A Trip to Venus: A Novel
by John Munro · English · Gutenberg #13716 · 301,394 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: A Trip to Venus: A Novel
Author: John Munro
Release date: October 11, 2004 [eBook #13716]
Most recently updated: October 28, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A TRIP TO VENUS: A NOVEL ***
A TRIP TO VENUS
A NOVEL BY JOHN MUNRO
Author of the "The Wire and the Wave,"
"The Story of Electricity," etc., etc.
Published in 1897 by Jarrold & Sons, London
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I. A MESSAGE FROM MARS
CHAPTER II. HOW CAN WE GET TO THE OTHER PLANETS?
CHAPTER III. A NEW FORCE
CHAPTER IV. THE ELECTRIC ORRERY
CHAPTER V. LEAVING THE EARTH
CHAPTER VI. IN SPACE
CHAPTER VII. ARRIVING IN VENUS
CHAPTER VIII. THE CRATER LAND
CHAPTER IX. THE FLOWER OF THE SOUL
CHAPTER X. ALUMION
CHAPTER XI. THE FLYING APE
CHAPTER XII. SUNWARD HO!
CHAPTER XIII. HOME AGAIN
"The heaven that rolls around cries aloud to you while it displays
its eternal harmony, and yet your eyes are fixed upon the earth
alone."
DANTE.
"This truth within thy mind rehearse,
That in a boúndless universe
Is boundless better, boundless worse.
"Think you this mould of hopes and fears
Could find no statelier than his peers
In yonder hundred million spheres?"
TENNYSON.
A TRIP TO VENUS.
CHAPTER I.
A MESSAGE FROM MARS.
While I was glancing at the _Times_ newspaper in a morning train for
London my eyes fell on the following item:--
A STRANGE LIGHT ON MARS.--On Monday afternoon, Dr. Krueger, who is
in charge of the central bureau at Kiel, telegraphed to his
correspondents:--
"_Projection lumineuse dans région australe du terminateur de Mars
observée par Javelle 28 courant, 16 heures.--Perrotin._"
In plain English, at 4 a.m., a ray of light had been observed on the
disc of the planet Mars in or near the "terminator"; that is to say, the
zone of twilight separating day from night. The news was doubly
interesting to me, because a singular dream of "Sunrise in the Moon" had
quickened my imagination as to the wonders of the universe beyond our
little globe, and because of a never-to-be-forgotten experience of mine
with an aged astronomer several years ago.
This extraordinary man, living the life of a recluse in his own
observatory, which was situated in a lonely part of the country, had, or
at any rate, believed that he had, opened up a communication with the
inhabitants of Mars, by means of powerful electric lights, flashing in
the manner of a signal-lantern or heliograph. I had set him down as a
monomaniac; but who knows? perhaps he was not so crazy after all.
When evening came I turned to the books, and gathered a great deal about
the fiery planet, including the fact that a stout man, a Daniel Lambert,
could jump his own height there with the greatest ease. Very likely; but
I was seeking information on the strange light, and as I could not find
any I resolved to walk over and consult my old friend, Professor Gazen,
the well-known astronomer, who had made his mark by a series of splendid
researches with the spectroscope into the constitution of the sun and
other celestial bodies.
It was a fine clear night. The sky was cloudless and of a deep dark
blue, which revealed the highest heavens and the silvery lustre of the
Milky Way. The great belt of Orion shone conspicuously in the east, and
Sirius blazed a living gem more to the south. I looked for Mars, and
soon found him farther to the north, a large red star, amongst the white
of the encircling constellations.
Professor Gazen was quite alone in his observatory when I arrived, and
busily engaged in writing or computing at his desk.
"I hope I'm not disturbing you," said I, as we shook hands; "I know that
you astronomers must work when the fine night cometh."
"Don't mention it," he replied cordially; "I'm observing one of the
nebulas just now, but it won't be in sight for a long time yet."
"What about this mysterious light on Mars. Have you seen anything of
it?"
Gazen laughed.
"I have not," said he, "though I did look the other night."
"You believe that something of the kind has been seen?"
"Oh, certainly. The Nice Observatory, of which Monsieur Perrotin is
director, has one of the finest telescopes in existence, and Monsieur
Javelle is well-known for his careful work."
"How do you account for it?"
"The light is not outside the disc," responded Gazen, "else I should
ascribe it to a small comet. It may be due to an aurora in Mars as a
writer in _Nature_ has suggested, or to a range of snowy Alps, or even
to a bright cloud, reflecting the sunrise. Possibly the Martians have
seen the forest fires in America, and started a rival illumination."
"What strikes you as the likeliest of these notions?"
"Mountain peaks catching the sunshine."
"Might it not be the glare of a city, or a powerful search-light--in
short, a signal?"
"Oh dear, no," exclaimed the astronomer, smiling incredulously. "The
idea of signalling has got into people's heads through the outcry raised
about it some time ago, when Mars was in 'opposition' and near the
earth. I suppose you are thinking of the plan for raising and lowering
the lights of London to attract the notice of the Martians?"
"No; I believe I told you of the singular experience I had some five or
six years ago with an old astronomer, who thought he had established an
optical telegraph to Mars?"
"Oh, yes, I remember now. Ah, that poor old chap was insane. Like the
astronomer in _Rasselas_, he had brooded so long in solitude over his
visionary idea that he had come to imagine it a reality."
"Might there not be some truth in his notion? Perhaps he was only a
little before his time."
Gazen shook his head.
"You see," he replied, "Mars is a much older planet than ours. In winter
the Arctic snows extend to within forty degrees of the equator, and the
climate must be very cold. If human beings ever existed on it they must
have died out long ago, or sunk to the condition of the Eskimo."
"May not the climate be softened by conditions of land and sea unknown
to us? May not the science and civilisation of the Martians enable them
to cope with the low temperature?"
"The atmosphere of Mars is as rare as ours at a height of six miles, and
a warm-blooded creature like man would expire in it."
"Like man, yes," I answered; "but man was made for this world. We are
too apt to measure things by our own experience. Why should we limit the
potentiality of life by what we know of this planet?"
"In the next place," went on Gazen, ignoring my remark, "the old
astronomer's plan of signalling by strong lights was quite
impracticable. No artificial light is capable of reaching to Mars. Think
of the immense distance and the two atmospheres to penetrate! The man
was mad, as mad as a March hare! though why a March hare is mad I'm sure
I don't know."
"I read the other day of an electric light in America which can be seen
150 miles through the lower atmosphere. Such a light, if properly
directed, might be visible on Mars; and, for aught we know, the Martians
may have discovered a still stronger beam."
"And if they have, the odds against their signalling just when we are
alive to the possibility of it are simply tremendous."
"I see nothing incredible in the coincidence. Two heads often conceive
the same idea about the same time, and why not two planets, if the hour
be ripe? Surely there is one and the same inspiring Soul in all the
universe. Besides, they may have been signalling for centuries, off and
on, without our knowing it."
"Then, again," said Gazen, with a pawky twinkle in his eye, "our
electric light may have woke them up."
"Perhaps they are signalling now," said I, "while we are wasting
precious time. I wish you would look."
"Yes, if you like; but I don't think you'll see any 'luminous
projections,' human or otherwise."
"I shall see the face of Mars, anyhow, and that will be a rare
experience. It seems to me that a view of the heavenly bodies through a
fine telescope, as well as a tour round the world, should form a part
of a liberal education. How many run to and fro upon the earth, hunting
for sights at great trouble and expense, but how few even think of that
sublimer scenery of the sky which can be seen without stirring far from
home! A peep at some distant orb has power to raise and purify our
thoughts like a strain of sacred music, or a noble picture, or a passage
from the grander poets. It always does one good."
Professor Gazen silently turned the great refracting telescope in the
direction of Mars, and peered attentively through its mighty tube for
several minutes.
"Is there any light?" I inquired.
"None," he replied, shaking his head. "Look for yourself."
I took his place at the eye-piece, and was almost startled to find the
little coppery star, which I had seen half-an-hour before, apparently
quite near, and transformed into a large globe. It resembled a gibbous
moon, for a considerable part of its disc was illuminated by the sun.
A dazzling spot marked one of its poles, and the rest of its visible
surface was mottled with ruddy and greenish tints which faded into white
at the rim. Fascinated by the spectacle of that living world, seen at a
glance, and pursuing its appointed course through the illimitable ether,
I forgot my quest, and a religious awe came over me akin to that felt
under the dome of a vast cathedral.
"Well, what do you make of it?"
The voice recalled me to myself, and I began to scrutinise the dim and
shadowy border of the terminator for the feeblest ray of light, but all
in vain.
"I can't see any 'luminous projection'; but what a magnificent object in
the telescope!"
"It is indeed," rejoined the professor, "and though we have not many
opportunities of seeing it, we know it better than the other planets,
and almost as well as the moon. Its features have been carefully mapped
like those of the moon, and christened after celebrated astronomers."
"Yourself included, I hope."
"No, sir; I have not that honour. It is true that a man I know, an
enthusiastic amateur in astronomy, dubbed a lot of holes and corners in
the moon after his private friends and acquaintances, myself amongst
them: 'Snook's Crater,' 'Smith's Bottom,' 'Tiddler's Cove,' and so on;
but I regret to say the authorities declined to sanction his
nomenclature."
"I presume that bright spot on the Southern limb is one of the polar
ice-caps," said I, still keeping my eye on the planet.
"Yes," replied the professor, "and they are seen to wax and wane in
winter and summer. The reddish-yellow tracts are doubtless continents of
an ochrey soil; and not, as some think, of a ruddy vegetation. The
greenish-grey patches are probably seas and lakes. The land and water
are better mixed on Mars than on the earth--a fact which tends to
equalise the climate. There is a belt of continents round the equator:
'Copernicus,' 'Galileo,' 'Dawes,' and others, having long winding lakes
and inlets. These are separated by narrow seas from other islands on the
north or south, such as: 'Haze Land, 'Storm Land,' and so forth, which
occupy what we should call the temperate zones, beneath the poles; but I
suspect they are frigid enough. If you look closely you will see some
narrow streaks crossing the continents like fractures. These are the
famous 'Canals' of Schiaparelli, who discovered (and I wish I had his
eyes) that many of them were 'doubled,' that is, had another canal
alongside. Some of these are nearly 2,000 miles long, by fifty miles
broad, and 300 miles apart."
"That beats the Suez Canal."
"I am afraid they are not artificial. The doubling is chiefly observed
at the vernal equinox, our month of May, and is perhaps due to spring
floods, or vegetation in valleys of the like trend, as we find in
Siberia. The massing of clouds or mists will account for the peculiar
whiteness at the edge of the limb, and an occasional veiling of the
landscape."
While he spoke, my attention was suddenly arrested by a vivid point of
light which appeared on the dark side of the terminator, and south of
the equator.
"Hallo!" I exclaimed, involuntarily. "There's a light!"
"Really!" responded Gazen, in a tone of surprise, not unmingled with
doubt. "Are you sure?"
"Quite. There is a distinct light on one of the continents."
"Let me see it, will you?" he rejoined, hastily; and I yielded up my
place to him.
"Why, so there is," he declared, after a pause. "I suspect it has been
hidden under a cloud till now."
We turned and looked at each other in silence.
"It can't be the light Javelle saw," ejaculated Gazen at length. "That
was on Hellas Land."
"Should the Martians be signalling they would probably use a system of
lights. I daresay they possess an electric telegraph to work it."
The professor put his eye to the glass again, and I awaited the result
of his observation with eager interest.
"It's as steady as possible," said he.
"The steadiness puzzles me," I replied. "If it would only flash I should
call it a signal."
"Not necessarily to us," said Gazen, with mock gravity. "You see, it
might be a lighthouse flashing on the Kaiser Sea, or a night message in
the autumn manoeuvres of the Martians, who are, no doubt, very warlike;
or even the advertisement of a new soap."
"Seriously, what do you think of it?" I asked.
"I confess it's a mystery to me," he answered, pondering deeply; and
then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he added: "I wonder if it's any
good trying the spectroscope on it?"
So saying, he attached to the telescope a magnificent spectroscope,
which he employed in his researches on the nebulæ, and renewed his
observation.
"Well, that's the most remarkable thing in all my professional
experience," he exclaimed, resigning his place at the instrument to me.
"What is?" I demanded, looking into the spectroscope, where I could
distinguish several faint streaks of coloured light on a darker
background.
"You know that we can tell the nature of a substance that is burning by
splitting up the light which comes from it in the prism of a
spectroscope. Well, these bright lines of different colours are the
spectrum of a luminous gas."
"Indeed! Have you any idea as to the origin of the blaze?"
"It may be electrical--for instance, an aurora. It may be a volcanic
eruption, or a lake of fire such as the crater of Kilauea. Really, I
can't say. Let me see if I can identify the bright lines of the
spectrum."
I yielded the spectroscope to him, and scarcely had he looked into it
ere he cried out--
"By all that's wonderful, the spectrum has changed. Eureka! It's
thallium now. I should know that splendid green line amongst a
thousand."
