be used as legs; so it is quite common to see these Scumites travel over
their planet like the more graceful of our quadrupeds. Their walking,
however, is principally after our fashion, and they can change about at
pleasure. Either way of travel seems as natural as the other. When they
walk on two limbs, the body is erect, presenting a stature of such
gigantic proportions as to over-awe a representative of our world.
According to the universal standards of symmetry, these giants have an
animal beauty that is anything but handsome, and they also lack those
facial expressions of higher intelligence that come only through
generations of cultured thinking. Their health is quite perfect and they
live to a great age.
These Scumites have a language singularly their own. It is so totally
different from any of our conceptions of speech that I can scarcely find
words to describe it.
The medium of conversation is the Notched Rod. It is about twelve feet
long with various kinds of notches cut along the two sides. Such a stick
is possessed by every Scumite who expects to hold extended or
descriptive conversations. It is usually held by a skin strung around
the neck. While one of these persons is talking, two or three of his
fingers pass from notch to notch along the rod. These indentures of the
rod represent, in their language, certain kinds of sounds and are used
to assist the vocal organs in expressing the more intricate combinations
of ideas. Naturally, the listener watches the fingers more than the
mouth.
It is amusing to see a Scumite busily engaged in delivering a speech to
a few of his fellow creatures. It would remind you of a person playing a
fife or violin without producing any sound.
The children of Scum learn this rod language just the same as our
children at first learn to speak our language by observation and
practice.
The face of a Scumite does not resemble a human face of our planet. The
mouth and jaws are at right angles to ours and this arrangement seems to
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