Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

CHAPTER XII. Wonderful faculties of the Symzonians.--Translation of my books into their language.--Proposition of a Wise man to make slaves of the Author and his people.--The Author's remonstrance.--The Wise man disgraced. The extraordinary strength and vigour of the faculties of this people enabled them to effect, in a short time, what would occupy the most intelligent of the externals for years. I can convey an idea of them only, by calling to the recollection of the reader the talent at computation manifested by Zera Colburn, who, at the age of 10 years, calculated the sum of any given number of figures in the twinkling of an eye, as though he arrived at the result by intuition. The faculties of the Symzonians all seemed to be nearly perfect. They are obviously as much superior to ours, as Colburn's powers, of calculation were greater than those of other untaught boys; which, no doubt, results from their strict conformity to the law of their nature. With such powers of mind, it need not be matter of surprise that all my books were very soon translated into their language, and numerous copies of them printed, and distributed amongst the most learned and discreet, with instructions to report as to their fitness for general circulation. This examination and report brought me into serious difficulty. A certain Wise man presented a memorial to the Best Man, in council, in which he attempted to prove, from the books which I had put into his hands, my large size, dingy complexion, carnivorous appetite, and my own account of the sensual habits and propensities of my race, that we were actually the offspring of the wicked who had been expelled from Symzonia for their vices, and that we ought to be subjected to the penalty denounced by their laws in such cases.