believe your eyes if you could direct your gaze to a
few of these homes.

In their religious life these Stazzans are eminently devoted. They have
no bunch of creeds from which to take their choice, but follow the
teachings of "The Great Interpreter," a man who once lived and reigned
amongst them and who wrote his laws in what we would call, by
interpretation, "The Book of Gold." The leaves of this book are made
from an element costly and rare, more precious to them than gold is to
us. From this book all their sacred books are copied. The civil powers
also accept this book as their authority, and enforce its teachings.

Sin there, as here, is the withering blast of the planet, the destroyer
of the harvest fields of purity and truth. An invisible spirit of evil
holds his force in disciplined command, and the man who wishes to have a
pure heart on Stazza must reach it through conflicts long and sharp. The
path to moral and spiritual purity is quite the same throughout the
whole universe.

CHAPTER VIII.

Tor-tu.

After I had finished my interesting tour of Stazza I visited in quick
succession a score or more of worlds that also revolve around Polaris at
varying distances. I found the majority of these planets barren of all
life, owing principally to their molten condition.

Some unthinkable types of human existence are occupying the worlds that
can be inhabited. I marveled aloud as I viewed a few more links of the
endless chain of intelligent creation. On one of these worlds, which I
have christened Tor-tu, I found human beings that resemble us more than
any others in the entire solar bounds of Polaris.

Tor-tu dashes along in its unceasing course at a distance of eight
hundred millions of miles from Polaris. It is much larger than our
world, and is accompanied by three moons and a set of rings which
faintly suggested our picturesque Saturn.

The poles of Tor-tu are inclined at an angle of thirty-three degrees to
the plane of its orbit. This accounts for its temperature being quite
similar to ours, although its year is eight times longer.

When I first reached this world I was impressed with its wealth of
natural scenery. Flowers of charming texture and color grew abundantly
over the wide expanses. The cultivated gardens contained specimens of
unusual beauty, surpassing the finest products of our Earth.

When I examined the leaves of the many kinds of trees, I found none
similar to the foliage of our pl