Symzonia: Voyage of DiscoverySeaborn, Adam, Captain
Science
Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery
Seaborn, Adam, Captain
Science fiction; Voyages, Imaginary
Their cloth is a beautiful substance, manufactured in a peculiar
manner, by a process resembling that employed by the natives of the
South Sea Islands, and not unlike our mode of making paper.
The material is found in caves and amongst the rocks of the mountains,
where a species of insects, larger than our spider, produce it in
great abundance. They form webs somewhat like those of spiders,
but of a firmer texture, and more compactly woven. These webs have
the properties of asbestos, owing probably to the insects subsisting
upon that or some similar substance. The inhabitants collect them
with great care, and lay them in a mould of the dimensions of the
piece of cloth to be made, placing so many of them one upon another
as the intended thickness of the cloth requires. This done, a fluid
preparation which hardens by the influence of fire, without losing
its elasticity, is poured over it. It is then pressed firmly together,
and passed over a heated cylinder, which completes the operation.
This cloth is extremely convenient. Being incombustible, like asbestos,
it is only necessary to pass a garment through the fire to purify
it perfectly. It is also very durable; and being exquisitely white,
it corresponds admirably with the delicate complexions of the people,
and the mild light of the region they inhabit.
All the divisions of labour necessary to the convenience and welfare of
society, are here perfectly understood. The community is not bewildered
by a voluminous and complex system of political economy, consisting
of abstract principles, buried in abstract and unintelligible words,
and rendered too intricate to be understood by those who have common
sense, or too inapplicable to civilized society to be adopted by those
who have any sort of sense--invented by the Wise men of one country
to mislead the politicians of another, and to depress the Good and
the Useful.
Their circulating medium consists of tokens for every variety of
things, and every description of services. These tokens are originally
issued by the government, for services performed and articles supplied
for the national benefit. One description represents one day's labour;
a second, a standard measure of grain; a third, a small measure of
pulse; a fourth, a given quantity of a particular fruit; a fifth,
a measure of cloth, and so forth. There being a sufficient variety
to represent all the articles which are in common use, they have all
the advantages of exchange, without the trouble of delivery when the
things are not wanted for actual consumption.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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