"I would not do that," he said, "for you have just saved my life,"
and with that he released his hold upon it and squatted down in
the bottom of the skiff.

"Who are you," he continued, "and from what country do you come?"

I too sat down, laying the spear between us, and tried to explain
how I came to Pellucidar, and wherefrom, but it was as impossible
for him to grasp or believe the strange tale I told him as I fear
it is for you upon the outer crust to believe in the existence
of the inner world. To him it seemed quite ridiculous to imagine
that there was another world far beneath his feet peopled by beings
similar to himself, and he laughed uproariously the more he thought
upon it. But it was ever thus. That which has never come within the
scope of our really pitifully meager world-experience cannot be--our
finite minds cannot grasp that which may not exist in accordance
with the conditions which obtain about us upon the outside of the
insignificant grain of dust which wends its tiny way among the
bowlders of the universe--the speck of moist dirt we so proudly
call the World.

So I gave it up and asked him about himself. He said he was a
Mezop, and that his name was Ja.

"Who are the Mezops?" I asked. "Where do they live?"

He looked at me in surprise.

"I might indeed believe that you were from another world," he said,
"for who of Pellucidar could be so ignorant! The Mezops live upon