"Thallium!" I exclaimed, astonished in my turn.
"Yes," responded Gazen, hurriedly. "Make a note of the observation, and
also of the time. You will find a book for the purpose lying on the
desk."
I did as directed, and awaited further orders. The silence was so great
that I could plainly hear the ticking of my watch laid on the desk
before me. At the end of several minutes the professor cried--
"It has changed again: make another note."
"What is it now?"
"Sodium. The yellow bands are unmistakable."
A deep stillness reigned as before.
"There she goes again," exclaimed the professor, much excited. "Now I
can see a couple of blue lines. What can that be? I believe it's
indium."
Another long pause ensued.
"Now they are gone," ejaculated Gazen once more. "A red and a yellow
line have taken their place. That should be lithium. Hey, presto!--and
all was dark."
"What's the matter?"
"It's all over." With these words he removed the spectroscope from the
telescope, and gazed anxiously at the planet "The light is gone," he
continued, after a minute. "Perhaps another cloud is passing over it.
Well, we must wait. In the meantime let us consider the situation. It
seems to me that we have every reason to be satisfied with our night's
work. What do you think?"
There was a glow of triumph on his countenance as he came and stood
before me.
"I believe it's a signal," said I, with an air of conviction.
"But how?"
"Why should it change so regularly? I've timed each spectrum, and found
it to last about five minutes before another took its place."
The professor remained thoughtful and silent.
"Is it not by the light which comes from them that we have gained all
our knowledge of the constitution of the heavenly bodies?" I continued.
"A ray from the remotest star brings in its heart a secret message to
him who can read it. Now, the Martians would naturally resort to the
same medium of communication as the most obvious, simple, and
practicable. By producing a powerful light they might hope to attract
our attention, and by imbuing it with characteristic spectra, easily
recognised and changed at intervals, they would distinguish the light
from every other, and show us that it must have had an intelligent
origin."
"What then?"
"We should know that the Martians had a civilisation at least as high as
our own. To my mind, that would be a great discovery--the greatest since
the world began."
"But of little use to either party."
"As for that, a good many of our discoveries, especially in astronomy,
are not of much use. Suppose you find out the chemical composition of
the nebulæ you are studying, will that lower the price of bread? No; but
it will interest and enlighten us. If the Martians can tell us what Mars
is made of, and we can return the compliment as regards the earth, that
will be a service."
"But the correspondence must then cease, as the editors say."
"I'm not so sure of that."
"My dear fellow! How on earth are we to understand what the Martians
say, and how on Mars are they to understand what we say? We have no
common code."
"True; but the chemical bodies have certain well-defined properties,
have they not?"
"Yes. Each has a peculiarity marking it from all the rest. For example,
two or more may resemble each other in colour or hardness, but not in
weight."
"Precisely. Now, by comparing their spectra can we not be led to
distinguish a particular quality, and grasp the idea of it? In short,
can the Martians not impress that idea on us by their
spectro-telegraph?"
"I see what you mean," said Professor Gazen; "and, now I think of it,
all the spectra we have seen belong to the group called 'metals of the
alkalies and alkaline earths,' which, of course, have distinctive
properties."
"At first, I should think the Martians would only try to attract our
notice by striking spectra."
"Lithium is the lightest metal known to us."
"Well, we might get the idea of 'lightness' from that."
"Sodium," continued the professor, "sodium is a very soft metal, with so
strong an affinity for oxygen that it burns in water. Manganese, which
belongs to the 'iron group,' is hard enough to scratch glass; and, like
iron, is decidedly magnetic. Copper is red--"
"The signals for colour we might get from the spectra direct."
"Mercury or quicksilver is fluid at ordinary temperatures, and that
might lead us to the idea of movement--animation--life itself."
"Having got certain fundamental ideas," I went on, "by combining these
we might arrive at other distinct conceptions. We might build up an
ideographic or glyphic language of signs--the signs being spectra. The
numerals might be telegraphed by simple occultations of the light. Then
from spectra we might pass by an easy step to equivalent signals of
long and short flashes in various combinations, also made by occulting
the light. With such a code, our correspondence might go on at great
length, and present no difficulty; but, of course, we must be able to
reply."
"If the Martians are as clever as you are pleased to imagine, we ought
to learn a good deal from them."
"I hope we may, and I'm sure the world will be all the better for a
little superior enlightenment on some points."
"Well, we must follow the matter up, at all events," said the professor,
taking another peep through the telescope. "For the present the Martian
philosophers appear to have shut up shop; and, as my nebula has now
risen, I should like to do a little work on it before daybreak. Look
here, if it's a fine night, can you join me to-morrow? We shall then
continue our observations; but, in the meanwhile, you had better say
nothing about them."
On my way home I looked for the ruddy planet as I had done in the
earlier part of the night, but with very different feelings in my heart.
The ice of distance and isolation separating me from it seemed to have
broken down since then, and instead of a cold and alien star, I saw a
friendly and familiar world--a companion to our own in the eternal
solitude of the universe.
CHAPTER II.
HOW CAN WE GET TO THE OTHER PLANETS?
The next evening promised well, and I kept my appointment, but
unfortunately a slight haze gathered in the sky and prevented us from
making further observations. While hoping in vain for it to clear away,
Professor Gazen and I talked over the possibility of journeying to other
worlds. The gist of our argument was afterwards published in a
conversation, entitled "Can we reach the other planets?" which appeared
in _The Day after To-morrow_. It ran as follows:
_I_. (_the writer_). "Do you think we shall ever be able to leave the
earth and travel through space to Mars or Venus, and the other members
of the Solar System?"
_G_. (_Checking an impulse to smile and shaking his head_), "Oh, no!
Never."
_I_. "Yet science is working miracles, or what would have been
accounted miracles in ancient times."
_G_. "No doubt, and hence people are apt to suppose that science can do
everything; but after all Nature has set bounds to her achievements."
_I_. "Still, we don't know what we can and what we cannot do until we
try."
_G_. "Not always; but in this case I think we know. The celestial bodies
are evidently isolated in space, and the tenants of one cannot pass to
another. We are confined to our own planet."
_I_. "A similar objection might have been urged against the plan of
Columbus."
_G_. "That was different. Columbus only sailed through unknown seas to a
distant continent. We are free to explore every nook and cranny of the
earth, but how shall we cross the immense void which parts us from
another world, except on the wings of the imagination?"
_I_. "Great discoveries and inventions are born of dreams. There are
minds which can foresee what lies before us, and the march of science
brings it within our reach. All or nearly all our great scientific
victories have been foretold, and they have generally been achieved by
more than one person when the time came. The telescope was a dream for
ages, so was the telephone, steam and electric locomotion, aerial
navigation. Why should we scout the dream of visiting other worlds,
which is at least as old as Lucian? Ere long, and perhaps before the
century is out, we shall be flying through the air to the various
countries of the globe. In succeeding centuries what is to hinder us
from travelling through space to different planets?"
_G_. "Quite impossible. Consider the tremendous distance--the lifeless
vacuum--that separates us even from the moon. Two hundred and forty
thousand miles of empty space."
_I_. "Some ten times round the world. Well, is that tremendous vacuum
absolutely impassable?"
_G_. "To any but Jules Verne and his hero, the illustrious Barbicane,
president of the Gun Club."[1]
[Footnote 1: _The Voyage à la Lune_, by Jules Verne.]
_I_. "Jules Verne has an original mind, and his ideas, though
extravagant, are not without value. Some of them have been realised, and
it may be worth while to examine his notion of firing a shot from the
earth to the moon. The projectile, if I remember, was an aluminium shell
in the shape of a conical bullet, and contained three men, a dog or two,
and several fowls, together with provisions and instruments. It was air
tight, warmed and illuminated with coal gas, and the oxygen for
breathing was got from chlorate of potash, while the carbonic acid
produced by the lungs and gas-burners was absorbed with caustic potash
to keep the air pure. This bullet-car was fired from a colossal
cast-iron gun founded in the sand. It was aimed at a point in the sky,
the zenith, in fact, where it would strike the moon four days later,
that is, after it had crossed the intervening space. The charge of
gun-cotton was calculated to give the projectile a velocity sufficient
to carry it past the 'dead-point,' where the gravity of the earth upon
it was just balanced by that of the moon, and enable it to fall towards
the moon for the rest of the way. The sudden shock of the discharge on
the car and its occupants was broken by means of spring buffers and
water pressure."
_G_. "The last arrangement was altogether inadequate."
_I_. "It was certainly a defect in the scheme."
_G_. "Besides, the initial velocity of the bullet to carry it beyond the
'dead-point,' was, I think, 12,000 yards a second, or something like
seven miles a second."
_I_. "His estimate was too high. An initial velocity of 9,000 yards, or
five miles a second, would carry a projectile beyond the sensible
attraction of the earth towards the moon, the planets, or anywhere; in
short, to an infinite distance. Indeed, a slightly lower velocity would
suffice in the case of the moon, owing to her attraction."
_G_. "But how are we to give the bullet that velocity? I believe the
highest velocity obtained from a single discharge of cordite, one of our
best explosives, was rather less than 4,000 feet, or only about
three-quarters of a mile per second. With such a velocity, the
projectile would simply rise to a great height and then fall back to the
ground."
_I_. "Both of these drawbacks can be overcome. We are not limited to a
single discharge. Dr. S. Tolver Preston, the well-known writer on
molecular science, has pointed out that a very high velocity can be got
by the use of a compound gun, or, in other words, a gun which fires
another gun as a projectile.[2] Imagine a first gun of enormous
dimensions loaded with a smaller gun, which in turn is loaded with the
bullet. The discharge of the first gun shoots the second gun into the
air, with a certain velocity. If, now, the second gun, at the instant it
leaves the muzzle of the first, is fired automatically, say by
utilising the first discharge to press a spring which can react on a
hammer or needle, the bullet will acquire a velocity due to both
discharges, and equivalent to the velocity of the second gun at the time
it was fired plus the velocity produced by the explosion of its own
charge. In this way, by employing a series of guns, fired from each
other in succession, we can graduate the starting shock, and give the
bullet a final velocity sufficient to raise it against gravity, and the
resistance of the atmosphere, which grows less as it advances, and send
it away to the moon or some other distant orb."
[Footnote 2: _Engineering_, January 13th, 1893.]
_G_. "Your spit-fire mode of progression is well enough in theory, but
it strikes me as just a little complicated and risky. I, for one,
shouldn't care to emulate Elijah and shoot up to Heaven in that style."
_I_. "If it be all right in theory, it will be all right in practice.
However, instead of explosives we might employ compressed air to get the
required velocity. In the air-gun or cannon, as you probably know, a
quantity of air, compressed within a chamber of the breech, is allowed
suddenly to expand behind the bullet and eject it from the barrel. Now,
one might manage with a simple gun of this sort, provided it had a very
long barrel, and a series of air chambers at intervals from the breech
to the muzzle. Each of these chambers, beginning at the breech, could be
opened in turn as the bullet passed along the barrel, so that every
escaping jet of gas would give it an additional impulse."
_G._ (_with growing interest_). "That sounds neater. You might work the
chambers by electricity."
_I_. "We could even have an electric gun. Conceive a bobbin wound with
insulated wire in lieu of thread, and having the usual hole through the
axis of the frame. If a current of electricity be sent through the wire,
the bobbin will become a hollow magnet or 'solenoid,' and a plug of soft
iron placed at one end will be sucked into the hole. In this experiment
we have the germ of a solenoid cannon. The bobbin stands for the
gun-barrel, the plug for the bullet-car, and the magnetism for the
ejecting force. We can arrange the wire and current so as to draw the
plug or car right through the hole or barrel, and if we have a series of
solenoids end to end in one straight line, we can switch the current
through each in succession, and send the projectile with gathering
velocity through the interior of them all. In practice the barrel would
consist of a long straight tube, wide and strong enough to contain the
bullet-car without flexure, and begirt with giant solenoids at
intervals. Each of the solenoids would be excited by a powerful current,
one after the other, so as to urge the projectile with accelerating
speed along the tube, and launch it into the vast."
_G_. "That looks still better than the pneumatic gun."
_I_. "A magnetic gun would have several advantages. For instance, the
currents can be sent through the solenoids in turn as quickly as we
desire by means of a commutator in a convenient spot, for instance, at
the butt end of the gun, so as to follow up the bullet with ease, and
give it a planetary flight. By a proper adjustment of the solenoids and
currents, this could be done so gradually as to prevent a starting shock
to the occupants of the car. The velocity attained by the car would, of
course, depend on the number and power of the solenoids. If, for
example, each solenoid communicated to the car a velocity of nine yards
per second, a thousand solenoids, each magnetically stronger than
another in going from breech to muzzle, would be required to give a
final velocity of five miles a second. In such a case, the length of the
barrel would be at least 1,000 yards. Economy and safety would determine
the best proportions for the gun, but we are now considering the
feasibility of the project, not its cost. With regard to position and
supports, the gun might be constructed along the slope of a hill or
mound steep enough to give it the angle or elevation due to the aim. As
the barrel would not have to resist an explosive force, it should not be
difficult to make, and the inside could be lubricated to diminish the
friction of the projectile in passing through it. Moreover, it is
conceivable that the car need never touch the sides, for by a proper
adjustment of the magnetism of the solenoids we might suspend it in
mid-air like Mahomet's coffin, and make it glide along the magnetic axis
of the tube."
