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“ Fruit , by the bye , was all their diet . These people of the remote future were strict vegetarians , and while I was with them , in spite of some carnal cravings , I had to be frugivorous also . Indeed , I found afterwards that horses , cattle , sheep , dogs , had followed the Ichthyosaurus into extinction . But the fruits were very delightful ; one , in particular , that seemed to be in season all the time I was there — a floury thing in a three - sided husk — was especially good , and I made it my staple . At first I was puzzled by all these strange fruits , and by the strange flowers I saw , but later I began to perceive their import . “ However , I am telling you of my fruit dinner in the distant future now . So soon as my appetite was a little checked , I determined to make a resolute attempt to learn the speech of these new men of mine . Clearly that was the next thing to do . The fruits seemed a convenient thing to begin upon , and holding one of these up I began a series of interrogative sounds and gestures . I had some considerable difficulty in conveying my meaning . At first my efforts met with a stare of surprise or inextinguishable laughter , but presently a fair - haired little creature seemed to grasp my intention and repeated a name . They had to chatter and explain the business at great length to each other , and my first attempts to make the exquisite little sounds of their language caused an immense amount of genuine , if uncivil , amusement . However , I felt like a schoolmaster amidst children , and persisted , and presently I had a score of noun substantives at least at my command ; and then I got to demonstrative pronouns , and even the verb ‘ to eat . ’ But it was slow work , and the little people soon tired and wanted to get away from my interrogations , so I determined , rather of necessity , to let them give their lessons in little doses when they felt inclined . And very little doses I found they were before long , for I never met people more indolent or more easily fatigued . VI . The Sunset of Mankind “ A queer thing I soon discovered about my little hosts , and that was their lack of interest . They would come to me with eager cries of astonishment , like children , but , like children they would soon stop examining me , and wander away after some other toy . The dinner and my conversational beginnings ended , I noted for the first time that almost all those who had surrounded me at first were gone . It is odd , too , how speedily I came to disregard these little people . I went out through the portal into the sunlit world again as soon as my hunger was satisfied . I was continually meeting more of these men of the future , who would follow me a little distance , chatter and laugh about me , and , having smiled and gesticulated in a friendly way , leave me again to my own devices .
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