A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs Page B

square made by the buildings which
faced the four contiguous streets, and which was now given over to
the quartering of the various animals belonging to the warriors
occupying the adjoining buildings.
    While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like
vegetation which blankets practically the entire surface of Mars,
yet numerous fountains, statuary, benches, and pergola-like
contraptions bore witness to the beauty which the court must have
presented in bygone times, when graced by the fair-haired, laughing
people whom stern and unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only
from their homes, but from all except the vague legends of their
descendants.
    One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant
Martian vegetation which once filled this scene with life and color;
the graceful figures of the beautiful women, the straight and
handsome men; the happy frolicking children—all sunlight, happiness
and peace. It was difficult to realize that they had gone; down
through ages of darkness, cruelty, and ignorance, until their
hereditary instincts of culture and humanitarianism had risen
ascendant once more in the final composite race which now is
dominant upon Mars.
    My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several young females
bearing loads of weapons, silks, furs, jewels, cooking utensils,
and casks of food and drink, including considerable loot from the
air craft. All this, it seemed, had been the property of the two
chieftains I had slain, and now, by the customs of the Tharks, it
had become mine. At my direction they placed the stuff in one of
the back rooms, and then departed, only to return with a second
load, which they advised me constituted the balance of my goods.
On the second trip they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other
women and youths, who, it seemed, formed the retinues of the two
chieftains.
    They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their servants;
the relationship was peculiar, and so unlike anything known to us
that it is most difficult to describe. All property among the green
Martians is owned in common by the community, except the personal
weapons, ornaments and sleeping silks and furs of the individuals.
These alone can one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate
more of these than are required for his actual needs. The surplus
he holds merely as custodian, and it is passed on to the younger
members of the community as necessity demands.
    The women and children of a man's retinue may be likened to a
military unit for which he is responsible in various ways, as in
matters of instruction, discipline, sustenance, and the exigencies
of their continual roamings and their unending strife with other
communities and with the red Martians. His women are in no sense
wives. The green Martians use no word corresponding in meaning with
this earthly word. Their mating is a matter of community interest
solely, and is directed without reference to natural selection.
The council of chieftains of each community control the matter
as surely as the owner of a Kentucky racing stud directs the
scientific breeding of his stock for the improvement of the whole.
    In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but
the results of ages of this unnatural practice, coupled with the
community interest in the offspring being held paramount to that of
the mother, is shown in the cold, cruel creatures, and their gloomy,
loveless, mirthless existence.
    It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous, both
men and women, with the exception of such degenerates as Tal Hajus;
but better far a finer balance of human characteristics even at
the expense of a slight and occasional loss of chastity.
    Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures,
whether I would or not, I made the best of it and directed them to
find quarters on the upper floors, leaving the third floor to me.
One of the girls I charged with the duties of my simple cuisine,
and directed