_G_. "It seems a promising idea for an actual gun, or an electric
despatch and parcel post, or even a railway. The bullet, I suppose,
would be of iron."
_I_. "Probably; but aluminium is magnetic in a lower degree than iron,
and its greater lightness might prove in its favour. We might also
magnetise the car, say by surrounding it with a coil of wire excited
from an accumulator on board. The car, of course, would be hermetically
sealed, but it would have doors and windows which could be opened at
pleasure. In open space it would be warmed and lighted by the sun, and
in the shadow of a planet, if need were, by coal-gas and electricity.
In either case, to temper the extremes of heat or cold, the interior
could be lined with a non-conductor. Liquefied oxygen or air for
breathing, and condensed fare would sustain the inmates; and on the
whole they might enjoy a comfortable passage through the void, taking
scientific observations, and talking over their experiences."
_G_. "It would be a novel observatory, quite free from atmospheric
troubles. They might be able to make some astronomical discoveries."
_I_. "A novel laboratory as well, for in space beyond the attraction of
the earth there would be no gravity. The travellers would not feel a
sense of weight, but as the change would be gradual they would get
accustomed to it, and suffer no inconvenience."
_G_. "They would keep their gravity in losing it."
_I_. "The car, meeting with practically no resistance in the ether,
would tend to move in the same direction with the same velocity, and
anything put overboard would neither fall nor rise, but simply float
alongside. When the car came within the sensible attraction of the moon,
its velocity would gradually increase as they approached each other."
_G_. "Always supposing the aim of the gun to have been exact. You might
hit the moon, with its large disc and comparatively short range,
provided no wandering meteorite diverted the bullet from its course; but
it would be impossible to hit a planet, such as Venus or Mars, a mere
point of light, and thirty or forty million miles away, especially as
both the earth and planet are in rapid motion. A flying rifle-shot from
a lightning express at a distant swallow would have more chance of
success. If you missed the mark, the projectile would wheel round the
planet, and either become its satellite or return towards the earth like
that of Jules Verne in his fascinating romance."
_I_. "Jules Verne, and other writers on this subject, appear to have
assumed that all the initial effort should come from the cannon. Perhaps
it did not suit his literary purpose to employ any other driving force.
At all events he possessed one in the rockets of Michel Ardan, the
genial Frenchman of the party, which were intended to break the fall of
the projectile on the moon."
_G_. "If I recollect, they were actually fired to give the car a fillip
when it reached the dead-point on its way back to the earth."
_I_. "Even in a vacuum, where an ordinary propeller could not act, the
bullet may become a prime mover, and co-operate with the gun. A rocket
can burn without an atmosphere, and the recoil of the rushing fumes will
impel the car onwards."
_G_. "Do you think a rocket would have sufficient power to be of any
service?"
_I_. "Ten or twelve large rockets, capable of exerting a united back
pressure of one and a half tons during five or six minutes on a car of
that weight at the earth's surface, would give it in free space a
velocity of two miles a second, which, of course, would not be lost by
friction."
_G_. "So that it would not be absolutely necessary to give the
projectile an initial velocity of five miles a second."
_I_. "No; and, besides, we are not solely dependent on the rocket. A jet
of gas, at a very high pressure, escaping from an orifice into the
vacuum or ether, would give us a very high propelling force. By
compressing air, oxygen, or coal-gas (useful otherwise) in iron
cylinders with closed vents, which could be opened, we should have a
store of energy serviceable at any time to drive the car. In this way a
pressure or thrust of several tons on the square inch might be applied
to the car as long as we had gas to push it forwards."
_G_. "Certainly, and by applying the pressure, whether from the rocket
or the gas, to the front and sides, as well as to the rear of the car,
you would be able to regulate the speed, and direct the car wherever you
wanted to go."
_I_. "Moreover, beyond the range of gravitation, we could steer and
travel by pumping out the respired air, or occasionally projecting a
pebble from the car through a stuffing box in the wall, or else by
firing a shot from a pistol."
_G_. "You might even have a battery of machine guns on board, and
decimate the hosts of heaven."
_I_. "Our bullets would fly straight enough, anyhow, and I suppose they
would hit something in course of time."
_G_. "If they struck the earth they would be solemnly registered as
falling stars."
_I_. "Certainly they would be burnt up in passing through the atmosphere
of a planet and do no harm to its inhabitants."
_G_. "Well, now, granting that you could propel the car, and that
although your gun was badly aimed you could steer towards a planet, how
long would the journey take?"
_I_. "The self-movement of the car would enable us to save time, which
is a matter of the first importance on such a trip. In the plan of Jules
Verne, the bullet derives all its motion from the initial effort, and
consequently slows down as it rises against the earth's attraction,
until it begins again to quicken under the gravitation of the moon.
Hence his voyage to our satellite occupied four days. As we could
maintain the velocity of the car, however, we should accomplish the
distance in thirteen hours at a speed of five miles a second, and more
or less in proportion."
_G_. "About as long as the journey from London to Aberdeen by rail. What
about Mars or Venus?"
_I_. "At the same speed we should cover the 36,000,000 miles to these
planets in 2,000 hours, or 84 days, that is, about three months. With a
speed of ten miles a second, which is not impossible, we could reach
them in six weeks."
_G_. "One could scarcely go round the world in the same time. But,
having got to a planet, how are you going to land on it? Are you not
afraid you will be dissipated like a meteorite by the intense heat of
friction with the planet's atmosphere, or else be smashed to atoms by
the shock?"
_I_. "We might steer by the stars to a point on the planet's orbit,
mathematically fixed in advance, and wait there until it comes up. The
atmosphere of the approaching planet would act as a kind of buffer, and
the fall of the car could be further checked by our means of recoil, and
also by a large parachute. We should probably be able to descend quite
slowly to the surface in this way without damage; but in case of peril,
we could have small parachutes in readiness as life-buoys, and leap from
the car when it was nearing the ground."
_G_. "I presume you are taking into account the velocity of the planet
in its orbit? That of the earth is 18 miles a second, or a hundred times
faster than a rifle bullet; that of Venus, which is nearer the sun, is a
few miles more; and that of Mars, which is further from the sun, is
rather less."
_I_. "For that reason the more distant planets would be preferable to
land on. Uranus, for instance, has an orbital velocity of four miles a
second, and his gravity is about three-fourths that of the earth.
Moreover, his axis lies almost exactly on the plane of the ecliptic, so
that we could choose a waiting place on his orbit where the line of his
axis lay in the direction of his motion, and simply descend on one of
his poles, at which the stationary atmosphere would not whirl the car,
and where we might also profit by an ascending current of air. The
attraction of the sun is so slight at the distance of Uranus, that a
stone flung out of the car would have no perceptible motion, as it
would only fall towards the sun a mere fraction of an inch per second,
or some 355 feet an hour; hence, as Dr. Preston has calculated, one
ounce of matter ejected from the car towards the sun every five minutes,
with a velocity of 880 feet a second, would suffice to keep a car of one
and a half tons at rest on the orbit of the planet. Indeed, the vitiated
air, escaping from the car through a small hole by its own pressure,
would probably serve the purpose. Just before the planet came up, and in
the nick of time we could fire some rockets, and give the car a velocity
of two or three miles a second in the direction of the planet's motion,
so that he would overtake us, with a speed not over great to ensure a
safe descent. Our parachutes would be out, and at the first contact with
the atmosphere, the car would probably be blown away; but it would soon
acquire the velocity of the planet, and gradually sink downwards to the
surface."
_G_. "What puzzles me is how you are to get back to the earth."
_I_. "Whoever goes must take the risk; but if, as appears likely, both
Mars and Venus are inhabited by intelligent beings, we should probably
be able to construct another cannon and return the way we came."
_G_. (_smiling_). "Well, I confess the project does not look so
impracticable as it did. After all, travelling in a vacuum seems rather
pleasant. One of these days, I suppose, we astronomers will be packed in
bullets and fired into the ether to observe eclipses and comets' tails."
_I_. "In all that has been said we have confined ourselves to ways and
means already known; but science is young, and we shall probably
discover new sources of energy. It may even be possible to dispense with
the gun, and travel in a locomotive car. Lord Kelvin has shown that if
Lessage's hypothesis of gravitation be correct, a crystal or other body
may be found which is lighter along one axis than another, and thus we
may be able to draw an unlimited supply of power from gravity by simply
changing the position of the crystal; for example, by raising it when
lighter, and letting it fall when heavier. This form of 'perpetual
motion' might be equally obtainable if Dr. Preston's[3] theory of an
ether as the cause of gravity be true. Indeed, Professor Poynting is now
engaged in searching for such a crystal, which, if discovered, will
upset the second law of thermo-dynamics. I merely mention this to show
that science is on the track of concealed motive powers derived from
the ether, and we cannot now tell what the engines of the future will be
like. For ought we know, the time is coming when there will be a regular
mail service between the earth and Mars or Venus, cheap trips to
Mercury, and exploring expeditions to Jupiter, Saturn, or Uranus."
[Footnote 3: _Philosophical Magazine_, February, 1895.]
CHAPTER III.
A NEW FORCE.
"SIR,
"I have read your article on the possibility of travelling to the
other members of the Solar system with much interest. It is a
problem at which I, myself, have been working for a great many
years, and I believe that I have now discovered a means of solving
it in a practical manner. If you would care to see my experiments,
and will do me the honour of coming here, I shall be glad to show
them in confidence any time you may appoint.--Yours truly,
"NASMYTH CARMICHAEL."
The above letter, marked "Private," was forwarded to me through the
editor of _The Day After To-morrow_. The writer of it was a total
stranger to me, even by report, and at first I did not know what to make
of it. Was the man a charlatan, or a "crank?" There were no signs of
craziness or humbug in his frank and simple sentences. Had he really
found out a way of crossing the celestial spaces? In these days it is
better not to be too sceptical as to what science will accomplish. It
is, in fact, wise to keep the mind open and suspend the judgment. We are
standing on the threshold of the Arcana, and at any hour the
search-light of our intellect may penetrate the darkness, and reveal to
our wondering gaze the depths of the inner mechanism of Nature.
I resolved to accept his invitation.
A few days later I presented myself at the home of my unknown
correspondent. It was a lonely little cottage, in the midst of a wild
flat or waste of common ground on the outskirts of London. I should say
it had once been the dwelling of a woodman engaged in the neighbouring
forest. A tall, thick hedge of holly surrounded the large garden, and
almost concealed it from the curiosity of an occasional wanderer on the
heath.
Certainly it did not look the sort of place to find a man of science,
and the old misgivings assailed my mind in greater force than ever. Half
regretting that I had come, and feeling in a dubious element, I opened
the wicket, and knocked at the door.
It was answered by a young woman, in a plain gown of some dark stuff,
with a white collar round the neck. In spite of her dress I could see
that she was not an ordinary cottage girl. Pretty, without being
beautiful, there was a distinction in her voice and manner which bespoke
the gentlewoman. With a pleasant smile, she welcomed me as one who had
been expected, and ushered me into a small sitting-room, poorly
furnished, but with a taste and refinement unusual in a workman's home.
A large piano stood in one of the corners, and a pile of classical music
lay on a chair beside it. The mantelpiece was decorated with cut
flowers, and the walls were hung with portraits and sketches in crayons
and water-colour.
"My father will be down in a moment," she said, with a slight American
accent. "He is delighted to have the pleasure of meeting you. It is so
kind of you to come."
Before I had time to respond, Mr. Carmichael entered the parlour. He was
a man of striking and venerable presence. His long white locks, his
bulging brow, pregnant with brain, his bushy eyebrows and deep blue-grey
eyes, his aquiline nose and flowing beard, gave an Olympian cast to his
noble head. Withal, I could not help noticing that his countenance was
lined with care, his black coat seamed and threadbare, his hands rough
and horny, like those of a workman. If he appeared a god, it was a god
in exile or disgrace; a Saturn rather than a Jove.
"Now to the matter," said he, after a few words of kindly welcome.
"Evidently the question of inter-planetary travel is coming to the
front. In your article you suggest that a locomotive car, that is to
say, a car able to propel itself through what we, in our ignorance, call
empty space, though, in reality, it is chock-full, and very 'thrang' as
the Scotch say, might yet be contrived, and even worked by energy drawn
from the ether direct. When I read that, sir, I sat up and rubbed my
eyes."
"Your spectacles, father," said Miss Carmichael.
"Well, it's the same thing," went on the old man. "For like many another
prophet, sir, you had prophesied better than you knew."
"How do you mean?" I inquired, with a puzzled air.
"If you will step with me into the garden I will show you."
I rose and followed him into a large shed, which was fitted up as a
workshop and laboratory. It contained several large benches, provided
with turning lathes and tools, a quantity of chemicals, and scientific
apparatus.
