These terrible convulsions of nature time
and time again wiped out the existing species--but for this fact
some monster of the Saurozoic epoch might rule today upon our own
world. We see here what might well have occurred in our own history
had conditions been what they have been here.
"Life within Pellucidar is far younger than upon the outer crust.
Here man has but reached a stage analogous to the Stone Age of
our own world's history, but for countless millions of years these
reptiles have been progressing. Possibly it is the sixth sense
which I am sure they possess that has given them an advantage over
the other and more frightfully armed of their fellows; but this
we may never know. They look upon us as we look upon the beasts
of our fields, and I learn from their written records that other
races of Mahars feed upon men--they keep them in great droves, as
we keep cattle. They breed them most carefully, and when they are
quite fat, they kill and eat them."
I shuddered.
"What is there horrible about it, David?" the old man asked. "They
understand us no better than we understand the lower animals of our
own world. Why, I have come across here very learned discussions
of the question as to whether gilaks, that is men, have any means
of communication. One writer claims that we do not even reason--that
our every act is mechanical, or instinctive. The dominant race
of Pellucidar, David, have not yet learned that men converse among
themselves, or reason.
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