# A Princess of Mars — Clue Index **Source:** `princess-of-mars.txt` (PG #62). First Barsoom novel (1912). **Assumption:** Content may encode redacted fact. Challenge claims of invention. --- ## 1. Locations — Martian Surface & Geography | Line ~ | Passage / Theme | Invention? / Disclosure angle | |--------|-----------------|------------------------------| | 668–690 | Deep circular basin; low hills; yellowish moss-like vegetation; no water; low walled enclosure (incubator) | **Dead sea bottom** — aligns with Lowell/canal-era Mars. Possible invention: "moss" as filler. | | 845–860 | Ancient city on tableland; ruined roadway; buildings deserted, not greatly decayed; plaza; "evidences of extreme antiquity"; furnishings sized for *humans*, not Green Martians — "long-extinct and forgotten race" | **Abandoned human-scale city** — Korad. Implies prior civilization. Who told Burroughs human-scale ruins exist? | | 2609–2610 | Korad: "center of commerce and culture"; "beautiful natural harbor"; "little valley... all that remained of the harbor"; "pass through the hills to the old sea bottom had been the channel" | **Port city, receded sea** — matches drying-ocean hypothesis. Parallel to Lowell. | | 2610–2615 | "Shores of ancient seas dotted with just such cities"; "follow the receding waters"; "ultimate salvation, the so-called Martian canals" | **Canals as response to drying** — Lowell's thesis. Burroughs or common source? | | 2640–2645 | "Barsoom of today"; "countless intervening ages"; "fair-haired, laughing people" driven out by "cosmic laws" | **Ancient race displaced** — recurring encoded motif. | | 1020–1025 | Buildings: gleaming white marble, gold, brilliant stones; "magnificent edifice"; galleries | **Architecture** — specific. Invented or described? | | 1125–1135 | Mural paintings: mountains, rivers, lakes, ocean, meadow, trees; "no representation of living animal" | **Art without fauna** — odd detail. Encoding? | | 3095–3110 | Atmosphere Factory (Ch XX); "mightiest engine" sustaining all Barsoomian life | **Atmosphere plant** — critical tech. Oberon Zell map marks these. Lowell-era speculation or disclosed? | | 3195–3205 | Zodanga; Helium; map drawn by Dejah Thoris | **City-states** — political geography. | --- ## 2. Civilizations & Species | Line ~ | Passage / Theme | Invention? / Disclosure angle | |--------|-----------------|------------------------------| | 720–790 | Green Martians: 15 ft tall, olive-green, six limbs (2 arms, 2 legs, 2 intermediary), blood-red iris, white teeth/tusks, antennae ears; eggs in incubator; 1000-year lifespan; "voluntary pilgrimage" down River Iss | **Green Martians** — highly specific physiology. No prior SF has this. Where from? | | 855–885 | "Only one mammal on Mars"; "highest type of man"; "no hoofed animals"; "multiplicity of legs" characteristic of Martian fauna | **Faunal rules** — systematic. Invention or taxonomy? | | 880–905 | "River Iss... no living Martian knows whither"; "from whose bosom no Martian has ever returned"; ~1 in 1000 dies of sickness; ~20 take pilgrimage; rest die violently | **River Iss pilgrimage** — religious fraud setup (gods-of-mars). Extremely specific. | | 935–945 | Red Martian women: tusks larger; bodies smaller, lighter; "rudiments of nails" (males lack); 10–12 ft | **Red vs Green physiology** — detailed differentiation. | | 2595–2610 | Three great divisions: "fair-haired" (light), "very dark, almost black," "reddish yellow"; mixed into Red Men; "drying up of Martian seas" forced alliance; "wild hordes of green men" | **Race history** — three founding races. Matches later First Born, Therns, etc. Coherent system. | | 2615–2625 | "Ages of hardships"; "much of high civilization... become lost"; "archives, records, literature... lost" | **Lost archives** — standard collapse trope or encoded? | | 1315–1340 | Thoat: 10 ft at shoulder, 8 legs, flat tail, slate color, padded nailless feet; guided by telepathy | **Thoat** — riding beast. Specific. | | 1140–1160 | Calot (watch-dog): frog-like head, 3 rows of tusks, 10 legs; obeys telepathically; "fleetest animal on Mars" | **Calot** — guard beast. | | 1135–1145 | Milk from *plant*, not animal; "eight or ten quarts per day"; "distills from soil, air, sun" | **Mantalia/milk-plant** — distinctive. Oberon Zell map notes this. Invented? | --- ## 3. Technology | Line ~ | Passage / Theme | Invention? / Disclosure angle | |--------|-----------------|------------------------------| | 850–860 | Rifle: white metal, explosive radium projectiles; "theoretic effective radius 300 miles"; "wireless finders and sighters"; "over 200 miles" practical | **Radium rifle** — pre-atomic era. Radium known 1898+. Range implausible; or encoded capability? | | 2530–2540 | "Instruments... throw upon a screen a perfect image of what is transpiring upon any planet"; "objects no greater than a blade of grass"; "used and been perfecting for ages" | **Telescopic observation of Earth** — matches real astronomy/Theosophical claims. Who told Burroughs? | | 2550–2560 | Earth men "cover bodies with cloth"; "hideous contraptions" on heads; Carter "undisfigured" — proof of non-Barsoomian origin | **Cultural encoding** — Earth as observed from "outside." | | 3095–3110 | Atmosphere Factory; "sustaining life" of planet | **Planetary life-support** — terraforming/atmosphere. Lowell + tech speculation. | --- ## 4. History of Mars | Line ~ | Passage / Theme | Invention? / Disclosure angle | |--------|-----------------|------------------------------| | 2585–2615 | Ancient Martians: "hundred thousand years before"; Korad as harbor city; canals as salvation; three races mixed | **Chronology** — "100,000 years" + collapse. Scaligerian or alternate? | | 2625–2635 | "Stern and unalterable cosmic laws" drove ancient race "from their homes"; "hereditary instincts... risen ascendant" in Red Men | **Deterministic history** — Marxist/materialist tone. Or encoded catastrophe? | --- ## 5. Possibly Invented (Challenge) | Element | Why it might be invented | Why it might be disclosure | |---------|--------------------------|----------------------------| | John Carter's astral projection (cave → Mars) | Standard pulp frame; author surrogate | Fits "soul travel" / remote viewing claims | | "Virginia gentleman" / Confederate backstory | Burroughs's milieu; romance | Encodes Southern/US archetype; not Mars-specific | | Telepathic control of animals | Theosophical/occult lore; pulp convention | Recurring in Mars fiction; possible cultural memory | | Exact measurements (15 ft, 300 mi rifle) | Author filling in details | Over-specific for pure invention; suggests source | --- ## 6. Cross-References - [gods-of-mars-index.md](gods-of-mars-index.md) — Valley Dor, Holy Therns, First Born, Plant Men - [warlord-of-mars-index.md](warlord-of-mars-index.md) — Okar, north pole - [chessmen-of-mars-index.md](chessmen-of-mars-index.md) — Kaldanes, Rykors - [master-mind-of-mars-index.md](master-mind-of-mars-index.md) — Ras Thavas, brain transfer - [mars-fiction-survey](/cosmos/mars/investigations/mars-fiction-survey.md) — full survey - [Asimov: Marx in Space!](/timeline/evt-asimov-marx-in-space) — robot/slave parallel; Binder admission --- Keywords: #Princess #Mars #Clue