"I am going to do a thing that I have never done in my life before,"
said Mr. Carmichael, in a sad and doubtful tone; "I have kept this
secret so long that it seems like parting with myself to disclose it,
to disclose even the existence of it. I have fed upon it as a young man
feeds on love. It has been my nourishment, my manna in the wilderness of
this world, my solace under a thousand trials, my inspiration from on
High. I verily believe it has kept my old carcase together. Mind!" he
added, with a penetrating glance of his grey eyes, which gleamed under
their bushy brows like a pool of water in a cavern overhung with
brambles, "promise me that whatever you see and hear will remain a
secret on your part. Never breathe a word of it to a living soul. You
are the only person, except my own daughter, whom I have ever taken into
my confidence."
I gave him my word of honour.
"Very well," he continued, lifting a small metal box from one of the
tables, and patting it with his hand. "I have been working at the
subject of aerial navigation for well-nigh thirty years, and this is the
result."
I looked at the metal case, but could see nothing remarkable about it.
"It seems a little thing, hardly worth a few pence, and yet how much I
have paid for it!" said the inventor, with a sigh, and a far-away
expression in his eyes. "Many a time it has reminded me of the mouse's
nest that was turned up by the ploughshare.
"'Thy wee bit heap o' strae and stibble
Has cost thee mony a weary nibble.'
Of course this is only a model."
"A model of a flying machine?" I inquired, in a tone of surprise.
"You may call it so," he answered; "but it is a flying machine that does
not fly or soar in the strict sense of the words, for it has neither
wings nor aeroplane. It is, in fact, an aerial locomotive, as you will
see."
While he spoke, Mr. Carmichael opened the case of the instrument, and
adjusted the mechanism inside. Immediately afterwards, to my
astonishment, the box suddenly left his hands, and flew, or rather
glided, swiftly through the air, and must have dashed itself against the
wall of the laboratory had not its master run and caught it.
"Wonderful!" I exclaimed, forgetting the attitude of caution and reserve
which I had deemed it prudent to adopt.
The inventor laughed with childish glee, enjoying his triumph, and
stroking the case as though it were a kitten.
"It would be off again if I would let it. Whoa, there!" said he, again
adjusting the mechanism. "I can make it rise, or sink, or steer, to one
side or the other, just as I please. If you will kindly hold it for a
minute, I will make it go up to the ceiling. Don't be afraid, it won't
bite you."
I took the uncanny little instrument in my hands, whilst Mr. Carmichael
ascended a ladder to a kind of loft in the shed. It only weighed a few
pounds, and yet I could feel it exerting a strong force to escape.
"Ready!" cried the inventor, "now let go," and sure enough, the box rose
steadily upwards until it came within his grasp. "I am going to send it
down to you again," he continued, and I expected to see it drop like a
stone to the ground; but, strange to say, it circled gracefully through
the air in a spiral curve, and landed gently at my feet.
"You see I have entire control over it," said Mr. Carmichael, rejoining
me; "but all you have seen has taken place in air, and you might,
therefore, suppose that I have an air propellor inside, and that air is
necessary to react against it, like water against the screw of a
steamboat, in order to produce the motion. I will now show you that air
is not required, and that my locomotive works quite as well in a
vacuum."
So saying, he put the model under a large bell-jar, from which he
exhausted the air with a pump; and even then it moved about with as much
alacrity and freedom as it had done in the atmosphere.
I confess that I was still haunted by a lingering suspicion of the
machine and its inventor; but this experiment went far to destroy it.
Even if the motive power was derived from a coiled spring, or compressed
air, or electricity, in the box, how was it possible to make it act
without the resistance offered by the air? Magnetism was equally out of
the question, since no conceivable arrangement of magnets could have
brought about the movements I had seen. Either I was hypnotised, and
imposed upon, or else this man had discovered what had been unknown to
science. His earnest and straightforward manner was not that of a
mountebank. There had been no attempt to surround his work with mystery,
and cloak his demonstration in unmeaning verbiage. It is true I had
never heard of him in the world of science, but after all an outsider
often makes a great discovery under the nose of the professors.
"Am I to understand," said I, "that you have found a way of navigating
both the atmosphere and the ether?"
"As you see," he replied, briefly.
"What the model has done, you are able to do on a larger scale--in a
practical manner?"
"Assuredly. It is only a matter of size."
"And you can maintain the motion?"
"As long as you like."
"Marvellous! And how is it done?"
"Ah!" exclaimed the inventor, "that is my secret. I am afraid I must not
answer that question at present."
"Is the plan not patented?"
"No. The fact is, I have not yet investigated the subject as fully as I
would like. My mind is not quite clear as to the causes of the
phenomena. I have discovered a new field of research, and great
discoveries are still to be made in it. Were I to patent the machine, I
should have to divulge what I know. Indeed, but for the sake of my
daughter, I am not sure that I should ever patent it. Even as it stands,
it will revolutionise not merely our modes of travel, but our
industries. It has been to me a labour of love, not of money; and I
would gladly make it a gift of love to my fellowmen."
"It is the right spirit," said I; "and I have no doubt that a grateful
world would reward you."
"I wouldn't like to trust it," replied Mr. Carmichael, with a smile and
shrug of the shoulders. "How many inventors has it doomed to pine in
poverty and neglect, or die of a broken heart? How often has it stolen,
aye stolen, the priceless fruits of their genius and labour? Speaking
for myself, I don't complain; I haven't had much to do with it. My
withdrawal from it has been voluntary. I was born in the south of
Scotland, and educated for the medical profession; but I emigrated to
America, and was engaged in one of Colonel Fremont's exploring
expeditions to the Rocky Mountains. After that I was appointed to the
chair of Physical Science in a college of Louisville, Kentucky, where my
daughter was born. One day, when I was experimenting to find out
something else, I fell by accident upon the track of my discovery, and
ever since I have devoted my life to the investigation. It appeared to
me of the very highest importance. As time went on, I grew more and more
absorbed in it. Every hour that I had to give to my official and social
duties seemed thrown away. A man cannot serve two masters, and as I also
found it difficult to carry on my experiments in secrecy, I resigned my
post. I had become a citizen of the United States, but my wife was a
Welshwoman, and had relations in England. So we came to London. When
she died, I settled in this isolated spot, where I could study in peace,
enjoy the fresh air, and easily get the requisite books and apparatus.
Here, with my daughter, I live a very secluded life. She is my sole
companion, my housekeeper, my servant, and my assistant in the
laboratory. She knows as much about my machine, and can work it as well
as I do myself. Indeed, I don't know what I should have done without
her. She has denied herself the ordinary amusements of her age. Her
devotion to me has been beautiful."
The voice of the old man trembled, and I fancied I could read in his
hollow eyes the untold martyrdom of genius.
"At last," he continued, "I have brought the matter into a practical
shape, and like many other inventors, for the first time I stand in need
of advice. Happening to see your article in the Magazine, I resolved to
invite you to come and see what I have done in hopes that you might be
able to advise and perhaps help me."
"I think," said I, after a moment's reflection, "I think the next thing
to be done is to make a large working machine, and try it on a voyage."
"Quite so," he replied; "and I am prepared to build one that will go to
any part of the earth, or explore the higher regions of the atmosphere,
or go down under the sea, or even make a trip to one of the nearer
planets, Mars or Venus as the case may be. But I am poor; my little
fortune is all but exhausted, and here, at the end of the race, within
sight of the goal, I lack the wherewithal to reach it. Now, sir, if you
can see your way to provide the funds, I will give you a share in the
profits of the invention."
I pondered his words in silence. Visions of travel through the air in
distant lands, above the rhododendron forests of the Himalayas, or the
green Savannahs of the Orinoco, the coral isles of the Pacific; yea,
further still, through the starlit crypts of space to other spheres were
hovering in my fancy. The singular history of the man, too, had touched
my feelings. Nevertheless, I hesitated to accept his offer there and
then. It was hardly a proposal to decide upon without due consideration.
"I will think it over and let you know," said I at length. "Have you any
objection to my consulting Professor Gazen, the well-known astronomer?
He is a friend of mine. Perhaps he will be able to assist us."
"None whatever, so long as he keeps the affair to himself. You can
bring him to see the experiments if you like. All I reserve is that I
shall not be asked to explain the inner action of the machine. That must
remain a secret; but some day I hope to show you even that."
"Thanks."
CHAPTER IV.
THE ELECTRIC ORRERY.
"Half-moon Junction! Change here for Venus, Mercury, the Earth, Mars,
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune!"
So I called in the style of a Clapham railway porter, as I entered the
observatory of Professor Gazen on the following night.
"What is the matter?" said he with a smile. "Are you imitating the
officials of the Universal Navigation Company in the distant future?"
"Not so distant as you may imagine," I responded significantly; and then
I told him all that I had seen and heard of the new flying machine.
The professor listened with serious attention, but manifested neither
astonishment nor scepticism.
"What do you think about it?" I asked. "What should I do in the case?"
"Well, I hardly know," he replied doubtfully. "It is rather out of my
line, and after my experience with Mars the other night, I am not
inclined to dogmatise. At all events, I should like to see and try the
machine before giving an opinion."
"I will arrange for that with the inventor."
"Possibly I can find out something about him from my American
friends--if he is genuine. What's his name again?"
"Carmichael--Nasmyth Carmichael."
"Nasmyth Carmichael," repeated Gazen, musingly. "It seems to me I've
heard the name somewhere. Yes, now I recollect. When I was a student at
Cambridge, I remember reading a textbook on physics by Professor Nasmyth
Carmichael, an American, and a capital book it was--beautifully simple,
clear, and profound like Nature herself. Professors, as a rule, and
especially professors of science, are not the best writers in the world.
Pity they can't teach the economy of energy without wasting that of
their readers. Carmichael's book was not a dead system of mathematics
and figures, but rather a living tale, with illustrations drawn from
every part of the world. I got far more help from it than the prescribed
treatises, and the best of that was a liking for the subject. I believe
I should have been plucked without it."
"The very man, no doubt."
"He was remarkably sane when he wrote that book, whatever he is now. As
to his character, that is another question. Given a work of science, to
find the character of the author. Problem."
"I shall proceed cautiously in the affair. Before I commit myself, I
must be satisfied by inspection and trial that there is neither trickery
nor self-delusion on his part. We can make some trial trips, and gain
experience before we attempt to leave the world."
"If you take my advice you will keep to the earth altogether."
"Surely, if we can ascend into the higher regions of the atmosphere, we
can traverse empty space. You would have me stop within sight of the
goal. The end of travel is to reach the other planets."
"Why not say the fixed stars when you are about it?"
"That's impossible."
"On the contrary, with a vessel large enough to contain the necessaries
of life, a select party of ladies and gentlemen might start for the
Milky Way, and if all went right, their descendants would arrive there
in the course of a few million years."
"Rather a long journey, I'm afraid."
"What would you have? A million years quotha! nay, not so much. It
depends on the speed and the direction taken. If they were able to
cover, say, the distance from Liverpool to New York in a tenth of a
second, they would get to Alpha in the constellation Centaur, perhaps
the nearest of the fixed stars, in twenty or thirty years--a mere
bagatelle. But why should we stop there?" went on Gazen. "Why should we
not build large vessels for the navigation of the ether--artificial
planets in fact--and go cruising about in space, from universe to
universe, on a celestial Cook's excursion--"
"We are doing that now, I believe."
"Yes, but in tow of the Sun. Not at our own sweet will, like gipsies in
a caravan. Independent, free of rent and taxes, these hollow planetoids
would serve for schools, hotels, dwelling-houses--"
"And lunatic asylums."
"They would relieve the surplus population of the globe," continued
Gazen, warming to his theme. "It is an idea of the first political
importance--especially to British statesmen. The Empire is only in its
infancy. With a fleet of ethereal gunboats we might colonise the solar
system, and annex the stars. What a stroke of business!"
"Another illusion gone," I observed "Think of Manchester cotton in the
Pleiades! Of Scotch whiskey in Orion! However, I am afraid your policy
would lead to international complications. The French would set up a
claim for 'Ancient Lights.' The Germans would discover a nebulous
Hinterland under their protection. The Americans would protest in the
name of the Monroe Doctrine. It is necessary to be modest. Let us return
to our muttons."
"Everybody will be able to pick a world that suits him," pursued Gazen,
still on the trail of his thought. "If he grows tired of one he can look
round for a better. Criminals will be weeded out and sent to Coventry, I
mean transplanted into a worse. When a planet is dying of old age, the
inhabitants will flit to another."
"Seriously, if Carmichael's machine turns out all right, will you join
me in a trip?"
"Thanks, no. I believe I shall wait and see how you get on first."
"And where would you advise me to go, Mars or Venus?"
The professor smiled, but I was quite in earnest.
"Well," he replied, "Mars is evidently inhabited; but so is Venus,
probably, and of the two I think you will find her the more hospitable
and the nearest. When do you propose to start?"
"Perhaps within six months."
"We must consider their relative distances from the earth. By the way,
I don't think you have seen my new electrical orrery."
