A Princess of Mars

These ancient Martians had been a highly cultivated and literary race,

but during the vicissitudes of those trying centuries of readjustment

to new conditions, not only did their advancement and production cease

entirely, but practically all their archives, records, and literature

were lost.

Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts and legends concerning this

lost race of noble and kindly people. She said that the city in which

we were camping was supposed to have been a center of commerce and

culture known as Korad. It had been built upon a beautiful, natural

harbor, landlocked by magnificent hills. The little valley on the west

front of the city, she explained, was all that remained of the harbor,

while the pass through the hills to the old sea bottom had been the

channel through which the shipping passed up to the city's gates.

The shores of the ancient seas were dotted with just such cities, and

lesser ones, in diminishing numbers, were to be found converging toward

the center of the oceans, as the people had found it necessary to

follow the receding waters until necessity had forced upon them their

ultimate salvation, the so-called Martian canals.

We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building and in our

conversation that it was late in the afternoon before we realized it.

We were brought back to a realization of our present conditions by a

messenger bearing a summons from Lorquas Ptomel directing me to appear

before him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola farewell, and

commanding Woola to remain on guard, I hastened to the audience

chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and Tars Tarkas seated upon the

rostrum.