She then explained in general
the instruments her people had used and been perfecting for ages,
which permit them to throw upon a screen a perfect image of what
is transpiring upon any planet and upon many of the stars. These
pictures are so perfect in detail that, when photographed and
enlarged, objects no greater than a blade of grass may be distinctly
recognized. I afterward, in Helium, saw many of these pictures, as
well as the instruments which produced them.
"If, then, you are so familiar with earthly things," I asked, "why
is it that you do not recognize me as identical with the inhabitants
of that planet?"
She smiled again as one might in bored indulgence of a questioning
child.
"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every planet and star
having atmospheric conditions at all approaching those of Barsoom,
shows forms of animal life almost identical with you and me; and,
further, Earth men, almost without exception, cover their bodies
with strange, unsightly pieces of cloth, and their heads with
hideous contraptions the purpose of which we have been unable to
conceive; while you, when found by the Tharkian warriors, were
entirely undisfigured and unadorned.
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