The Last American | Page 5

for a blushing maiden!"
"Then let thy grief be of short life," responded Nofuhl, "for Mehrikan
damsels were not of that description. Blush-ing was an art they
practised little. The shyness thou so lovest in a Persian maiden was to
them an unknown thing. Our shrinking daughters bear no resemblance
to these Western products. They strode the public streets with roving
eyes and unblushing faces, holding free converse with men as with
women, bold of speech and free of manner, going and coming as it
pleased them best. They knew much of the world, managed their own
affairs, and devised their own marriages, often changing their minds
and marrying another than the betrothed."
"Bismillah! And men could love these things?" exclaimed
Lev-el-Hedyd with much feeling.
"So it appears."
"But I should say the Mehrikan bride had much the freshness of a dried
fig."
"So she had," said Nofuhl; "but those who know only the dried fig have
no regret for the fresh fruit. But the fault was not with the maidens.
Brought up like boys, with the same studies and mental development,
the womanly part of their nature gradually vanished as their minds
expanded. Vigor of intellect was the object of a woman's education."
Then Lev-el-Hedyd exclaimed with great disgust:
"Praises be to Allah for his aid in exterminating such a people!" and he

walked away from the bed, and began looking about the chamber. In a
moment he hastened back to us, saying:
"Here are more jewels! also money!"
Nofuhl eagerly took the pieces.
"Money!" he cried. "Money will tell us more than pages of history!"
There were silver coins of different sizes and two small pieces of
copper. Nofuhl studied them closely.
"The latest date is 1957," he said; "a little less than a thousand years
ago; but the piece may have been in circulation some years before this
woman died; also it may have been coined the very year of her death. It
bears the head of Dennis, the last of the Hy-Burnyan dictators. The race
is supposed to have become extinct before 1990 of their era."
I then said;
"Thou hast never told us, O Nofuhl! the cause of their disappearance."
"There were many causes," he answered. "The Mehrikans themselves
were of English origin, but people from all parts of Europe came here
in vast numbers. Although the original comers were vigorous and hardy
the effect of climate upon succeeding generations was fatal. They
became flat-chested and thin, with scanty hair, fragile teeth, and weak
digestions. Nervous diseases unknown to us wrought deadly havoc.
Children were reared with difficulty. Between 1945 and 1960, the last
census of which any record remains, the population decreased from
ninety millions to less than twelve millions. Climatic changes, the like
of which no other land ever experienced, began at that period, and
finished in less than ten years a work made easy by nervous natures and
rapid lives. The temperature would skip in a single day from burning
heat to winter's cold. No constitution could withstand it, and this vast
continent became once more an empty wilderness."
Much more of the same nature he told us, but I am too sleepy to write
longer. We explored the rest of the mansion, finding many things of
interest. I caused several objects to be carried aboard the Zlotuhb.
(These objects are now in the museum of the Imperial College, at
Teheran.)

14th May

Hotter than yesterday.

In the afternoon we were rowed up the river and landed for a short walk.
It is unsafe to brave the sun.
The more I learn of these Mehrikans the less interesting they become.
Nofuhl is of much the same mind, judging from our conversation
to-day, as we walked along together. It was in this wise:
Khan-li.
How alike the houses! How monotonous!
Nofuhl
So, also, were the occupants. They thought alike, worked alike, ate,
dressed and conversed alike. They read the same books; they fashioned
their garments as directed, with no regard for the size or figure of the
individual, and copied to a stitch the fashions of Europeans.
Khan-li.
But the close-fitting apparel of the European must have been sadly
uncomfortable in the heat of a Mehrikan summer.
Nofuhl
So probably it was. Stiff boxes of varying patterns adorned the heads of
men. Curious jackets with tight sleeves compressed the body. The feet
throbbed and burned in close-fitting casings of un-yielding leather, and
linen made stiff by artificial means was drawn tightly about the neck.
Khan-li
Allah! What idiots!
Nofuhl
Even so are they considered.
Khan-Ii.
To what quality of their minds do you attribute such love of needless
suffering?
Nofnhl.
It was their desire to be like others. A natural feeling in a vulgar people.

15th May

A fair wind from