by paying liberally to those already engaged in it. This assists the
government in carrying its heavy financial burdens, and every family is
assured of support if the soil produces enough to feed the people.

And now if I knew how to describe elements that have no resemblance to
anything in our world, I would proceed to tell a story of interest to
chemists. These Zikites have formed gases and solids unknown to us, and
naturally they are capable of performing experiments more wonderful than
anything ever known in our world. When I saw their wizard-like
performances I thought that the marvelous feats of the Orient were being
performed on a scale more mysterious and magnificent.

To see a man play with red hot irons and dance in a seething furnace,
makes one believe that his eyes are deceiving him.

I saw a man draw the birds from heaven and dormant reptiles from the
soil, but ask me not to tell how. A few of these Zikites have discovered
some wonderful secrets of nature and will not disclose them except to
certain ones of their own lineage. One of these secrets is the art of
embalming the dead so perfectly that human features are retained forever
unless destroyed by fire or human effort. The embalming fluid contains
some of the elements not found in our world, but this is not the total
secret. The body must lie in an air-tight receptacle into which a
secret gas is pumped. The dead body, lying in this receptacle for two
hours, absorbs certain parts of the gas which enters the pores and
touches those parts of the dead body not reached by the injected fluid.
By this process no part of the body is subject to putrefaction and the
muscles all retain their rigidity, so that one hundred years after
burial the features are full, although discolored.