ined
fly to accomplish that! Yet we little human beings often start off on a
journey round the world quite cheerfully, and it is more difficult for
us than for the imaginary fly, because the globe is not a smooth surface
of dry land, but is made up of jungles and deserts and forests and
oceans. There are some places where people can do nothing in the heat of
the day, and others where their flesh freezes like cold white marble in
a moment if they don't take precautions.

To set out on foot around such a world would be folly, and man has
invented all sorts of ingenious machines to carry him,--trains and
steamers, for instance,--and with their help he can do the journey in a
reasonable time. It costs money, of course, but it is a glorious
enterprise.

Here, in our own homes, we see pretty much the same things every
day--green fields and trees, cows and sheep and horses, if we live in
the country; and houses and streets and vehicles, if we live in the
town. Everyone we meet speaks the same language; even if we were to go
up to a stranger to ask a question we are tolerably sure that he would
understand us and answer politely. We have cold days and warm ones, but
the sun is never too hot for us to go out in the middle of the day, and
the cold never so intense as to freeze our noses and make them fall off.
The houses are all built in much the same way; people dress alike and
look alike. Someone catches me up there, "Indeed they don't; some are
pretty and some are ugly and everyone is different!"

Yes, you think that now, but wait until you have travelled a bit, and
seen some of the races which really _are_ different from ours, then
you'll think that not only are British people alike, but that even all
Europeans are more or less so.

You are not likely to travel? Well, I'm not so sure of that, for I'm
going to offer to take you, and, what is more, you need not bother your
head about expenses, and we will have all the time we want. I am going
to carry you away with me in this book to see the marvels of other
lands; lands where the burning sun strikes down on our own countrymen
wearing white helmets on their heads and suits of snowy white as they
walk about amid brown-skinned natives whose bare bodies gleam like
satin, lands where lines of palm trees wave their long fronds over the
pearly surf washing at their roots. We will visit also other lands where
you look out over a glowing pink and mauve desert to seeming infinity,
a