hat master thrice shrive his soul; take
every sacrament; on his bended knees give up the ghost;--yet
shall he die despairing; and live again, to die forever damned. The
future is all hieroglyphics. Who may read? But, methinks the great
laggard Time must now march up apace, and somehow befriend these
thralls. It can not be, that misery is perpetually entailed; though,
in a land proscribing primogeniture, the first-born and last of Hamo's
tribe must still succeed to all their sires' wrongs. Yes. Time--all-
healing Time--Time, great Philanthropist!--Time must befriend these
thralls!"

"Oro grant it!" cried Yoomy "and let Mardi say, amen!"

"Amen! amen! amen!" cried echoes echoing echoes.

We traversed many of these southern vales; but as in Dominora,--so,
throughout Vivenza, North and South,--Yillah harbored not.

CHAPTER LIX
They Converse Of The Mollusca, Kings, Toad-Stools And Other Matters

Once more embarking, we gained Vivenza's southwestern side and there,
beheld vast swarms of laborers discharging from canoes, great loads of
earth; which they tossed upon the beach.

"It is true, then," said Media "that these freemen are engaged in
digging down other lands, and adding them to their own, piece-meal.
And this, they call extending their dominions agriculturally, and
peaceably."

"My lord, they pay a price for every canoe-load," said Mohi.

"Ay, old man, holding the spear in one hand, and striking the bargain
with the other."

"Yet charge it not upon all Vivenza," said Babbalanja. "Some of her
tribes are hostile to these things: and when their countryman fight
for land, are only warlike in opposing war."

"And therein, Babbalanja, is involved one of those anomalies in the
condition of Vivenza," said Media, "which I can hardly comprehend. How
comes it, that with so Many things to divide them, the valley-tribes
still keep their mystic league intact?"

"All plain, it is because the model, whence they derive their union,
is one of nature's planning. My lord, have you ever observed the
mysterious federation subsisting among the molluscs of the Tunicata
order,--in other words, a species of cuttle-fish, abounding at the
bottom of the lagoon?"

"Yes: in clear weather about the reefs, I have beheld them time and
again: but never with an eye to their political condition."

"Ah! my lord king, we should not cut off the nervous communication
between our eyes, and our cerebellums."

"What were you about to say