Tahiti Looks Forward
p. 29 · Read in the full issue
On a Slight Note of Pessimism!
From Our Own Correspondent
Papeete, Dec. 14.
fITHE good ship “Progress” under the JL guidance of scientists in the chart room, and of political astrologers at the helm (now that the great pilots have departed)—is sailing merrily toward some haven or other; most probably, the haven of Annihilation.
I have a friend who is an optimist. He believes that deep-sea mollusks, the virus of influenza and a few cave-dwelling Hottentots (in order to perpetuate the heritage of human folly), may survive the next world conflagration—if, in the meanwhile, the scientists do not find out how to blow the planet to star-dust. (The latter, in pursuit of that quest are erecting a new apparatus at the Uni versity of California.) The prospect of general dissolution is causing supreme satisfaction to those religious sects who, during the past cen tury, have been hopefully designating specific dates. The event would, indeed, remove the troublesome element of human contumacy from the universe.
A partial catastrophe might, however, be exceedingly annoying. If, for example, the scientists should succeed only in blow ing up the North American continent, the Pacific Ocean, pouring into the abyss, would drain away the sea from about the tremendous mountain which is Tahiti.
One day, we may awaken to find our selves perched far above the snow-line, gazing down at a vast morass of oceanic 00ze—25,000 feet below!