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Page 36
"Before a landing could be made, half the invaders, in the confusion
incident to a bombardment with lava-blocks, were thrown from their boats
and drowned, or knocked on the head as they swam ashore. Of the other
half, a third were killed as they attempted to land, and another third
within five minutes after they reached the shore. Then the remaining
fifteen thousand or more rushed back to their boats, only to find them
sunk in the shallow water near the shore--it having been quite easy for
eight or ten Hili-lites to sink each boat, by bearing in unison their
weight on one gunwale--a thousand or two young Hili-lites having been
assigned to that duty. Then the poor wretches who remained threw down
their flimsy bows, and fell face-downward on the ground, at the feet of
the victors. Under the circumstances, what could so noble a people as
were the Hili-lites do? They could not slaughter in cold blood nearly
twenty thousand trembling human creatures. So it was finally decided to
build a thousand large-sized row-boats, and it being the best time of
the year for that purpose, take them back to their own islands. This was
done. But in punishment for their offence, and as a constant reminder of
the existence of the Hili-lites--(who, as these savages knew, had
destroyed more than eighty thousand of their number, with a loss of only
twelve of their own killed, and thirty-seven seriously wounded--which
fact, by the bye, Peters says is inscribed on a monument in the City of
Hili-li, as well as recorded in the official history of the
Hili-lites)--as a constant reminder, I say, of a people so powerful,
they were ordered never, on any island in their group, to display any
object of a white color--the national color of the Hili-lites. So strict
and inclusive was this command, that the natives were ordered to take
each of their descendants as soon as his teeth appeared, and color them
with an indelible, metallic blue-black dye, repeating the operation
every year up to ten, and thereafter once in five years. The command
closed with the statement that the natives would be allowed to retain
the whites of their eyes, but only for the reason that, as they looked
at each other they would there, and only there, see the national color
of Hili-li, and so have always in mind the promise of the victors, that
if another descent on Hili-li were ever attempted, no single
native--man, woman, or child--would be allowed to live. In addition to
this, the Hili-lites engraved on a number of suitable rocks on each
island an inscription, briefly recording a reminder of the terrible
results of this attempt at conquest, heading each inscription with the
rude representation of a man with arm extended to the south, over which
and parallel with which was placed an arrow pointing to the
north--meaning, 'There is the direction in which a certain foolish
people may go to find quick death: from there comes war and
extermination!'
"So effective were the means employed by the Hili-lites to prevent
future raids, that, though the inhabitants of these islands had again
increased, probably to a million or more, no second invasion had ever
been attempted by even the strongest and bravest of their savage
chiefs."
"Well," I said, as Bainbridge paused, and seemed to be thinking just
what to say next, "what of the beautiful Lilama and the infatuated
Ahpilus? I hope poor Pym is not to have so charming a love-feast broken
into by any untoward event. I must say, Bainbridge, those Hili-lites
were wonderfully careless of their loveliest women--of a beautiful girl
of sixteen, and so close to royalty itself."
"Well, my cold-blooded friend, what will you say when I tell you that
Lilama was an orphan, and had inherited from her father the only island
in the archipelago upon which precious stones were found, and that even
in that strange land she was wealthier than the king? Had she been able
to get the products of her islands into the markets of the world, she
would have been wealthier than Croesus, the Count of Monte Cristo and
the Rothschilds, all combined. However, in Hili-li, wealth was
not--well, not an all-powerful factor; important, but not having the
power which in the remainder of the civilized world it possesses. To
have power, money must be able to purchase human labor or its products,
as only by human power is all other force utilized. In Hili-li, a
citizen possessed everything that he required for his ordinary wants,
and it was almost impossible to purchase the leisure time of any man. It
was possible on certain conditions to procure human labor, but it was
extremely difficult to do so. Then, for seven or eight hundred years
slavery had been prohibited in the land, all existing slaves having been
emancipated--after which, in the course of a few generations, Hili-lian
history says, the slaves and the slave-spirit were lost in the mass of
the population.
"In thinking over the position of Lilama and Pym, you must consider that
the older members of the family would probably not soon hear of such a
thing as love between these two, and, even when they did hear of it,
would have little doubt of being able to 'control the situation' as they
should please. Then, with the ideas possessed by the Hili-lites, there
would not arise any very serious objection to a union by marriage of
Lilama and young Pym. The Hili-lites believed the feelings to be a guide
to true happiness; and whilst they would certainly have controlled the
circumstances leading up to the seemingly unwise marriage of a girl of
sixteen--for they believed also in a proper education of the
feelings--they would not have prevented even a seemingly unwise
marriage, provided the feelings of those concerned loudly demanded such
a union--I mean that if in _reason_ such a marriage should seem
unwise--But enough. The hour is late, and I shall not before to-morrow
evening at eight o'clock begin a description of the exciting scenes
through which the beautiful Lilama was so soon to pass, and the
adventures of Pym and Peters--adventures so terrible that for centuries
to come they will descend, a thrilling romance, from generation to
generation, in those usually quiet and peaceful islands."
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