sixteen-legged worm, in the third the progenitor of the white ape
and in the fourth the primaeval black man of Barsoom.

"When the bud burst the plant man remained dangling at the end of
his stem, but the three other sections fell to the ground, where the
efforts of their imprisoned occupants to escape sent them hopping
about in all directions.

"Thus as time went on, all Barsoom was covered with these imprisoned
creatures. For countless ages they lived their long lives within
their hard shells, hopping and skipping about the broad planet;
falling into rivers, lakes, and seas, to be still further spread
about the surface of the new world.

"Countless billions died before the first black man broke through
his prison walls into the light of day. Prompted by curiosity, he
broke open other shells and the peopling of Barsoom commenced.

"The pure strain of the blood of this first black man has remained
untainted by admixture with other creatures in the race of which
I am a member; but from the sixteen-legged worm, the first ape and
renegade black man has sprung every other form of animal life upon
Barsoom.

"The therns," and he smiled maliciously as he spoke, "are but the
result of ages of evolution from the pure white ape of antiquity.
They are a lower order still. There is but one race of true and
immortal humans on Barsoom. It is the race of black men.

"The Tree of Life is dead, but before it died the plant men learned