CHAPTER XXVIII
LAST WORDS TO MY READERS
As I have decided to stay here upon Mars, and have just taken leave ofmy two dear old friends, I will now address a few last words to thosewho may read this record of our trip to Mars, and then seal up thepacket ready for John to take with him.
In the course of my conversations with Merna's tutors, I learnt muchabout the past history of the Martian people; and they told me that itdates back to such a remote antiquity that, as compared with theirs,ours is only the history of an infancy!
Mars, being a much smaller globe than the earth, cooled down and becamehabitable aeons before the earth reached that stage; and at the time whenthe earlier inhabitants of our world were living in woods andcaves--slowly and painfully fashioning for themselves weapons and toolsout of chipped flint-stones--there existed upon Mars a people who hadthen arrived at a full and vigorous civilisation.
What wonder then that, with all these past ages of development and theincentive which the present physical condition of the planet suppliesthem, the Martians of the present day are in all respects, whetherphysically, morally, or intellectually, far in advance of theinhabitants of our much younger, and therefore less developed, world!
The lessons to be learned from this, and from the physical conditionsnow prevailing on the planet, are very similar.
Mars, gradually, but inevitably, becoming a vast desert, and with theend of all things certain to arrive in a comparatively near future,pictures to us what must as inevitably be the fate of our own world ageshence, unless it come to an untimely end by some catastrophe.
As Professor Lowell has pointed out, we know we have an abundant supplyof water at the present time, but we also know that, ages ago, the areaof our world covered with water was immensely greater than it is now.From the very beginning of our world's existence the process ofdiminution of the water area has always gone on, and it will still goon--slowly, surely, and continually.
As an inevitable result of this decrease of water, and other naturalconditions, vast areas of land on both sides of our tropical zones havebecome deserts; and it is a scientific certainty that this process ofdesertism will, and must continue, until it covers the whole world.
But, I think, the end will long be delayed, for the loss by desertismwill, as it seems to me, for ages be compensated by the new andhabitable land arising from areas now covered by water. The old sea-bedsupon Mars are now the most fertile areas upon that planet.
As the desertism increases conditions similar to those of Mars willarise; the earth will become more level, polar glaciation will cease,the atmosphere become thinner, and water vapour, instead of falling asrain, will be carried by circulatory currents to the poles, and there bedeposited as snow. What the Martians have accomplished has shown us howto stave off the water difficulty, and also how a highly civilised andintelligent people can bravely and calmly face the end which theyclearly foresee!
This is the lesson from the present physical condition of Mars.
On the other hand, the continual progress of civilisation upon Mars, andthe very high development attained there, coupled with what we know ofour own progress during the ages past, give certainty to the hope thatour own civilisation will continue to develop, slowly indeed, butsurely; and also to the belief that, compared to what it will be in thefuture, our present stage of civilisation is merely savagery.
Development will lead to progress in everything which tends to increasethe intelligence, wisdom, and happiness of the whole human race.
Our world has seen the rise and fall of many civilisations, but freshones have risen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of those which havedeparted and been forgotten. "The individual withers," but "the world ismore and more." As it was in the past, so will it be in thefuture--ever-changing, ever-passing, but ever-renewing, until the finalstage is reached.
Since the earliest dawn of our creation the watchword of humanity hasbeen "Onward!" and it is still "Onward!" but also "Upward!!" Thepossibilities of the development of the human race in the ages yet tocome are so vast as to be beyond our conception; for, as Sir OliverLodge has remarked, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has itentered into the mind of man to conceive what the future has in storefor humanity!" Then:
"Forward, forward, let us range, Let the great world spin for ever down the ringing grooves of change!"
This, then, is the great lesson which Martian civilisation teaches us.Surely it affords no reason for the depression and pessimism in whichsome upon the earth are so prone to indulge; but rather should it stirthem to a more earnest endeavour, by gradually removing the obstacleswhich now bar their progress, to improve the social conditions of thepeople; so that they in their turn may improve their intellectualconditions, and lend their aid to the general advancement of the worldthey live in.
Gloom, depression, and pessimism, of which we have had more than enoughof late years, never yet helped any one. They have, however, proveddisastrous to many.
Remember our world is young yet! so set before yourselves the greatideal of the brotherhood of humanity! Our religion teaches it; strive tohelp in attaining it; and in so doing each may, and will, achievesomething to help forward the gradual evolution of a brighter andhappier world for the generations that are to come. In that brighter andhappier world I have faith, for:
"I hold it truth with him who sings, To one clear harp in divers tones, That men may rise on stepping-stones Of their dead selves to higher things."
And:
"I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, And the thoughts of men are widen'd with the process of the suns."
[_End of the Narrative written by Wilfrid Poynders, Esq._]