Part 2

“As a cat clings to a tree trunk,” says the poet, “while dogs dance ’round with laughing tongues,” so this malefactor hangs high up a spike-covered pole, while “fiends make merry at his sorry plight.”

Keeping well out of view the explorer continues his travels.

_CANTO XIX._

While cautiously proceeding down a smoke-swept region of the third section, Mr. Hunt sees the Limitless Express of the Grand Bump Railroad shrieking and rocking on its way to the bottomless pit.

_CANTO XX._

Mr. Hunt crosses an aqueduct and finds himself in a district where people are tormented who have defrauded or abused others by the use of hypnotic power. It appears that the Demons have the power of hypnotism themselves and treat their victims as the latter treated others while on earth.

_CANTO XXI._

The poet relates the punishment of such as were too suspicious.

Here he finds the man who suspects that everybody is trying to cheat him, and also the man who thinks that every philanthropist has pecuniary reasons for his good deeds.

These and many others are turned into a rocky region to be chased and tormented by strange animals called Bunklefrights and Snoopflaps. These animals have large, piercing eyes, and sharp-pointed tails and toe nails with which they prick their victims, laughing the while with a peculiar sound that reminds Mr. Hunt of a violent bronchial cough.

_CANTO XXII._

Mr. Hunt takes his way down a long declivity up which the blinding steam hurries “as a blizzard sweeps up a prairie slope.” Here he looks out over the vast territory where the professional tramps are made miserable. They are compelled to submit to everlasting baths in vats of boiling water.

_CANTO XXIII._

Remounting by the same path which led to the department spoken of in the preceding Canto, the explorer now passes over into the sixth section.

His guide book tells him that here the bores are punished.

He takes note of the penalty that follows the man who continually talks about himself, and others of the bore species; then, showing his passport, he steps into a descending elevator, with instructions to be put off at the next station.

_CANTO XXIV._

Alighting from the elevator Mr. Hunt makes his way to the district where he sees the conscience-thumping machines at work, an illustration of which is in his guide book.

A manufacturer who has taken the invention of a poor man and made a fortune out of it, without compensating the inventor, is found bound to the platform of one of these machines underneath a trip-hammer that plays an eternal tattoo on his sinful old head.

_CANTO XXV._

Still in the same department he sees many more souls who walked over the rights of others in an excess of sordid ambition.

High up over a narrow rushing river, his body stretched and fastened from bank to bank, he finds one of these culprits serving as a footbridge over which the Demons walk.

* * * * *

This department also contains the obnoxious photographers, who, ignoring all rights of privacy, practiced “snap-shooting” on whomsoever they pleased.

_CANTO XXVI._

On a shelf of the rugged slope our explorer now sees a malefactor whose fate after all seems hardly adequate to his fault. He is the man who eats in defiance of all laws of decency. The days when he spaded pie into his mouth or drew soup through his mustache with a sound like a leaking hydrant, are now but a hideous memory.

_CANTO XXVII._

Mr. Hunt now proceeds onward to the bridge that crosses the ninth chasm.

In this region he finds the lawyers, every one of whom is gagged.

The explorer reflects on the necessity of this penalty and passes on.

_CANTO XXVIII._

Just across the River Lethe there lies a small territory where the explorer finds the caricaturists who ridiculed public men for money--not principle.

He describes their punishment, which is to look forever at pictures of themselves made after they have been rolled, kneaded, pulled and twisted out of all semblance to their former selves.

Mr. Hunt is not disturbed by pangs of pity as he journeys on.

_CANTO XXIX._

Through an almost interminable cavern the explorer now comes out into a vast mountainous region called the “Devil’s Hunting Ground.”

Corrupt men in public office, who combined and threw the blame of their guilt on one man are found in this region transformed into wild animals, for the amusement of Satan’s sharp-shooting devils.

Though they escaped public abuse on earth and prided themselves on not being “found out,” it is different in Hell.

Here they are scapegoats themselves, and are hunted and shot by Demons armed with blunderbusses that fire five pounds of salt with one revolution of a wheel trigger.

_CANTO XXX._

Mr. Hunt’s hat is blown off by a stormy blast, and going down a deep ravine to recover it, he beholds a hideous monster called the Tip System.

This animal sits upright on its two feet. It is a beast of mouth and stomach. Its height is that of twenty men. On the full length of its pale green front a ladder rests. Men toil up this ladder with vats of food and pour the contents into the animal’s hungry maw.