"An electrical orrery," I exclaimed. "Surely that is something new!"
"So far as I am aware; but you never know in these days. There is
nothing new under the sun, or even above it."
So saying, he opened a small door in the side of the observatory, and,
ushering me into a very dark apartment, closed it behind us.
"Follow me, there is no danger," said he, taking me by the arm, and
guiding me for several paces into the darkness.
At length we halted, and I looked all around me, but was unable to
perceive a single object.
"Where are we?" I enquired; "in the realms of Chaos and Old Night?"
"You are now in the centre of the Universe," replied Gazen; "or, to
speak more correctly, at a point in space overlooking the solar system."
"Well, I can't see it," said I. "Have you got such a thing as a match
about you?"
"Let there be light!" responded Gazen in a reverent manner, and
instantly a soft, weird radiance was over all. The contrast of that
sudden illumination with the preceding darkness was electrical in more
senses than one, and I could not repress a cry of genuine admiration.
A kind of twilight still reigned, and after the first moment of
surprise, I perceived that we were standing on a light metal gangway in
the middle of a great hollow cell of a luminous black or dark blue
colour, relieved by innumerable bright points, and resembling the night
sky in miniature.
"I need hardly say that is a model of the celestial sphere," whispered
Gazen, indicating the starry vault.
"It is a wonderful imitation," I responded, my awestruck eyes wandering
over the mysterious tracts of the Milky Way and the familiar
constellations of the mimic heavens. "May I ask how it is done--how you
produce that impression of infinite distance?"
"By means of translucent shells illuminated from behind. The stars, of
course, are electric lamps, and some of them, as you see, have a tinge
of red or blue."
Most of the light, however, came from a brilliant globe of a bluish
lustre, which appeared to occupy the centre of the crystal sphere, and
was surrounded by a number of smaller and fainter orbs that shone by its
reflected rays.
"This, again, is a model of the solar system," said Gazen. "The central
luminary is, of course, the sun, and the others are the planets with
their satellites."
"They seem to float in air."
"That is because their supports are invisible, or nearly so. Both their
lights and periodic motions are produced by the electric current."
"Surely they are not moving now?"
"Oh, yes, and with velocities proportionate to those of the real bodies;
but you know that whilst the actual movements of the sun and planets are
so rapid, the dimensions of the system are so vast that if you could
survey the whole from a standpoint in space, as we are supposed to do,
it would appear at rest. Let us look at them a little closer."
I followed Gazen along the gangway which encircled the orrery, and
allowed us to survey each of the planets closer at hand.
"This kind of place would make a good theatre for a class in astronomy,"
said I, "or for the meetings of the Interplanetary Congress of
Astronomers, in the year 2000. You can turn on the stars and planets
when you please. I wish you would give me a lecture on the subject now.
My knowledge is a little the worse for wear, and a man ought to know
something of the worlds around him--especially if he intends to visit
them."
"I should only bore you with an old story."
"Not at all. You cannot be too simple and elementary. Regard me as a
small boy in the stage of
"'Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!'"
"Very well, my little man, have you any idea how many stars you can see
on a clear night?"
"Billions."
"No, Tommy. You are wrong, my dear boy. Go to the foot of your class.
With the naked eye we can only distinguish three or four thousand, but
with the telescope we are able to count at least fifty millions. They
are thickest in the Milky Way, which, as you can see, runs all round the
heavens, over your head, and under your feet, like an irregular tract of
hazy light, a girdle of stars in short. Of course we cannot tell how
many more there are beyond the range of vision, or what other galaxies
may be scattered in the depths of space. The stars are suns, larger or
smaller than our own, and of various colours--white, blue, yellow,
green, and red. Some are single, but others are held together in pairs
or groups by the force of gravitation. From their immense distance they
appear fixed to us, but in reality they are flying in all directions at
enormous velocities. Alpha, of the constellation Cygnus, for example, is
coming towards us at a speed of 500 million leagues per annum, and some
move a great deal faster. Most of them probably have planets circling
round them in different stages of growth, but these are invisible to us.
Here and there amongst them we find luminous patches or 'nebulæ,' which
prove to be either clusters of stars or stupendous clouds of glowing
gases. Our sun is a solitary blue star on the verge of the Milky Way, 20
billion miles from Alpha Centauri his next-door neighbour. He is
travelling in a straight line towards the constellation Hercules at the
rate of 20,000 miles an hour, much quicker than a rifle bullet; and,
nevertheless, he will take more than a million years to cover the
distance. Eight large or major planets, with their satellites, and a
flock of minor planets or planetoids, are revolving round him as their
common centre and luminary at various distances, but all in the same
direction. The orbits, or paths, about the sun are ovals or ellipses,
almost circular, of which the sun occupies one focus, and they are so
nearly in one plane, or at one level, that if seen from the sun, they
would appear to wander along a narrow belt of the heavens, called the
zodiac, which extends a few degrees on each side of the Elliptic or
apparent course of the sun against the stars. The planets are all
globes, more or less flat at the poles, like an orange, and each is
turning and swaying on its axis, thus exposing every part to the light
and warmth of the sun. They are divided by the planetoids into an inner
and an outer band. The inner four are Mercury, Venus, the Earth, and
Mars; the outer four are Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Moreover,
a number of comets and swarms of meteoric stones or meteorites are
circulating round the sun in eccentric paths, which cross those of the
planets. Such is the solar system--a lonely archipelago in the ethereal
ocean--a little family of worlds."
"Not without its jars, I'm afraid."
"The sun is chief of the clan," continued Gazen, "and keeps it together
by the mysterious tie of gravitation. While flying through space, he
turns round his own axis like a rifle bullet in 25 or 26 days. His
diameter is 860,000 miles, and although he is not much denser than
sea-water, his mass is over 700 times greater than the combined mass of
all his retinue. Gravity on his surface being 28 times stronger than on
the earth, a piece of timber would be as heavy as gold there, and a
stone let fall would drop 460 feet the first second instead of 16 feet
as here. He is built of the same kind of matter as the earth and other
planets, but is hotter than the hottest electric arc or reverberatory
furnace. Apparently his glowing bulk is made up of several concentric
shells like an onion. First there is a kernel or liquid nucleus,
probably as dense as pitch. Above it is the photosphere, the part we
usually see, a jacket of incandescent clouds, or vapours, which in the
telescope is seen to resemble 'willow leaves,' or 'rice grains in a
plate of soup,' and in the spectroscope to reveal the rays of iron,
manganese, or other heavy elements. What we call 'faculæ' (or little
torches), are brighter streaks, not unlike some kinds of coral. The
'Sunspots' are immense gaps or holes in the photosphere, some of them
150,000 miles in diameter, which afford us a peep at the glowing
interior. There are different theories as to their nature, hence they
provide rival astronomers with an excellent opportunity of spotting each
other's reputations. For instance, I look upon them as eruptions, and
Professor Sylvanus Pettifer Possil (my pet aversion) regards them as
cyclonic storms; consequently we never lose an opportunity of erupting
and storming at each other. Above the photosphere comes a stratum of
cooler vapours and gases, namely, hydrogen and helium, a very light
element recently found on the earth, along with argon, in the rare
mineral cleveite. Tremendous jets of blazing hydrogen are seen to burst
through the clouds of the photosphere, and play about in this higher
region like the flames of a coal fire. These are the famous 'red flames'
or 'prominences,' which are seen during a total eclipse as a ragged
fringe of rosy fire about the black disc of the moon. Some of them rush
through the chromosphere to a height of 80,000 miles in 15 minutes.
"Higher still is the 'corona,' an aureole of silvery beams visible in a
total eclipse, and resembling the star of a decoration. The streamers
have been traced for hundreds of thousands of miles beyond the solar
disc. It appears to consist of meteoric stones, illuminated by the
sunlight as well as of incandescent vapours of 'coronium,' a very light
element unknown on the earth, and probably, too, of electrical
discharges. The 'zodiacal light,' that silvery glow often seen in the
west after sunset, or in the east before sunrise, may be a prolongation
of it."
"I daresay these meteorites are swarming about the sun like midges about
a lamp," said I.
"And just as eager to get burnt up," replied Gazen, with a smile. "Let
us pass now to the planets. The little one next the sun is Mercury, who
can be seen as a rosy-white star soon after sunset or before sunrise. He
is about 36 million miles, more or less, from the sun; travels round his
orbit in 88 days, the length of his year; and spins about his axis in
24 hours, making a day and night. His diameter is 3,000 miles, and his
mass is nearly seven times that of an equal volume of water. The
attraction of gravity on his surface is barely half that on the earth,
and a man would feel very light there. Mercury seems to have a dense
atmosphere, and probably high mountains, if not active volcanoes. The
sunshine is from four to nine times stronger there than on the earth,
and as summer and winter follow each other in six weeks, he is doubtless
rather warm.
"Venus, the 'Shepherd's Star,' and the brightest object in the heavens
after the moon, can sometimes be seen by day, and casts a distinct
shadow at night. She is about 67 million miles from the sun, revolves
round him in 225 days, and rotates on her axis in 23 to 24 hours, or as
Schiaparelli believes, in 224 days. Her diameter is 7,600 miles, and her
mass nearly five times that of an equal volume of water. Gravity is
rather less there than it is here. Like Mercury, she appears to have a
cloudy atmosphere, and very high mountains. On the whole she resembles
the earth, but is, perhaps, a younger as well as a warmer planet.
"The green ball, next to Venus, is, I need hardly say, our own dear
little world. Terra, or the earth, is 93 million miles from the sun,
goes round him in 365 days, and turns on her axis in 24 hours less four
minutes. Her diameter is 7,918 miles, and her density is 5.66 times that
of water. She is attended by a single satellite, the moon, which
revolves round her in 27.3 days, at a distance of 238,000 miles. The
moon rotates on her axis in about the same time, and hence we can only
see one side of her. She is 2,160 miles in diameter, but her mass is
only one-eightieth that of the earth. A pound weight on the moon would
scale six pounds on the earth. Having little or no atmosphere or water,
she is apparently a dead world.
"The red planet beyond the earth is Mars, who appears in the sky as a
ruddy gold or coppery star. He is 141 million miles from the sun,
travels his orbit in 687 days, and wheels round his axis in 24 hours 37
minutes. His diameter is 4,200 miles, and his mass about one-ninth that
of the earth. A body weighing two pounds on the earth would only make
half a pound on Mars. As you know, his atmosphere is clear and thin, his
surface flat, and subject to floods from the melting of the polar snows.
Mars is evidently a colder and more aged planet than the earth.
"He is accompanied by two little moons, Phobos (Fear), which is from ten
to forty miles in diameter, and revolves round him in 7 hours 39
minutes, at a distance of 6,000 miles, a fact unparalleled in astronomy;
and Deimos (Rout), who completes a revolution in 30 hours 18 minutes, at
a distance of 14,500 miles.
"About 400 planetoids have been discovered up to now, but we are always
catching more of them. Medusa, the nearest, is 198 million miles, and
Thule, the farthest, is 396 million miles from the sun. Vesta, the
brightest and probably the largest, a pale yellow, or, as some say,
bluish white orb, visible with the naked eye, is from 200 to 400 miles
in diameter. It is impossible to say which is the smallest. Probably the
mass of the whole is not greater than one quarter that of the earth.
"Jupiter, surnamed the 'giant planet,' who almost rivals Venus in her
splendour, is 480 million miles from the sun; travels round his orbit in
12 years less 50 days; and is believed to whirl round his axis in 10
hours. His diameter is 85,000 miles, and his bulk is not only 1,200
times that of the earth, but exceeds that of all the other planets put
together. Nevertheless, his mass is only 200 to 300 times that of the
earth, for his density is not much greater than that of water. What we
see is evidently his vaporous atmosphere, which is marked by coloured
spots and bands or belts, probably caused by storms and currents,
especially in the equatorial regions. Jupiter is thought to be self
luminous, at least in parts, and is, perchance, a cooling star, not yet
entirely crusted over.
"Four or five numbered satellites, about the size of our moon and
upwards, are circulating round him in orbits from 2,000 to 1,000,000
miles distant in periods ranging from 11 hours to 16 days 18 hours.
"Saturn, the 'ringed planet,' who appears as a dull red star of the
first magnitude, is the most interesting of all the planets. He is 884
million miles from the sun; his period of revolution is 29½ years, and
he turns on his axis in 10 hours 14 minutes. His diameter is 75,000
miles, but his mass is only 94 times that of the earth, for he is
lighter than pinewood. His atmosphere is marked with spots and belts,
and on the whole his condition is like that of Jupiter.
"Two flat rings or hoops, divided by a dark space, encircle his ball in
the plane of his equator. The inner ring is over 18,000 miles from the
ball, and nearly 17,000 miles broad. The gap between is 1,750 miles
wide, and the outer ring is over 10,000 miles broad. The rings are
banded, bright or dark, and vary in thickness from 40 to 250 miles. They
consist of innumerable small satellites and meteoric stones, travelling
round the ball in rather more than ten hours, and are brightest in
their densest parts. Of course they form a magnificent object in the
night sky of the planet, and it may be that our own zodiacal light is
the last vestige of a similar ring, and not an extension of the solar
corona.
