I had descended, then, not only into an inhabited world--not only into a world of men, who, however they might differ in outward form, must resemble in their wants, ideas, and habits, in short, in mind if not in body, the lords of my own planet--but into a civilised world and among a race living under a settled order, cultivating the soil, and taming the brutes to their service.
And now, as I came on lower ground, I found at each step new objects of curiosity and interest.

A tree with dark-yellowish leaves, taller than most timber trees on Earth, bore at the end of drooping twigs large dark-red fruits--fruits with a rind something like that of a pomegranate, save for the colour and hardness, and about the size of a shaddock or melon.

One of these, just within reach of my hand, I gathered, but found it impossible to break the thin, dry rind or shell, without the aid of a knife.

Having pierced this, a stream of red juice gushed out, which had a sweet taste and a strong flavour, not unlike the juice expressed from cherries, but darker in colour.
Dissecting the fruit completely, I found it parted by a membrane, essentially of the same nature as the rind, but much thinner and rather tough than hard, into sixteen segments, like those of an orange divided across the middle, each of which enclosed a seed.

These seeds were all joined at the centre, but easily separated.