Their labor never ends, for the monster’s appetite increases in proportion as it is fed. Perhaps it is just as well, for the explorer discovers that the men who have this work to do are the porters and waiters who neglected and insulted customers when not tipped.

_CANTO XXXI._

Mr. Hunt now takes the Infernal Elevated Train and gets off at the district where editors are punished.

He finds them classified in his guide book and takes note of a few of them:

“Editors who never credited stolen articles.”

“Editors who threatened public men with abuse if they refused to do as they dictated.”

“Editors who were very careful not to publish disagreeable truths about people of wealth, and so-called ‘social station,’ but never hesitated to print anything about people outside this select circle.”

Huge red-hot waste baskets hold them, the worst offenders being at the bottom.

_CANTO XXXII._

Aimlessly making his way through the crackling heat, Mr. Hunt comes face to face with the inventor who is responsible for the barb-wire fence.

His lot is not a pleasant one. He is compelled to sit forever on his own invention.

_CANTO XXXIII._

In this Canto Mr. Hunt describes the meeting with that historic personage, Farinata.

He relates a conversation he had with Dante which interests the explorer.

Farinata tells him also of the burning hardships and similarity in the temperature which he has endured for several hundred years. He remembers but one holiday in all that time, the occasion being a ball game gotten up by a picked nine of American sinners against the world.

_CANTO XXXIV._

Close by Mr. Hunt learns the fate of deceptive land agents.

These men who urged poor people to migrate to a barren country under the impression that it was a paradise, and advertised beautiful homes in ideal locations which turned out to be the reverse of the printed descriptions, are lifted high in the car of an observation elevator with promises of a fine view of the surrounding country and choice of cool corner lots. When at a great height a Demon pulls a lever, a trap-door opens and the agent falls into a furnace of brimstone fire.

_CANTO XXXV._

In the twelfth district most of the brimstone mines of the region are located.

Here confined to hard labor are many kinds of culprits. Among them Mr. Hunt thinks he recognizes an old neighbor who was too lazy to shovel the snow from his sidewalk.

* * * * *

While watching these laborers a Demon overseer calls his attention to a brood of spirits leaping and tumbling amongst the distant crags.

They are embezzlers, carrying heavy bags of stones and being pursued by swift-winged devils.

_CANTO XXXVI._

Still in the same gulf the explorer sees a sign which points to the “trash dumping ground.” Curious to see what is called trash in Satan’s domain, he follows the road that leads down through the red rock and comes to a pit “which all the words of Italy’s bard would fail in power to describe.”

In the bottom of this vast hole heaps of gnarled and shrivelled-up souls have fallen and are still falling. He learns that these are the souls of people who continually tried to underrate, or detract from, the success of others.

_CANTO XXXVII._

“Standing like patient oxen in their stalls,” Mr. Hunt discovers a row of hapless souls, each held tightly by the nose in the grip of a vice.

This is the just penalty ordained for those who habitually intruded their noses into the affairs of others.

* * * * *

In an enclosure of the same district notorious prize-fighters, wearing eiderdown mittens, are compelled to fight big brawny Demons wearing spiked gloves.

_CANTO XXXVIII._

In the next district, which reeks with stifling odors, Mr. Hunt discovers “reckless talkers” eating their own words, which are served red hot on platters in the form of tarts.

Out of curiosity Mr. Hunt takes a bite of this Infernal food. For an instant he feels “as one ripped inwards, then sickened at sea.”

He remains in an unconscious condition for a long time, but is aroused finally by a clap of thunder and again slowly resumes his journey.

_CANTO XXXIX._

Being weak from the result of testing Infernal food, the explorer accepts an invitation to ride in an automobile to the next district.

Over the same territory that Dante traversed afoot in the year 1314, Mr. Hunt now travels in this modern fashion.

_CANTO XL._

Hugging a rocky ledge closely, Mr. Hunt gropes his way to a lower plain in the same region where he sees the punishment meted out to bribe-taking aldermen.

These are shoveled into ovens built for that purpose.

It is Mr. Hunt’s opinion that under pressure of the fierce heat the victims may regret at times that they accepted bribes for the giving of contracts and franchises.

_CANTO XLI._

Up through the Stygian darkness a terrible tumult of voices smites the ear of the explorer. Peering down the jaws of a deep pit he sees the souls of the bucket-shop gamblers.

Through the flickering red light that pervades this region the explorer makes his way to the next district.

