Jasoom

 

 

 “Why every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography, and much concerning the fauna and flora, as well as the history of your planet fully as well as of his own.  Can we not see everything which takes place upon Earth, as you call it; is in not hanging there in the heavens in plain sight?’

“This baffled me, I must confess . . . She then explained in general the instruments her people had used and perfected for ages, which permit them to throw upon a screen a perfect image of what is transpiring upon any planet and upon many of the stars.              

 

"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every planet and star having atmospheric conditions at all approaching those of Barsoom, shows forms of animal life almost identical with you and me; and, further, Earth men, almost without exception, cover their bodies with strange, unsightly pieces of cloth, and their heads with hideous contraptions the purpose of which we have been unable to conceive; while you, when found by the Tharkian warriors, were entirely undisfigured and unadorned.    

 

"The fact that you wore no ornaments is a strong proof of your un-Barsoomian origin, while the absence of grotesque coverings might cause a doubt as to your earthliness."  (PM XI).