CHAPTER XVII.

The Diamond World.

When one reads of the size and population of our world he is thrilled with the idea of its greatness.  But when he travels over land and sea, visiting the many points of interest, he is impressed four-fold with the magnitude of the Earth and the vast numbers that populate it.

It is infinitely more so in regard to the many suns and planets that compose the universe.  I had read of the distances of space and of the number of celestial bodies that are scattered throughout these measureless expanses, and I was profoundly impressed with the vastness of created things and the eternal revolutions of the countless spheres.  But when I took my continued flight away from the solar system of Sirius and was privileged to get a passing glimpse of many other solar systems, I was overawed a thousand-fold at the myriad motions of the myriad worlds, each serving its little part through the passing cycles to carry out the plan of the Infinite Mind.

My next pause was at the glorious constellation of Orion on the star Rigel.  This brilliant orb is not inhabited, but more than one-half of the worlds revolving around it sustain human life.

After I had taken a passing glimpse of a few worlds belonging to this system, I proceeded to visit another world that revolves around Rigel at a distance of sixteen hundred million miles.  It is a trifle larger than our world and is inhabited by only about one-tenth as many people.

This is the brightest planet I had ever seen, for it dazzled and sparkled like pearls of ice in the sun, and yet it gave forth no light of its own.

I soon learned the secret of all this scintillation.  I had come to a world that seemed to be covered with diamonds and precious stones.  The mountains were barren of all vegetation and glistened with all the glory of a hundred rainbows.

I presumed that I had come to immense beds of quartz, but the rare brilliancy of the whole scene set me to work to ascertain the value of these stones.  To my astonishment, I found that the shining mountains and valleys were filled with genuine diamonds and precious stones, some of which are very rare according to our classification.  I was dazed at the sight, first because of its brilliancy and beauty, and next because of the fabulous fortunes that were lying at my feet.

Then I transported myself to another part of the planet that I might get a view of its living fields of vegetation.  Alas, I again met the shining of countless gems, set by nature in ledges of rock and massed in confused heaps all around me.

“What a rich world!” I inwardly murmured.  “How can people live on diamonds?”

As I was thus musing I sped onward to one of the soil centers of this world.  Here I found a small city built of diamonds and choice stones of which the people thought no more than we do of the stones brought down from our quarries.