_CANTO XLII._

In what is called the Carousal of Hell, Mr. Hunt sees the long-legged devils.

Some of these have legs thirty feet long. They hop about, chasing victims, in a game of tag. The feature of the game that makes it interesting for the devils is that they are never “it.”

People who “jump at conclusions” are some of the unfortunates who are kept dodging and guessing in this department.

_CANTO XLIII._

Under the escort of a Demon overseer, Mr. Hunt is directed into a department where he witnesses the punishment of a man who on earth wore fine clothes, while his wife and children went about in shabby attire. Here the victim is made to wear an old dress of pink calico and a bright green hat with yellow trimmings, set on sideways.

_CANTO XLIV._

Mr. Hunt finds himself on the corner of Brimstone Avenue and Ripsnort Place, where he sees that type of street-car conductor who, if he did not happen to feel in the mood, would not stop his car as you stood gesticulating wildly for his attention. Chained to a red hot griddle, where the cars pass continually to and from the foot-ball games, he shouts in vain to the grip-fiend and Demon-passengers for relief.

He is lucky if nothing worse is hurled at him than a hoarse mocking laugh.

_CANTO XLV._

Coming to a spot where the plain, spoken of in the preceding Canto, terminates in an almost perpendicular steep, the traveller discovers through the thick fog hovering below the dim outline of the battlements surrounding the female department. On seeing a sign “No gentlemen admitted,” his native chivalry causes him to retire without investigating the prohibited region.

_CANTO XLVI._

Though the low moans of tormented souls disconcert him somewhat, Mr. Hunt courageously continues his journey.

The next district he explores is that one where the souls are frozen in cakes of ice. It is called the Cold-Storage Pit.

“People who warm up to us while we are successful, but turn cold in time of misfortune,” are occupants of this region.

Mr. Hunt learns that this is the most densely crowded district in the whole Infernal Empire, and that it is being enlarged by three hundred acres to accommodate the many who unfortunately still roam the earth.

_CANTO XLVII._

Passing a cave the explorer hears the “rush and shriek of winter winds.” On investigation he sees a nude soul tugging at a halter which fastens him to a post.

Mr. Hunt does not need to refer to his guide book in order to identify this victim. He had known the man on earth, as a farmer who used to leave his horses unblanketed in the winter storm, while he attended prayer meeting in a warm church.

_CANTO XLVIII._

Mr. Hunt takes an elevated train and gets off at a street called “Big Head Boulevard,” a long deep defile in the rock where some of the conceited people of earth are made to take up their existence in cave-like shops and perform menial service for the Demons. Men who held important positions and became “puffed-up” are forced into the dignified occupation of driving tar-wagons for the “Good-Intention Street Pavement Co.”

Here are the conceited men of the arts and letters--the “swelled heads” of the theatrical profession and the arrogant worshippers of ancestry.

The latter are hoof-trimmers.

_CANTO XLIX._

After resting in the shadow of a huge bastion of rock, a Demon helps him climb the wall surrounding the compartment wherein the careless people are punished.

He sees a dentist he had known, a man who was just as sure to pull a tooth that didn’t need pulling as the one that did--whose filling work invariably had to be done over by someone else.

Mr. Hunt asks him how he is enjoying himself, but receives no reply.

_CANTO L._

In this Canto the poet describes the punishment of policemen whose chief pleasure on earth was flaunting their authority and clubbing small boys.

* * * * *

He relates also his passage through the midst of that region where soulless monopolists are obliged to obey the anti-trust mandates of Infernal law. Seated in large frying-pans they bubble and hiss over never-dying fires.

With power of description worthy of Dante himself, he sees “one corpulent person flop in the pan, head down, as pop-corn jumps with the heat.”

_CANTO LI._

With the example of Dante ever before him, Mr. Hunt determines to keep on, though the discomforts of travel grow and the scenes unnerve him. He is reflecting on these impediments when he comes upon a vast amphitheatre, where the tax-dodgers are punished.

_CANTO LII._

With the aid of his field glass, the explorer inspects the 14th section.

Prowling about a rock-bound region he discerns afar off, strange cat-like animals that on inquiry he learns are the transformed souls of those who left their cats to starve while they betook themselves to the country for a season of pleasure.

Although overcome by hunger, every eatable thing evades them or is snatched away by little imps that skip gleefully about with squeaks of merriment.

_CANTO LIII._

Hiprah Hunt holds discourse with Beelzebub, who is general superintendent of the whole lower section of Hell.

