TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) PART TWO

TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – This is Part Two of Balladeer’s Blog’s look at Simon Tyssot de Patot’s work of ancient science fiction about his creation James Massey. We will pick up where we left off last time – our main character Dr. Massey and his travel mate La Foret had just been taken in by the first living human beings they encountered on the lost island.

A few days later, while our heroes were still in the very early stages of learning the language spoken in the city, James and his friend got caught up in a ritual they barely understood. Early one morning, every family in the city made their way across the major bridge with each head of household carrying their largest rooster.

For a sophomoric laugh I’ll mention that one of the lines in the book is literally “Our opposite neighbor expos’d his cock against ours; and the others did the same thing, it being a general cock-match between the people on both sides of the canal.” 

I’ll spare all of us any details of the actual cockfights. When the fighting was over, the family whose cock lost the fight welcomed the winner’s family over to their home. The winner’s family brought along all of the food they had prepared for this eventful day, and the two families feasted and drank together the rest of the day.

The following day the holiday celebrations continued, this time with the eldest son from each family on both sides of the canal taking part in Grease Pole competitions for the prize poultry at the top of said poles. Rather than a ham or turkey, the prize in this case was one of the oversized eagles indigenous to the uncharted island.

NOTE: In Part One of my review it was established that birds, like all the other animals on the island, were much larger than they were in the outside world. For instance, a beaver the size of a bear and a 25 foot long serpent were encountered. Goats were as large as horses and were used as mounts and beasts of burden.

The competitions lasted for roughly 6 hours, following which the pattern was the same as the previous day – losers and winners dined and drank together for the rest of the day. The 3rd day of this festival which Dr. Massey and La Foret barely understood, consisted of plays, dances, races and other games.

As they grew more familiar with the local language, our travelers learned that the festival marked the Solstice of Capricorn, which meant that the island was in the southern hemisphere and was the equivalent of June 21st in the northern hemisphere. The rest of the year the locals celebrated lesser festivals of 2 days each once a month. The rest of each month was a working day for the locals, with no equivalent of Sunday.

As James and La Foret grew more fluent in the language they were permitted to work at jobs. They moved from carding wool to rigging the family ship for each family in the village. Our heroes also learned that there were several other villages on the island, each one set up so that half the town was on one side of the central canal and half on the other. 

It reached the point where James and his friend were allowed to accompany merchant missions. Boats full of merchandise made in one’s home village were piloted down the canal to a lush forest near the mountains. The forest-dwellers with whom they traded were giant, furry humanoids.

Those humanoids worked coal and iron mines in the mountains beyond, and used forges to craft assorted products which the friends of our travelers were given in exchange for their merchandise. The iron mined on the island was far stronger than any in the outside world. Other mountain settlements mined salt, lime, pewter, etc.

Other highlights of Dr. Massey and La Foret’s year and a half stay with the islanders included:

*** Designing and constructing the first large clock that any village on the island could boast.

*** Learning that capital punishment was forbidden there, since the inhabitants felt only the Universal Spirit (God) could take life. Hard labor for a designated time period was how crimes were punished.

*** Learning that Christian missionaries visited the island over 300 years ago and were tolerated at first, but when native inhabitants started subscribing to this “new” religion the missionaries were sentenced to life at hard labor. Their fellow prisoners warmed to Christian teachings and eagerly converted in hopes of reaching Heaven and at last knowing peace after death.

*** Word of the clock which the travelers had made reached King Bustrol, who had Massey and La Foret brought to him. He had them construct a similar clock for him and his court.

*** The King is entitled to 12 wives, the Governors to 3, the Judges to 2 and the citizens to just 1.

*** Gunpowder and firearms are unknown on the island, and Massey and La Foret had already used up all theirs in our last installment while fighting various creatures.

*** Animals called polns provide the fur and skins from which many objects are made. Polns have long fur, a single horn on their head, large ears, wide tails and flat paws. A poln usually stands upright.

*** In a “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s and unto God what is God’s” spirit the currency on the island is inscribed on one side with the words “Our hearts to the Universal Creator” and on the other side with “Our estates to the King.”

*** The entire cosmology and mythology of the islanders was made known to Dr. Massey. La Foret was very close-minded and would not listen to such talk. An enormous amount of space is devoted to religious debates between Massey and the King’s scholars, but I’m focusing on the sci-fi elements of this book, so I’ll ignore those other aspects for now.

(Kudos to the author once again, though. The mythological breakdown is even longer than the detailed look at the island’s fictional language that he presented last time around. This is world-building that was centuries ahead of Tolkien himself.) 

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