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50 of course food, clothing, dwellings, and exertion had to receive attention.”

“I notice,” I said, “that though your people are not much greater in size than ours, yet they are ever so much stronger” (I had unpleasant proof of it), “and possess more vitality. How is this sustained,” I asked, “considering that you are one people?”

“We are but one people, and have only one continent,” was the reply; “yet we are constantly colonizing. Take, for instance, that rich district you passed through on your way to Atazatlan. Well, the whole of the people are to be removed from that territory at an early date, and settled on another that has not been occupied for nearly five hundred years. Our people like this migration to new parts; they and also the animals and plants benefit by it.”

“How about the health of your great cities?” I asked.

“Cities are built only in localities known to be extremely healthy,” was the answer, “and on chosen sites. The principal portion of Atazatlan, for instance, is built on the bare rock, the soil used for gardening and other purposes having been carried to it; and then it is not an unusual thing