I then fixed my mind on Polaris, commonly called the North Star.  In journeying thither from Centaurus I passed thousands of Solar Systems scattered in space all around me.  As I was thus darting through immensity I glanced toward our own Solar System and could see nothing but a flickering star which was our Sun.  Not the faintest sign could I see of our world or of Jupiter.

A strange feeling passed over me when I began to realize how far I was from home.  I sped onward until I reached the North Star.  It is a burning sun, but not inhabited.

Polaris is the center of a magnificent system.  If a certain few of its worlds could be seen through a telescope, they would be picturesque in the extreme, somewhat resembling our beautiful Saturn.  Moons play like frisky lambs around some of its worlds, and many comets dance through the length of the whole system in richer confusion than we have ever beheld in the range of our telescopic vision.

Counting the worlds of larger size only, there are nearly one hundred that fly through their orbits around Polaris, some with amazing velocity.  Within the bounds of this solar system I spent considerable time.

The third world I visited I will call Stazza.  It is two hundred millions of miles from Polaris and is four hundred and fifty times as large as our world.

I was amazed at the new turn of life-manifestation that I found there.  To me it was unusually interesting because its temperature is quite similar to ours; but the order of life is reversed so completely that the human beings inhabit the water, and the long narrow strips of earth are infested with numerous species of land animals.  It may seem incredible that the depths of the ocean should be the seat of intelligence rivaling our own.

The human creatures of Stazza average a trifle larger in size than we, but they travel horizontally in water like a large fish.  The limbs support the body in rest, and in traveling are used like the hind legs of a frog, only more gracefully.  The arms closely resemble ours and have an infinite variety of uses.  In addition, there are four fin-like arms that fold into the body when at rest, but are spread for service when traveling.  In all it must be admitted that these Stazza people are capable of traveling more rapidly, and covering longer distances with much less fatigue than are we.  They can also carry greater burdens with more ease.  They wear no garments except one or two small pieces made of a tough species of sea grass.

Five-sixths of Stazza are covered with water and its depth at a few points is very great.  Throughout all the water regions there are many kinds of animal life, more than can be found in our oceans.  Thousands of human lives have been lost in conflict with the fiercer kinds of these water animals, with which the people of Stazza entered upon a war of extermination over one thousand years ago, and while intelligence is slowly winning the battle, yet the warfare is likely to continue many centuries to come, owing to the fact that these hostile fish occupy the soundless depths even as deep as four or five hundred miles according to our measurement.  Horned fish rising from these depths are a horrible menace to excursion parties or caravans, as well as to settlers on what we would call the frontier.