Voyage to the Center of the Earth by Jacques Collin de Plancy

Author:Jacques Collin de Plancy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Coat Press
Published: 2017-01-22T00:00:00+00:00

XIX. Journey to the isle of Sanor.

The seas of the small globe.

An honorable reception.

The next day, we were informed that we would be leaving for the capital in a month. Although we had almost nothing to desire in Silone, we were beginning to get bored with the uniform life that we led there, and like the Hebrews in the desert who regretted the onions of Egypt, we were weary of eating nothing but vegetables, and we thought sometimes about our former nourishment.

We took care, every day, to instruct ourselves regarding the customs of the country in which we were living. Many things there were different from what is known in Europe, but I did not notice anything that seemed to me to be utterly remarkable. Perhaps minds more observant than ours would have obtained a greater profit from the sojourn we made in the realm of Albur, but for myself, I only took note of singular things.

Our host had told us that several other people as well as the Alburians abstained from meat, and he had exhibited enough scorn for human carnivores; however, there was, fifty leagues from Silone, a civilized population who lived on meat as well as vegetables. From the moment that we heard mention of that nation, where we hoped to eat meat, we had conceived the project of spending some time there.

As we were to remain for another month in Silone before setting out for the capital of Albur, and ennui was overtaking us, we decided, two days after the festival of the great O to pay a short visit to the neighboring nation. We asked our host what sort of people we would find there.

“Giants,” he told us. “Not as tall as you, in truth, but as tall again as Alburians. Their country is a large island surrounded by rocks; it is called the island of Sanor. The men live under the absolute government of an emperor, the women under the despotism of an empress. The high priest of the country has a limitless power over the dead. Strangers are well-received on the island, because its people are traders and lovers of pleasure.”

A few further items of information we were given about the Sanorlians only served to excite our curiosity. We told our host that we wanted to see the island of Sanor, which was so close to us, before going to the capital, but we promised to return before the end of the month.

The governor of the town, to whom we went thereafter to make the same declaration, gave us letters of recommendation for the authorities of the land whether we were going, and we left Silone the following day. The recommendations were unnecessary, as you shall see.

As the day was long and we were good enough walkers, we covered before nightfall the twelve leagues there were between Silone and the sea. We had only seen the rivers of the small globe as yet, which could easily have passed for streams; we thought we

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