"Saturn has eight moons outside his rings, the nearest, Mimas, being
115,000, and the farthest, Japetus, 220,400 miles from his ball. With
the exception of Japetus, they revolve round him in the plane of his
rings, and when these are seen edgewise, appear to run along it like
beads on a string.
"Uranus, the next planet visible, is a pale star of the sixth magnitude,
1,770 million miles from the sun, and completes his round in 84 years.
His axis, differing from those of the foregoing planets, lies almost in
the plane of his orbit, but we cannot speak as to his axial rotation. He
is 31,000 miles in diameter, and somewhat heavier, bulk for bulk, than
water. Four satellites revolve round him, the nearest, Ariel, being
103,500, and the farthest, Oberon, 347,500 miles distant. Unlike the
orbits of the foregoing satellites, which are nearly in the same plane
as the orbits of their primaries, those of the satellites of Uranus are
almost perpendicular to his own. They are travelled in periods of two
and a half to thirteen and a half days.
"Neptune, invisible to the naked eye, but seen as a pale blue star in
the telescope, is 2,780 million miles from the sun, and makes a
revolution in 165 years. His diameter is about 35,000 miles, and his
density rather less than that of water.
"Neptune has one satellite, at a distance of 202,000 miles, which, like
those of Uranus, revolves about its primary in an orbit at a
considerable angle to his own in five days twenty-one hours. Both
Neptune and Uranus are probably dying suns.
"Comets of unknown number travel in long elliptical or parabolic orbits
round the sun at great velocities. They seem to consist partly of
glowing vapours, especially hydrogen, and partly of meteoric stones.
'Shooting stars,' that is to say, stones which fall to the earth, are
known to swarm in their wake, and are believed to be as plentiful in
space as fishes in the sea."
"The trash or leavings of creation," said I reflectively.
"And the raw material, for nothing is lost," rejoined Gazen. "Now, in
spite of all its diversity, there is a remarkable symmetry in the solar
system. The planets are all moving round the sun in one direction along
circular paths. As a rule each is nearly as far again from the sun as
the next within it. Thus, if we take Mercury as ¾ inch from the sun,
Venus is about 1¼ inches, the Earth 2¼, Mars 2, the planetoids 5¼,
Jupiter 9¾, Saturn 14, Uranus 36, and Neptune 60 inches. On the same
scale, by the way, Enckes' comet at Aphelion, its farthest distance from
the sun, would be about 12 feet; Donatis almost a mile; and Alpha
Centauri, a near star in the Milky Way, some ten miles.
"The stately march of the planets in their orbits becomes slower the
farther they are from the sun. The velocity of Mercury in its orbit is
thirty, that of Jupiter is eight, and that of Neptune is only three
miles a second. On the other hand, the inner planets, as a rule, take
some twenty-four hours, and the outer only ten hours to spin round their
axis. The inner planets are small in comparison with the outer. If we
represent the sun by a gourd, 20 inches in diameter, Mercury will seem a
bilberry (⅟₁₆ inch) Venus, a white currant, the Earth a black currant
(¼ inch), Mars a red currant (⅛ inch), the planetoids as fine seed,
Jupiter an orange or peach (2 inches), Saturn a nectarine or greengage
(1 inch), Uranus a red cherry (¾ inch), and Neptune a white cherry
(barely 1 inch in diameter). By putting the sun and planets in a row,
and drawing a contour of the whole, we obtain the figure of a dirk, a
bodkin, or an Indian club, in which the sun stands for the knob
(disproportionately big), the inner planets for the handle, and the
outer for the blade or body. Again, the average density of the inner
planets exceeds that of the outer by nearly five to one, but the mass of
any planet is greater than the combined masses of all which are smaller
than it. The inner planets derive all their light and heat from the sun,
and have few or no satellites; whereas the outer, to all appearance, are
secondary suns, and have their own retinue of worlds. On the similitude
of a clan or house we may regard the inner planets as the immediate
retainers of the chief, and the outer as the chieftains of their own
septs or families."
"How do you account for the symmetrical arrangement?" I enquired.
"The origin of the solar system is, you know, a mystery," replied the
astronomer. "According to the nebular hypothesis we may imagine that two
or more dark suns, perhaps encircled with planets, have come into
collision. Burst into atoms by the stupendous shock they would fill the
surrounding region with a vast nebula of incandescent gases in a state
of violent agitation. Its luminous fringes would fly immeasurably beyond
the present orbit of Neptune, and then rush inwards to the centre, only
to be driven outwards again. Surging out and in, the fluid mass would
expand and contract alternately, until in course of ages the fiery
tides would cease to ebb and flow. If the impact had been somewhat
indirect it would rotate slowly on its axis, and under the influence of
gravity and centrifugal force acquire a globular shape which would
gradually flatten to a lenticular disc. As it cooled and shrank in
volume it would whirl the faster round its axis, and grow the denser
towards its heart. By and by, as the centrifugal force overcame gravity,
the nebula would part, and the lighter outskirts would be shed one after
another in concentric rings to mould the planets. The inner rings, being
relatively small and heavy, would probably condense much sooner than the
large, light, outer rings. The planetoids are apparently the rubbish of
a ring which has failed to condense into one body, perhaps through its
uniformity or thinness. The separation of so big a mass as Jupiter might
well attenuate the border."
"If the planetoids were born of a single small ring, might not several
planets be condensed from a large one?"
"I see nothing to hinder it. A large ring might split into smaller
rings, or condense in several centres."
"Because it seems to me that might explain the distinction between the
inner and the outer planets. Perhaps the outer were first thrown off in
one immense ring, and then the inner in a smaller ring. Before
separation the nebula viewed edgewise might resemble your Indian club."
"A 'dumb-bell nebula,' like those we find in the heavens," observed
Gazen. "Be that as it may, the rings would collect into balls, and some
of these, especially the outer, would cast off rings which would
condense into moons, always excepting the rings of Saturn, which, like
the planetoids, are evidently a failure. The solar system would then
appear as a group of suns, a cluster of stars, in short, a
constellation. Each would be what we call a 'nebulous star,' not unlike
the sun at present; that is to say, it would be surrounded by a glowing
atmosphere of vapours, and perhaps meteoric matter. Under the action of
gravity, centrifugal force, and tidal retardation, their orbits would
become more circular, they would gradually move further apart, rotate
more slowly on their axes, and assume the shapes they have now. In
cooling down, new chemical compounds, and probably elements would be
formed, since the so-called elements are perhaps mere combinations of a
primordial substance which have been produced at various temperatures.
The heavier elements, such as platinum, gold, and iron, would sink
towards the core; and the lighter, such as carbon, silicon, oxygen,
nitrogen, and hydrogen, would rise towards the surface. A crust would
form, and portions of it breaking in or bursting out together with
eruptions and floods of molten lava, would disturb the poise of the
planet, and give rise to inequalities of surface, to continents, and
mountains. When the crust was sufficiently stable, sound, and cool, the
mists and clouds would condense into rivers, lakes, or seas, and the
atmosphere would become clear. In due course life would make its
appearance."
"Can you account for that mystery?"
"No. Science is bound in honour, no doubt, to explain all it can without
calling in a special act of creation; but the origin of life and
intelligence seems to go beyond it, so far. Spontaneous generation from
dead matter is ruled out of court at present. We believe that life only
proceeds from life. As for the hypothesis that meteoric stones, the
'moss-grown fragments of another world' may have brought life to the
earth, I hardly know what to think of it."
"Has life ever been found on a meteoric stone?"
"Not that I know. Carbon, at all events in the state of graphite and
diamond, has been got from them. They arc generally a kind of slag,
containing nodules or crystals of iron, nickle, and other metals, and
look to me as if they had solidified from a liquid or vapour. Are they
ruins of an earlier cosmos--the crumbs of an exploded world--matter
ejected from the sun--the snow of a nebulous ring--frozen spray from the
fiery surge of a nebula? we cannot tell; but, according to the meteoric
as distinguished from the nebular hypothesis of the solar system, the
sun, planets, and comets, as well as the stars and nebula were all
generated by the clash of meteorites; and not as I have supposed, of
dead globes."
"Which hypothesis do you believe?"
"There may be some truth in both," replied Gazen. "The two processes
might even go on together. What if meteorites are simply frozen nebula?
It is certain that the earth is still growing a little from the fall of
meteoric stones, and that part of the sun's heat comes from meteoric
fuel. Most of it, however, arises from the shrinkage of his bulk. Five
or ten million years ago the sun was double the size he is now. Twenty
or thirty million years ago he was rather a nebula than a sun. In five
or ten million more he will probably be as Jupiter is now--a smoking
cinder."
"And the earth--how long is it since she was crusted over?"
"Anything from ten to several hundred million years. In that time the
stratified rocks have been deposited under water, the land and sea have
taken their present configurations; the atmosphere has been purified;
plants and animals have spread all over the surface. Man has probably
been from twenty to a hundred thousand years or more on the earth, but
his civilization is a thing of yesterday."
"How long will the earth continue fit for life?"
"Perhaps five or ten million years. The entire solar system is gradually
losing its internal heat, and must inevitably die of sheer inanition.
The time is coming when the sun will drift through space, a black star
in the midst of dead worlds. Perhaps the system will fall together,
perhaps it will run against a star. In either case there would probably
be a 'new heaven and a new earth.'"
"Born like a phoenix from the ashes of the old," said I, feeling the
justice of the well-worn simile.
"I daresay the process goes on to all eternity."
"Like enough."
The sublime idea, with its prospect of the infinite, held us for a time
in silence. At length my thoughts reverted to the original question
which had been forgotten.
"Now, whether should I go to Mars or Venus?" I enquired, fixing my eyes
on these planets and trying to estimate their relative distances from
the earth.
Gazen made a mental computation, and replied with decision,
"Venus."
"All right," I responded. "Venus let it be."
CHAPTER V.
LEAVING THE EARTH.
"Check!"
I was playing a game of chess with an old acquaintance, Viscount ----,
after dinner, one evening, in the luxurious smoking-room of a
fashionable club in the West End of London.
Having got his queen into a very tight corner, I sipped a glass of wine,
lit a Turkish cigarette, and leaned back in my chair with an agreeable
sense of triumph.
My companion, on the other hand, puffed rapidly at his cigar, and took a
long drink of hot whiskey and water, then fixed his attention on the
board, and stroked his beard with an air of the deepest gravity. Had you
only seen his face at that moment you would have supposed that all the
care of a mighty empire weighed upon his shoulders. The countenance of a
grand vizier, engaged in considering an ultimatum of Lord Salisbury,
were frivolous in comparison. There is little doubt that if Lord ----
had applied to the serious business of life as much earnest deliberation
as he gave to the movement of a pawn, he would have made a very
different figure in Society. But having been born without any effort of
his own to all that most men covet--rank, wealth, and title--he showed a
rare spirit of contentment, and did his best to make the world happier
by enjoying himself.
As he was a very slow player, I began to think of a matter which lay
nearer to my heart than the game, I mean the project of travelling to
Venus. Tests of the new flying machine, by Professor Gazen and myself,
as well as our enquiries into the character of Mr. Carmichael, having
proved quite satisfactory, I had signed an agreement for the
construction of an ethereal ship or car, equally capable of navigating
the atmosphere to distant regions of the globe, and of traversing the
immense reaches of empty space between the earth and the other members
of the solar system.
As Miss Carmichael had determined to accompany her father, and assist
him in his labours, it was built to carry three persons, with room to
spare for another, and the trial trips, made secretly on foggy nights,
had encouraged us to undertake the longer voyage into space. I am glad
to say that Professor Gazen, having taken part in one of these, had got
the better of his caution, and finally made up his mind to join the
expedition.
I suspect that he was influenced in his decision by the heroic example
of Miss Carmichael. At all events I know he tried very hard to dissuade
her from going; but all his arguments could not shake her inflexible
resolution, and truly, there was something sublime in the quiet fidelity
of this young woman to her aged father which commanded our admiration.
At length, all preparations for the voyage were complete, and as we did
not wish to excite any remark, it was arranged that we should start on
the first night that was dark enough to conceal our movements.
While these thoughts were passing through my head, a footman, in plush,
entered the smoking-room, and presented a telegram on a golden salver.
Anticipating the contents, I tore it open, and read as follows:
"_We leave to-night. Come on at once._--CARMICHAEL."
After writing a reply to the message, I turned to the Viscount, who had
never raised his eyes from the board, and said,
"You had better give me the game."
He simply stared at me, and asked,
"Why?"
"Well, make it a draw."
"Oh, dear no. Let's play it out."
"I can't. I'm sorry to say I must leave you now. I have just received a
telegram making an urgent appointment. When beauty calls--"
"Oh!" replied his lordship, with an amiable smile. "In that case we'll
finish it another time. I mean to win this game."
"It will take you all your time."
"I'll wager you ten to one--a thousand sovereigns to a hundred that I
win."
