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as we could not accompany them without incurring great danger ourselves and
running the chance of endangering them; but each swore to be always our friend
and assured us that should we need their aid at any time we had but to ask it;
nor could I doubt their sincerity, since we had been so instrumental in bringing
them safely upon their journey toward the Kro-lu village.
This was our last day together. In the afternoon we should separate, To-mar and
So-al going directly to the Kro-lu village, while Ajor and I made a detour to avoid a
conflict with the archers. The former both showed evidence of nervous
apprehension as the time approached for them to make their entry into the village
of their new people, and yet both were very proud and happy. They told us that
they would be well received as additions to a tribe always are welcomed, and the
more so as the distance from the beginning increased, the higher tribes or races
being far weaker numerically than the lower. The southern end of the island
fairly swarms with the Ho-lu, or apes; next above these are the Alus, who are
slightly fewer in number than the Ho-lu; and again there are fewer Bolu than
Alus, and fewer Sto-lu than Bo-lu. Thus it goes until the Kro-lu are fewer in
number than any of the others; and here the law reverses, for the Galus
outnumber the Kro-lu. As Ajor explained it to me, the reason for this is that as
evolution practically ceases with the Galus, there is no less among them on this
score, for even the cos-ata-lo are still considered Galus and remain with them.
And Galus come up both from the west and east coasts. There are, too, fewer
carnivorous reptiles at the north end of the island, and not so many of the great
and ferocious members of the cat family as take their hideous toll of life among
the races further south.
By now I was obtaining some idea of the Caspakian scheme of evolution, which
partly accounted for the lack of young among the races I had so far seen. Coming
up from the beginning, the Caspakian passes, during a single existence, through
the various stages of evolution, or at least many of them, through which the
human race has passed during the countless ages since life first stirred upon a
new world; but the question which continued to puzzle me was: What creates life
at the beginning, cor sva jo?
I had noticed that as we traveled northward from the Alus' country the land had
gradually risen until we were now several hundred feet above the level of the
inland sea. Ajor told me that the Galus country was still higher and considerably
colder, which accounted for the scarcity of reptiles. The change in form and
kinds of the lower animals was even more marked than the evolutionary stages of
man. The diminutive ecca, or small horse, became a rough-coated and sturdy
little pony in the Kro-lu country. I saw a greater number of small lions and
tigers, though many of the huge ones still persisted, while the woolly mammoth
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