CHAPTER VII
CHILD-RAISING ON MARS
After a breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of the
preceding day and an index of practically every meal which followed
while I was with the green men of Mars, Sola escorted me to the
plaza, where I found the entire community engaged in watching or
helping at the harnessing of huge mastodonian animals to great
three-wheeled chariots. There were about two hundred and fifty of
these vehicles, each drawn by a single animal, any one of which,
from their appearance, might easily have drawn the entire wagon
train when fully loaded.
The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously
decorated. In each was seated a female Martian loaded with
ornaments of metal, with jewels and silks and furs, and upon the
back of each of the beasts which drew the chariots was perched a
young Martian driver. Like the animals upon which the warriors were
mounted, the heavier draft animals wore neither bit nor bridle, but
were guided entirely by telepathic means.
This power is wonderfully developed in all Martians, and accounts
largely for the simplicity of their language and the relatively
few spoken words exchanged even in long conversations. It is the
universal language of Mars, through the medium of which the higher
and lower animals of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate
to a greater or less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere
of the species and the development of the individual.
As the cavalcade took up the line of march in single file, Sola
dragged me into an empty chariot and we proceeded with the
procession toward the point by which I had entered the city the
day before. At the head of the caravan rode some two hundred
warriors, five abreast, and a like number brought up the rear,
while twenty-five or thirty outriders flanked us on either side.
Every one but myself--men, women, and children--were heavily armed,
and at the tail of each chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own
beast following closely behind ours; in fact, the faithful creature
never left me voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent on
Mars. Our way led out across the little valley before the city,
through the hills, and down into the dead sea bottom which I had
traversed on my journey from the incubator to the plaza. The
incubator, as it proved, was the terminal point of our journey this
day, and, as the entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon
as we reached the level expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within
sight of our goal.
On reaching it the chariots were parked with military precision
on the four sides of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors,
headed by the enormous chieftain, and including Tars Tarkas and
several other lesser chiefs, dismounted and advanced toward it.
I could see Tars Tarkas explaining something to the principal
chieftain, whose name, by the way, was, as nearly as I can
translate it into English, Lorquas Ptomel, Jed; jed being his
title.
I was soon appraised of the subject of their conversation, as,
calling to Sola, Tars Tarkas signed for her to send me to him. I
had by this time mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian
conditions, and quickly responding to his command I advanced to
the side of the incubator where the warriors stood.
As I reached their side a glance showed me that all but a very few
eggs had hatched, the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous
little devils. They ranged in height from three to four feet, and
were moving restlessly about the enclosure as though searching for
food.
As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over the
incubator and said, "Sak." I saw that he wanted me to repeat my
performance of yesterday for the edification of Lorquas Ptomel, and,
as I must confess that my prowess gave me no little satisfaction, I
responded quickly, leaping entirely over the parked chariots on the
far side of the incubator. As I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted
something at me, and turning to his warriors gave a few words of
command relative to the incubator. They paid no further attention
to me and I was thus permitted to remain close and watch their
operations, which consisted in breaking an opening in the wall of
the incubator large enough to permit of the exit of the young
Martians.
On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians,
both male and female, formed two solid walls leading out through the
chariots and quite away into the plain beyond. Between these walls
the little Martians scampered, wild as deer; being permitted to run
the full length of the aisle, where they were captured one at a time
by the women and older children; the last in the line capturing the
first little one to reach the end of the gauntlet, her opposite in
the line capturing the second, and so on until all the little
fellows had left the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth
or female. As the women caught the young they fell out of line and
returned to their respective chariots, while those who fell into the
hands of the young men were later turned over to some of the women.
I saw that the ceremony, if it could be dignified by such a name,
was over, and seeking out Sola I found her in our chariot with a
hideous little creature held tightly in her arms.
The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely in
teaching them to talk, and to use the weapons of warfare with
which they are loaded down from the very first year of their lives.
Coming from eggs in which they have lain for five years, the period
of incubation, they step forth into the world perfectly developed
except in size. Entirely unknown to their mothers, who, in turn,
would have difficulty in pointing out the fathers with any degree of
accuracy, they are the common children of the community, and their
education devolves upon the females who chance to capture them as
they leave the incubator.
Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the incubator,
as was the case with Sola, who had not commenced to lay, until
less than a year before she became the mother of another woman's
offspring. But this counts for little among the green Martians, as
parental and filial love is as unknown to them as it is common among
us. I believe this horrible system which has been carried on for
ages is the direct cause of the loss of all the finer feelings and
higher humanitarian instincts among these poor creatures. From
birth they know no father or mother love, they know not the meaning
of the word home; they are taught that they are only suffered to
live until they can demonstrate by their physique and ferocity that
they are fit to live. Should they prove deformed or defective in
any way they are promptly shot; nor do they see a tear shed for a
single one of the many cruel hardships they pass through from
earliest infancy.
I do not mean that the adult Martians are unnecessarily or
intentionally cruel to the young, but theirs is a hard and pitiless
struggle for existence upon a dying planet, the natural resources of
which have dwindled to a point where the support of each additional
life means an added tax upon the community into which it is thrown.
By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens of each
species, and with almost supernatural foresight they regulate the
birth rate to merely offset the loss by death.
Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each
year, and those which meet the size, weight, and specific gravity
tests are hidden in the recesses of some subterranean vault where
the temperature is too low for incubation. Every year these eggs
are carefully examined by a council of twenty chieftains, and all
but about one hundred of the most perfect are destroyed out of each
yearly supply. At the end of five years about five hundred almost
perfect eggs have been chosen from the thousands brought forth.
These are then placed in the almost air-tight incubators to be
hatched by the sun's rays after a period of another five years. The
hatching which we had witnessed today was a fairly representative
event of its kind, all but about one per cent of the eggs hatching
in two days. If the remaining eggs ever hatched we knew nothing of
the fate of the little Martians. They were not wanted, as their
offspring might inherit and transmit the tendency to prolonged
incubation, and thus upset the system which has maintained for ages
and which permits the adult Martians to figure the proper time for
return to the incubators, almost to an hour.
The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little
or no likelihood of their being discovered by other tribes. The
result of such a catastrophe would mean no children in the community
for another five years. I was later to witness the results of the
discovery of an alien incubator.
The community of which the green Martians with whom my lot was cast
formed a part was composed of some thirty thousand souls. They
roamed an enormous tract of arid and semi-arid land between forty
and eighty degrees south latitude, and bounded on the east and
west by two large fertile tracts. Their headquarters lay in the
southwest corner of this district, near the crossing of two of
the so-called Martian canals.
As the incubator had been placed far north of their own territory
in a supposedly uninhabited and unfrequented area, we had before us
a tremendous journey, concerning which I, of course, knew nothing.
After our return to the dead city I passed several days in
comparative idleness. On the day following our return all the
warriors had ridden forth early in the morning and had not returned
until just before darkness fell. As I later learned, they had been
to the subterranean vaults in which the eggs were kept and had
transported them to the incubator, which they had then walled up
for another five years, and which, in all probability, would not
be visited again during that period.
The vaults which hid the eggs until they were ready for the
incubator were located many miles south of the incubator, and would
be visited yearly by the council of twenty chieftains. Why they did
not arrange to build their vaults and incubators nearer home has
always been a mystery to me, and, like many other Martian mysteries,
unsolved and unsolvable by earthly reasoning and customs.
Sola's duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for the
young Martian as well as for me, but neither one of us required much
attention, and as we were both about equally advanced in Martian
education, Sola took it upon herself to train us together.
Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong
and physically perfect; also, he learned quickly, and we had
considerable amusement, at least I did, over the keen rivalry we
displayed. The Martian language, as I have said, is extremely
simple, and in a week I could make all my wants known and understand
nearly everything that was said to me. Likewise, under Sola's
tutelage, I developed my telepathic powers so that I shortly could
sense practically everything that went on around me.
What surprised Sola most in me was that while I could catch
telepathic messages easily from others, and often when they were
not intended for me, no one could read a jot from my mind under any
circumstances. At first this vexed me, but later I was very glad
of it, as it gave me an undoubted advantage over the Martians.
