entrusted their children to our care, until they had tested our disposition by overt acts of intimidation. for this purpose they have arrested the parents of our pupils on their return to rome after paying their monthly visits to their children. to-morrow they celebrate a saint’s day, in the calendar of the mouthpat church, and are erecting in the gutter-leads of the church of san lorenzo, lists with barriers and the usual requisites necessary for the accommodation of spectators, and actors that engage in the barbarous follies of a tournament. but the real object is the inauguration of an inquisitorial chapter. the pomp and ceremonials only serving as an introductory blind, that will hold pity in check by arousing the passions with chivalric show in brutal enactment as a placebo for the final catastrophe. in order that the pomp might equal that of their giga exemplars, who are engaged in preparing for a like celebration, they in anticipation sent challenges to the most celebrated and valorous representatives of animalculan knighthood throughout the courts of europe, subject to a like defiance from their giga contemporaries; whose heralds acted as the locomotive beasts of burden for the transportation of their parasitic knights errant. to prevent imposition, the 206field kings of all the countries in christendom, subject to animalculan sway, were requested to add their attest to the order and standing of the knight applicants, also to the service reputation of esquires emulous of achieving the honorable distinction of wearing golden spurs. the requirements of those desirous of contending for love and honor in the lists, on roachback with spear and sword, were—to be of pure lineage, of not less than three generations, in affirmed descent, free from the attaint of mesalliance. the squires were to be second sons of a parentage alike eligible for the distinctions of knighthood. that the trains of each knight should be well satisfied with their allotment, the third day was set apart for their contention with arms suited to their stations in life; ample means were to be furnished for the eating and drinking entertainment of all comers. the knights summoned had already arrived in train with the gigas who had been cited for the tournament in preparation for the first crusade designed for the redemption of the holy sepulchre from the possession of the infidel saracens, in which the animalculans will also engage. the first course, in this tournament of human instinct, will be inaugurated after a grand high mass, to be held in conjunction with the gigas, the priests of both races joining in the ceremonial administration of the rites. after the grand ‘entre’ the first course will be run between count marceroni, the roman champion, and any knight bold enough to accept his challenge. the first encounters are to be on roachback with spears, in support of the affirmed superiority, in beauty, of the contestant’s countrywomen, or “ladies,” in the style of the challenge. the proclamation sets forth that the encounter will be conducted in freedom from the slights of incantation, or other surreptitious advantages, in fair and open battle, the first unroached will be declared vanquished, yielding to the victor the right 207of heralding the supremacy of his countrywomen’s beauty, with the privilege of selecting from them a queen to reign during the continuance of the jousts, as the empress paramount of love, honor, and beauty. the second day’s joust will be a contention with axes, maces, and thorn sticks; the victor will be awarded the privilege of selecting a lady to preside over the distribution of prizes to the successful in the melée, or herd encounters of third day’s strife.
“this sketch of the announced proceedings, will give you an idea of the amusements patronized by the gigas under the ‘angelic’ supervision of women, with the sounding style of chivalric. but with both races, the preliminary amusements are devised as placebos to invite in transition awe, rather than indignation and horror for the final tragedy of human sacrifice. your opportune arrival will, with falcon aid, render our service effectual in baffling their intended murderous enactment, if our emprise meets with your approval.”
the chief and his associates warmly approved of the course proposed, offering to undertake alone the hazard of its successful issue, that the reproof might be in effect more significant of intention in the event of future transgressions. the scenes enacted at the tournament, the dosch said he would relate in quotation from the chronicler titview’s letter to giganteo.