It is not my habit to lay wagers; but I was anxious to be gone.
"All right," I responded with a laugh, as I went away. "Good-night!"
On arriving at Mr. Carmichael's cottage I found the rest of the party
waiting for me. No time was lost in proceeding to the garden, where the
car stood ready to mount into the air. All the lights were out, and in
the darkness it might have been mistaken for a tubular boiler of a dumpy
shape. It was built of aluminium steel, able to withstand the impact of
a meteorite, and the interior was lined with caoutchouc, which is a
non-conductor of heat, as well as air-proof. The foot or basement
contained the driving mechanism, and a small cabin for Mr. Carmichael.
The upper shell, or main body, of an oval contour, projected beyond the
basement, and was surmounted by an observatory and conning tower. It was
divided into several compartments, that in the middle being the saloon,
or common chamber. At one end there was a berth for Miss Carmichael, and
at the other one for Professor Gazen and myself, with a snug little
smoking cell adjoining it. Every additional cubic inch was utilised for
the storage of provisions, cooking utensils, arms, books, and scientific
apparatus.
The vessel was entered by a door in the middle, and a railed gallery or
deck ran round it outside. The interior was lighted by ports, or
scuttles, of stout glass; but electricity was also at our service. Air
constantly evaporating from the liquid state would fill the rooms, and
could escape through vent holes in the walls. This artificial atmosphere
was supplemented by a reserve fund of pure oxygen gas compressed in
steel cylinders, and a quantity of chemicals for purifying the air. It
need hardly be said that we did not burden the ship with unnecessary
articles, and that every piece of furniture was of the lightest and most
useful kind.
I think we all felt the solemnity of the moment as we stepped into the
black hull which might prove our living coffin. No friends were by to
sadden us with their parting; but the old earth had grown dearer to us
now that we were about to leave it, perhaps for ever. Mr. Carmichael
descended by the trap into the engine room, while we others stood on the
landing beside the open door, mute and expectant.
Presently, a shudder of the vessel sent a strange thrill to our hearts,
and almost before we knew it, we had left the ground.
"We're off!" ejaculated Gazen, and although a slight vibration was all
the movement we could feel, we saw the earth sinking away from us. At
first we rose very slowly, because the machine had to contend against
the force of gravity; but as the weight of the car diminished the higher
we ascended, our speed gradually augmented, and we knew that in the long
run it would become prodigious. The night was moonless, and a thick
mantle of clouds obscured the heavens; but the planet Venus was now an
evening star, and after attaining a considerable height, we steered
towards the west. Our course took us over the metropolis, which lay
beneath us like a vast conflagration.
Far as the eye could see, myriads of lights glimmered like watch fires
through the murk of the dismal streets, growing thicker and thicker as
we approached the heart of the city, and appearing to blend their
lustres. Through the midst of the glittering expanse we could trace the
black tide of the river, crossed by the sparkling lines of the bridges,
and reflecting the red lanterns of the ships and barges. The principal
squares and thoroughfares were picked out, with rows and clusters of gas
and electric lamps, as with studs of gold and silver. The clock on the
Houses of Parliament glowed like the full moon on a harvest night. Now
and again the weird blaze of a furnace, or the shifting beam of an
advertisement, attracted our attention. With indescribable emotion we
hung over the immense panorama, and recognised the familiar streets and
buildings--the Bank and Post Office, St. Paul's Cathedral and Newgate
Prison, the Law Courts and Somerset House, the British Museum, the
National Gallery of Arts, Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace. We
watched the busy multitudes swarming like ants in the glare of the
pavements from the dreary slums and stalls of Whitechapel to the
newspaper offices of Fleet Street; the shops and theatres of the Strand;
the music halls and restaurants of Piccadilly Circus. A deep and
continuous roar, a sound like that of the ocean ascended from the
toiling millions below.
"Isn't it awful!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael, in a tone of reverence.
"What a city! I seem to understand how an angel feels when he regards
the world in space, or a God when He listens to the prayers of
humanity."
"For my part," said Gazen, "I feel as though I were standing on my
head."
By this time we had lost the sense of danger, and gathered confidence in
our mode of travel.
"I fancy the clouds overhead are the real earth," explained the
astronomer, "and that I'm looking down into the starry heavens, with its
Milky Way. I say, though, isn't it jolly up here--soaring above all
these moiling mannikins below--wasting their precious lives grubbing in
the mire--dead to the glories of the universe--seeking happiness and
finding misery. Ugh!--wish I had a packet of dynamite to drop amongst
them and make them look up. Hallo!"
The earth had suddenly vanished from our sight.
CHAPTER VI.
IN SPACE.
We had entered the clouds.
For half-an-hour we were muffled in a cold, damp mist, and total
darkness, and had begun to think of going indoors when, all at once, the
car burst into the pure and starlit region of the upper air.
A cry of joyous admiration escaped from us all.
The spectacle before us was indeed sublime.
The sky of a deep dark blue was hung with innumerable stars, which
seemed to float in the limpid ether, and the rolling vapours through
which we had passed were drawn like a sable curtain between us and the
lower world. The stillness was so profound that we could hear the
beating of our own hearts.
"How beautiful!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael, in a solemn whisper, as if
she were afraid that angels might hear.
"There is Venus right ahead," cried the astronomer, but in a softer
tone than usual, perhaps out of respect for the sovereign laws of the
universe. "The course is clear now--we are fairly on the open sea--I
mean the open ether. I must get out my telescope."
"The sky does not look sad here, as it always does on the earth--to me
at least," whispered Miss Carmichael, after Gazen had left us alone. "I
suppose that is because there is so much sadness around us and within us
there."
"The atmosphere, too, is often very impure," I replied, also in a
whisper.
"Up here I enjoy a sense of absolute peace and well-being, if not
happiness," she murmured. "I feel raised above all the miseries of
life--they appear to me so paltry and so vain."
"As when we reach a higher moral elevation," said I, drifting into a
confidential mood, like passengers on the deck of a ship, under the
mysterious glamour of the night-sky. "Such moments are too rare in life.
Do you remember the lines of Shakespeare:--
"'Look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims:
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in--we cannot hear it.'"
"True," responded Miss Carmichael, "and now I begin to feel like a
disembodied spirit--a 'young-eyed cherubim.' I seem to belong already to
a better planet. Should you not like to dwell here for ever, far away
from the carking cares and troubles of the world?"
The unwonted sadness of her tone reminded me of her devoted life, and I
turned towards her with new interest and sympathy. She was looking at
the Evening Star, whose bright beam softened the irregularities of her
profile, and made her almost beautiful.
"Yes," I answered, and the words "with you" formed themselves in my
heart. I know not what folly I might have spoken had not the
conversation been interrupted by Gazen, who called out in his unromantic
style,
"I say, Miss Carmichael! Won't you come and take a look at Venus?"
She rose at once, and I followed her to the observatory.
The telescope was very powerful for its size, and showed the dusky night
side of the planet against the brilliant crescent of the day like the
"new moon in the arms of the old," or, as Miss Carmichael said, "like an
amethyst in a silver clasp."
"Really, it is not unlike that," said Gazen, pleased with her feminine
conceit. "If the instrument were stronger you would probably see the
clasp go all round the dusky violet body like a bright ring, and
probably, too, an ashen light within it, such as we see on the dark side
of the moon. By-and-by, as we get nearer, we shall study the markings of
the terminator, and a shallow notch that is just visible on the inner
edge of the southern horn. Can you see it?"
"Yes, I think I can. What is it?" replied Miss Carmichael.
"Probably a vast crater, or else a range of high mountains intercepting
the sunlight, and making a scallop in the border of the terminator.
However, that is a secret for us to find out. We know very little of the
planet Venus--not even the length of her day. Some think it is eight
months long, others twenty-four hours. We shall see. I have begun to
keep a record of our discoveries, and some day--when I return to town--I
hope to read a paper on the subject before the most potent, grave, and
learned Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society--I rather think I
shall surprise them--I do not say startle--it is impossible to startle
the Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society--or even to astonish
them--you might as well hope to tickle the Sphinx--but I fancy it will
stir them up a little, especially my friend Professor Sylvanus Pettifer
Possil. However, I must take care not to give them the slightest hint of
what they are to expect beforehand, otherwise they will declare they
knew all about it already."
"Has it struck you that up here the stars appear of different colours at
various distances," said Miss Carmichael.
"Oh, yes," answered Gazen, "and in the pure atmosphere of the desert, or
on the summit of high mountains, we notice a similar effect. The stars
have been compared to the trees of a forest, in different stages of
growth and decay. Some of them are growing in splendour, and others
again are dying out. Arcturus, a red star, for example, is fast cooling
to a cinder. Capella, over there, is a yellow star, like our own sun,
and past his prime. Sirius, that brilliant white or bluish star, which
flashes like a diamond in the south, is one of the fiercest. He is a
double star, his companion being seven and himself thirteen times
massier than the sun; but they are fifty times brighter, and a million
times further off, that is to say, one hundred billion miles away.
These double or twin stars are often very beautiful. The twins are of
all colours, and generally match well with each other--for instance,
purple and orange--green and orange--red and green--blue and pale
green--white and ruby. One of the prettiest lies in the constellation
Cygnus. I will show it to you."
"Oh, how lovely!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael, looking through the glass.
"The bigger star is a golden or topaz yellow, and the smaller a light
sapphire blue."
"Some of the star groups and nebulæ are just as pretty," observed Gazen,
turning his telescope to another part of the heavens; "most of the stars
are white, but there is a sprinkling of yellow, blue, and red amongst
them--I mean, of course, to our view, for the absorption of our
atmosphere alters the tint."
"Does that mean that there is more youth than age, more life than death,
in the universe?" enquired Miss Carmichael.
"Not exactly," replied the astronomer. "There is apparently no lack of
vigour in the Cosmos--no great sign of decrepitude; but we must remember
that we see the younger and brighter stars better than the others, and
for aught we know there are many dark suns or extinct stars, as well as
planets and their satellites. I should not like to say that the
population of space is going down; but on the whole it may be
stationary. I wish I could show you the cluster in Toucan, a rosy star
in a ring of white ones."
"Like a brooch of pearls," said Miss Carmichael.
"Yes--not unlike that," responded Gazen, evidently amused at her
comparison. "But that constellation is in the Southern Hemisphere.
However, here is the 'ring' or 'planetary' nebula in the Lyre."
"What a wonderful thing!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael, with her eye at the
instrument. "It looks to me like a golden hoop, with diamond dust
inside."
I do not know where Miss Carmichael got her knowledge of jewellery, for
to all appearance she wore none.
"Or the cup of a flower," she added, raising her head.
"Poets have called the stars 'fleurs de ciel,'" said Gazen, shifting the
telescope, "and if so, the nebula are the orchids; for they imitate
crabs, birds, dumb-bells, spirals, and so forth. Take a look at this
one, and tell us what you think of it."
"I see a cloud of silver light in the dark sky," said Miss Carmichael,
after observing it.
"What does it resemble?"
"It's rather like a pansy--or--"
"Anything else?"
"A human face!"
"Not far out," rejoined Gazen. "It is called the Devil Nebula!"
"And what is it?" enquired Miss Carmichael.
"It is a cluster of stars--a spawn of worlds, if I may use the
expression," answered Gazen.
"And what are they made of? I know very little of astronomy."
"The same stuff as the earth--the same stuff as ourselves--hydrogen,
iron, carbon, and other chemical elements. Just as all the books in the
world are composed of the same letters, so all the celestial bodies are
built of the same elements. Everything is everywhere--"
Gazen was evidently in his own element, and began a long lecture on the
constitution of the universe, which appeared to interest Miss Carmichael
very much. Somehow it jarred upon me, and I retired to the little
smoking-room, where I lit a cigar, and sat down beside the open scuttles
to enjoy a quiet smoke.
"Why am I displeased with the lucubrations of the professor?" I said to
myself. "Am I jealous of him because he has monopolised the attention of
Miss Carmichael? No, I think not. I confess to a certain interest in
Miss Carmichael. I believe she is a noble girl, intelligent and
affectionate, simple and true; with a touch of poetry in her nature
which I had never suspected. She will make an excellent companion to the
fortunate man who wins her. When I remember the hard life she has led so
far, I confess I cannot help sympathising with her; but surely I am not
in love?"
I regret to say that my friend the astronomer, with all his good
qualities, was not quite free from the arrogance which leads some men of
science to assume a proprietary right in the objects of their discovery.
To hear him speak you would think he had created the stars, instead of
explaining a secret of their constitution. However, I was used to that
little failing in his manner. It was not that. No, it was chiefly the
matter of his discourse which had been distasteful to me. The sight of
that glorious firmament had filled me with a sentiment of awe and
reverence to which his dry and brutal facts were a kind of desecration.
Why should our sentiment so often shrink from knowledge? Are we afraid
its purity may be contaminated and defiled? Why should science be so
inimical to poetry? Is it because the reality is never equal to our
dreams? There is more in this antipathy than the fear of disillusion
and alloyment. Some of it arises from a difference in the attitude of
the mind.