He learns from this distinguished personage that Satan makes a tour of his region every month on a special train. From the platform of his private car he gives instructions to his employees.

_CANTO LIV._

Mr. Hunt now discontinues his explorations for a while to become a guest of Satan at the Infernal Theatre.

Satan and the explorer meet at the entrance, which is at the top of the house, and enter the royal box by a private elevator. Satan is received as usual on public occasions with the Infernal yell, “Zip! Zizz! Whee! who are we, give us a chance and you will see!”

The distinguished guest also comes in for a round of cheers and a wagging of tails, to which he responds with a bow.

Among other acts, Mr. Hunt witnesses the performance of a citizen of the United States who lacked patriotism and who is compelled to wave a flag and hurrah lustily in favor of America for fifty years.

He sees men bound to posts in the body of the theatre and others in cages at the sides. He learns that the former are those who on earth would disturb concert or theatre goers with incessant talking. The latter are the men who had the discourteous habit of going out between every act.

_CANTO LV._

After the theatre Mr. Hunt thanks Satan for his hospitality and continues his journey. He takes an incline car and arrives at the department where flatterers are punished.

He studies the list of victims in his guide book. The most harmful kind, “those who attach themselves to a man the instant he makes a success in life and fill him with exaggerated notions of his greatness and importance,” are seen in stocks, and their bare feet are being tickled by delighted imps. He watches this mirth-provoking devilment for a while and then proceeds.

_CANTO LVI._

Picking his way down a deep ravine, with the shrill laughter of the tickling imps still in his ears, the course suddenly turns, and he finds himself shut off from all light and sound and groping in shadowy darkness.

Advancing cautiously, he comes to a wide expanse where the ground is split with yawning fissures from which issues smoke mingled with the sound of doleful voices.

“Let me out! I can’t make myself heard! Haven’t had my name in a newspaper for two hundred years! Help!”

These are the wails of the notoriety seekers.

_CANTO LVII._

Questioning an employee, Mr. Hunt learns that The Great Punisher employs five thousand overseers or district police captains.

Each is assigned to a district, over which he has full charge and about which he reports regularly to his Chief. No law-breakers are rich enough to purchase protection from the Infernal Police Force. In a lengthy prose description of the Police Department of Hell, Mr. Hunt expresses his belief that on the whole it is better conducted than such departments in many American cities.

_CANTO LVIII._

The sewers of Hell are flushed with patent medicines. Such medicines as were sold on earth to enrich the inventor, but were of no benefit whatever to the patient. Wallowing in this stream of mysterious decoction the explorer sees the souls of quack doctors. To add to the punishment of gulping their own poison, unceasing showers of large pills descend, the doctors frantically beating the air in their endeavors to ward off the bitter storm.

_CANTO LIX._

Walking along the embankment he turns up a steep gulch to the right, and down through the purple light sees the region where the profane are punished as befits their crime.

They are compelled to eat soap. Mr. Hunt learns that the worst type of profane man: He who swears regardless of the presence of ladies--won’t even say “Oh pshaw!” after he has been forced to eat soap for a few years.

_CANTO LX._

Mr. Hunt holds a long discourse with Clawquick, who claims to be the oldest Demon in the region.

He remembers well the terrible cold-snap of the year 1422. All Hell was frozen over. There was skating on the River Styx for several months and two thousand miles of steam-pipe burst.

_CANTO LXI._

Mr. Hunt now looks down on a spacious valley in the center of which there stands a large stage.

On this stage he sees a throng of weary looking souls dancing on tacks. These are the men who, though married and old enough to know better, were wont to secretly haunt the theatre and lavish affection, flowers and wine suppers on chorus girls.

_CANTO LXII._

The explorer is now in the lowest depths.

From a precipice of crimson rock he beholds the punishment of “bunco steerers.” He sees a howling group of souls huddled on the summit of a hill, from top to bottom of which is constructed a toboggan slide of sand-paper. As they stand cringing in fright, a Demon policeman yells: “Next!” and the foremost shuffles to the front and is given a shove that sends him whirling, yelling and rasping down the incline at a fearful speed. Arriving at the bottom he is immediately driven back and forced to repeat the act. Thus the performance continues throughout the centuries.

_CANTO LXIII._

After inspecting the kicking-machines in the department where “chronic grumblers” are punished Hiprah Hunt is overcome by the heat. He now concludes that he will not explore further.

_CANTO LXIV._