ost lay aside thy feathery tips, leaving the sun of heaven do
the shining. Thou permittest water crystals to give the rainbow hues,
whilst thou in thy own modest way, continuest to yield sustenance for
man and bird and beast.

"O instructive soil! Wilt thou not, in thy own wise way, speak to the
thoughtless man who feels content to grovel with the miserable diamond,
who takes his lessons from the dead, dead rock, and feeds his soul upon
such flinty food. Open his ears to hear thy words of life and light, and
may he see in thee the brighter mirror reflecting the God of all."

This one oration condensed is a fair sample of the others. I listened to
the whole program and then proceeded once more to view the diamond
splendors before I left this world where I was well paid for my
tarrying.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Triumphant Feat of Orion.

As I continued ranging among the planets of the constellation of Orion,
I felt an indescribable desire to pause at a very small orb which
revolves around Saiph, a star of the third magnitude.

Here I found, to my surprise, a gem of a world which I will call Holen.
It is five hundred miles in diameter, and inhabited by a refined race of
human beings, radically different from us in physical contour, but
remarkably similar to us in their mental aspirations.

As a race they greatly excel us in mechanical engineering. Many
evidences of their skill might be given, but we will be content to give
a description of their monumental engineering feat.

Long ages ago Holen had cooled to the center, and it became the ruling
passion of her most intelligent inhabitants to communicate from one
side of the globe to the other through an opening of five hundred miles
almost directly through the center of their earth, or more accurately
speaking, through the center of gravity.

After forty-five hundred years of experimenting the marvelous feat was
accomplished.

Of all the worlds in the constellation of Orion, large or small, Holen
is the only one that has succeeded in this astounding feat, although it
has been and is being tried on more than a dozen worlds.

This wonderful opening through Holen's center of gravity is lined with
sections of ribbed metal which cost the governments fabulous sums. This
vast tube was finished thirteen hundred years ago according to our time.

Many lives were sacrificed in the hazardous work of tunneling. Were it
not for the ribbed metal which afforded protection wit