Page:Amazing Stories Volume 10 Number 13.djvu/111

Rh gather. Save for a slightly enlarged cranium and the loss of the fourth toe, there has been little alteration in skeletal structure. I should explain the continuance of narrow shoulders and wide hips on the grounds that the nation is primarily sedentary.

Their daylight clothing consists of a sash of dun or other brownish color, dropping from the right shoulder to the left hip, whence it circles to drape the midriff. Between sunset and sunrise this is supplemented by a heavy slip-over, woven, as are our own, from the sinews of the rannel-frog. Luna's water-scarcity has forced the abandonment of gardening; their food now consists primarily of concentrated vitamins, flesh from domesticated beasts, and temptingly prepared underground crawlers.

With certain exceptions, Woman has acquired characteristics which once were considered typical of the Male. The cheeks have become hairy, which is especially interesting since our own have all but lost their immemorial growth. The skin of the face has abandoned its generic smoothness, and clings tightly to the bony structure. Other evolutionary progress has paralleled our own. Three toes to each foot are becoming a common-place, as opposed to the four of ancient and the five of prehistoric days. The hand is narrow, retaining four long fingers and a thumb. The teeth are non-existent in the urban population; but among the country folk, who consume more resistant foods, a set of twenty is not rare.

Surprisingly, the only definite throw-back I have observed is in the queen. It is difficult to describe her impersonally; I can say only that she resembles closely our pictures and reconstructions of ancient Woman. I am informed that she boasts twenty-eight teeth, of which twenty-four have appeared above the gum, and that she has not only four toes to each foot, but the vestiges of a fifth. For these reasons, among others no less personal, she is not popular with the ladies of the court. To myself her appearance is enchanting; I find it pleasant to follow her about with my eyes.

I shall continue this recording on receipt of your lordships' further instructions, which I hope will arrive before the end of this Rotation. It is my sincere desire and aim that during my ministry regular communication may be resumed between our two nations, which were recently so great and which now, alas! shrink back not only from the gulf of human decadence, but from extinction itself.

Gentlemen, I sign myself with the most sincere respect and devotion:

Birna, Lord of the abandoned White Province,

To the Lords of Colla and to their Sons, Greeting:

I confess myself perturbed that no word from Colla has followed me since I took up residence here. Can it be that the warrior ants have overwhelmed your messenger? Or did he lose himself among the featureless termitariums that blanket the globe? Or—more horrible thought—have the insects again conquered Colla's flame walls, and swept over her one remaining city?