To the poet, nature is a living mystery. He does not seek to know what
it is, or how it works. He allows it as a whole to impress itself on his
entire soul, like the reflection in a mirror, and is content with the
illusion, the effect. By its power and beauty it awakens ideas and
sentiments within him. He does not even consider the part which his own
mind plays, and as his fancy is quite free, he tends to personify
inanimate things, as the ancients did the sun and moon.
To the man of science, on the other hand, nature is a molecular
mechanism. He wishes to understand its construction, and mode of action.
He enquires into its particular parts with his intellect, and tries to
penetrate the illusion in order to lay bare its cause. Heedless of its
power and beauty, he remains uninfluenced by sentiment, and mistrusting
the part played by his own mind, he tends to destroy the habit of
personification.
Hence that opposition between science and poetry which Coleridge pointed
out. The spirit of poetry is driven away by the spirit of science, just
as Eros fled before the curiosity of Psyche.
How can I enjoy the perfume of a rose if I am thinking of its cellular
tissue? I grow blind to the beauty of the Venus de Medicis when I
measure its dimensions, or analyse its marble. What do I care for the
drama if I am bent on going behind the scenes and examining the stage
machinery? The telescope has banished Phoebus and Diana from our
literature, and the spectroscope has vulgarised the stars.
Will science make an end of poetry as Renan and many others have
thought? Surely not? Poetry is quite as natural and as needful to
mankind as science. All men are poetical, as they are scientific, more
or less.
It might even be argued that poetry is for the general, for the man as a
man; while science is for the particular, for the man as a specialist;
and that poetry is a higher and more essential boon than science,
because it speaks to the heart, not merely to the head, and keeps alive
the celestial as well as the terrestrial portion of our nature.
Shall we prefer the cause to the effect, and the means to the end, or
exalt the matter above the form, and the letter above the spirit? Does
not the tissue exist for the sweetness of the rose, the marble for the
beauty of the stature, and the mechanism for the illusion of the play?
The "opposition" between science and poetry lies not in the object, but
in our mode of regarding it. The scientific and the poetical spirit are
complementary, as the inside to the outside of a garment, and if they
seem to drive each other away it is because the mind cannot easily
entertain and employ both together; but one is passive when the other is
active.
Keats drank "confusion to Newton" for destroying the poetry of the
rainbow by showing how the colours were elicited; but after all was
Newton guilty? Why should a true knowledge of the cause destroy the
poetry of an effect? Every effect must be produced somehow. The rainbow
is not less beautiful in itself because I know that it is due to the
refraction of light. The diamond loses none of its lustre although
chemistry has proved it to be carbon; the heavens are still glorious
even if the stars are red-hot balls.
But stones, carbon, and light are familiar commonplace things, and
fraught with prosaic associations.
True, and yet natural things are noble in themselves, and only vulgar in
our usage. It is for us to purify and raise our thoughts. Instead of
losing our interest in the universe because it is all of the same stuff,
we should rather wonder at the miracle which has formed so rich a
variety out of a common element.
But the mystery is gone, and the feelings and fancies which arose from
it.
In exchange for the mystery we have truth, which excites other emotions
and ideas. Moreover, the mystery is only pushed further back. We cannot
tell what the elements really are; they will never be more than symbols
to us, and all nature at bottom will ever remain a mystery to us: an
organised illusion. Think, too, of the innumerable worlds amongst the
stars, and the eternity of the past and future. Whether we look into the
depths of space beyond the reach of telescope and microscope, or
backward and forward along the vistas of time, we shall find ourselves
surrounded with an impenetrable mystery in which the imagination is free
to rove.
Science, far from destroying, will foster and develop poetry. It is the
part of the scientific to serve the poetical spirit by providing it with
fresh matter. The poet will take the truth discovered by the man of
science, and purify it from vulgar associations, or stamp it with a
beautiful and ideal form.
Consider the vast horizons opened to the vision of the poet by the
investigations of science and the doctrine of evolution. At present the
spirit of science is perhaps more active than the spirit of poetry, but
we are passing through an unsettled to a settled period. Tennyson was
the voice of the transition; but the singer of evolution is to come, and
after him the poet of truth.
If we allowed the scientific to drive away the poetical spirit, we
should have to go in quest of it again, as the forlorn Psyche went in
search of Eros. It is necessary to the proper balance and harmony of our
minds, to the purification of our feelings, and the right enjoyment of
life. Poetry expresses the inmost soul of man, and science can never
take its place. Religion apart, what does the present age of science
need more than poetry? What would benefit a hard-headed, matter-of-fact
man of science like Professor Gazen if not the arts of the sublime and
beautiful--if not a poetical companion--such as Miss Carmichael?
* * * * *
Thus, after a long rambling meditation, I had come back to my bachelor
friend and the fair American.
"Yes," thought I, rather uneasily, I must confess, for I could not
disguise from myself the fact that I was taken with her, "Gazen and she
are not an ill-matched pair by any means. They are alike in many
respects, and a contrast in others. They have common ground in their
love and aptitude for science; yet each has something which the other
lacks. She has poetry and sentiment for instance, but he--well, I'm
afraid that if he ever had any it has all evaporated by this time. On
the other hand, she"--but it puzzled me to think of any good quality
that Miss Carmichael did not possess, and I began to consider that she
would be throwing herself away upon him. "They seem to get on well
together, however--monstrously well. I wonder what star he is picking to
pieces now?"
I listened for the sound of their voices, but not a murmur passed
through the curtain which I had drawn across the entrance to the smoking
cabin. Only a peculiar tremor from the mysterious engines broke the
utter stillness. Was I growing deaf? I snapped my fingers to reassure
myself, and the sound startled me like the crack of a pistol. Evidently
my sense of hearing had become abnormally acute. My mind, too, was
preternaturally clear, and the solitude became so irksome that I rose
from my seat, and looked out of the scuttles to relieve the tension of
my nerves.
Apparently we had reached a great height in the atmosphere, for the sky
was a dead black, and the stars had ceased to twinkle. By the same
illusion which lifts the horizon of the sea to the level of the
spectator on a hillside, the sable cloud beneath was dished out, and the
car seemed to float in the middle of an immense dark sphere, whose upper
half was strewn with silver. Looking down into the dark gulf below, I
could see a ruddy light streaming through a rift in the clouds. It was
probably a last glimpse of London, or some neighbouring town; but soon
the rolling vapours closed, and shut it out.
I now realised to the full that I was _nowhere_, or to speak more
correctly, a wanderer in empty space--that I had left one world behind
me and was travelling to another, like a disembodied spirit crossing the
gloomy Styx. A strange serenity took possession of my soul, and all that
had polluted or degraded it in the lower life seemed to fall away from
it like the shadow of an evil dream.
In the depths of my heart I no longer felt sorry to quit the earth. It
seemed to me now, a place where the loveliest things never come to
birth, or die the soonest--where life itself hangs on a blind mischance,
where true friendship is afraid to show its face, where pure love is
unrequited or betrayed, and the noblest benefactors of their fellowmen
have been reviled or done to death--a place which we regard as a heaven
when we enter it, and a hell before we leave it. . . . No, I was not
sorry to quit the earth.
And the beautiful planet, shining there so peacefully in the west, was
it any better? At a like distance the earth would seem still fairer, and
perhaps even now some wretch in Venus is asking himself a similar
question. Is it not probable that just as all the worlds are made of the
same materials, so the mixture of good and evil is much the same in all?
I turned to the stars, where in all ages man has sought an answer to his
riddles. The better land! Where is it? if not among the stars. I am now
in the old heaven above the clouds. Does it lie _within_ the visible
universe, as it lies within the heart when peace and happiness are
there?
In that pure ether the glory of the firmament was revealed to me as it
had never been on the earth, where it is often veiled with clouds and
mist, or marred by houses and surrounding objects--where the quietude of
the mind is also apt to be disturbed by sordid and perplexing cares. Its
awful sublimity overwhelmed my faculties, and its majesty inspired me
with a kind of dread. In presence of these countless orbs my own
nothingness came home to me, and a voice seemed to whisper in my ear,
"Hush! What art thou? Be humble and revere."
After a while, I perceived a pure celestial radiance of a marvellous
whiteness dawning in the east. By slow degrees it spread over the
starlit sky, lightening its blackness to a deep Prussian blue, and
lining the sable clouds on the horizon with silver. At length the round
disc of the sun, whiter than the full moon, and intolerably bright, rose
into view.
With the intention of rejoining Professor Gazen in the observatory, and
seeing it through his telescope, I flung away my cigar, and stepped
towards the door of the cabin; but ere I had gone two paces, I suddenly
reeled and fell. At first I imagined that an accident had happened to
the car, but soon realised that I myself was at fault. Dizzy and faint,
with a bounding pulse, an aching head, and a panting chest, I raised
myself with great difficulty into a seat, and tried to collect my
thoughts. For the last quarter of an hour I had been aware of a growing
uneasiness, but the spectacle of sunrise had entranced me, and I forgot
it. Suspecting an attack of "mountain sickness" owing to the rarity of
the atmosphere, I attempted to rise and close the scuttles, but found
that I had lost all power in my lower limbs. The pain in my head
increased, the palpitation of my heart grew more violent, my ears rang
like a bell, and I literally gasped for breath. Moreover, I felt a
peculiar dryness in my throat, and a disagreeable taste of blood in my
mouth. What was to be done? I tried again to reach the door, but only to
find that I could not even move my arms, let alone my feet.
Nevertheless, I was singularly free from agitation or alarm, and my mind
was just as clear as it is now. I reflected that as the car was ever
rising into a rarer atmosphere, my only hope of salvation lay in calling
for help, and that as the paralysis was gaining on my whole body, not a
moment was to be lost. I shouted with all my strength; but beyond a sort
of hiss, not a sound escaped my lips. The profound silence of the car
now struck me in a new light. Had Gazen and Miss Carmichael not
committed the same blunder, and suffered a like fate? Perhaps even
Carmichael himself had been equally careless, and the flying machine,
now masterless, was carrying us Heaven knows whither. Strange to say I
entertained these sinister apprehensions without the least emotion. I
had lost all feeling of pain or anxiety, and was perfectly tranquil and
indifferent to anything that might happen. It is possible that with the
paralysis of my powers to help myself, I was also relieved by nature
from the fears of death. I began to think of the sensation which our
mysterious disappearance would make in the newspapers, and of divers
other matters, such as my own boyhood and my friends, when all at once
my eyes grew dim--and I remembered nothing more.
CHAPTER VII.
ARRIVING IN VENUS.
"Try to speak--there's a good fellow--open your eyes."
I heard the words as in a dream. I recognised the voice of Gazen, but it
seemed to come from the far distance. Opening my eyes I found myself
prostrate on the floor of the smoking room, with the professor and Miss
Carmichael kneeling beside me. There was a look of great anxiety on
their faces.
"I'm all right," said I feebly. "I'm so glad you are safe."
It appears that a short time before, Gazen had closed the scuttles of
the observatory and returned with Miss Carmichael to the saloon, then,
after calling to me without receiving any answer, had opened the door of
the smoking-room and seen me lying in a dead faint. Luckily Miss
Carmichael had acquired some knowledge of medicine, partly from her
father, and without loss of time they applied themselves to bring me
round by the method of artificial respiration employed in cases of
drowning or lightning stroke.
It would be tedious to narrate all the particulars of our journey
through the dark abyss, particularly as nothing very important befell
us, and one day passed like another. Now and then a small meteoric stone
struck the car and glanced off its rounded sides.
"Old Charon," as Gazen and I had nicknamed Carmichael, after the grim
ferryman of the Styx, seldom forsook his engines, and Miss Carmichael
spent a good deal of her time along with him. Occasionally she chatted
with Gazen and myself in the saloon, or helped us to make scientific
observations; but although neither of us openly confessed it, I think we
both felt that she did not give us quite enough of her company. Her
manner seemed to betray no preference for one or the other.
Did she, by her feminine instinct, perceive that we were both solicitous
of her company, and was she afraid of exciting jealousy between us? In
any case we were all the more glad to see her when she did join us. No
doubt men in general, and professors in particular, are fond of
communicating knowledge, but a great deal depends on the pupil; and
certainly I was surprised to see how the hard and dry astronomer beamed
with delight as he initiated this young lady into the mysteries of the
apparatus, and what a deal of trouble he took to cram her lovely head
with mathematics.
We noted the temperature of space as we darted onwards, and discovered
that it contains a trace of gases lost from the atmospheres of the
heavenly bodies. We also found there a sprinkling of minute organisms,
which had probably strayed from some living world. Gazen suggested that
these might sow the seeds of organic life in brand-new planets, ready
for them, but perhaps that was only his scientific joke. The jokes of
science are frequently so well disguised, that many people take them for
earnest.
Gazen made numerous observations of the celestial bodies, more
especially the sun, which now appeared as a globe of lilac fire in the
centre of a silvery lustre, but I will leave him to publish his results
in his own fashion. We may claim to have seen the South Pole, but, of
course, at a distance too great for scientific purposes. Judging by its
appearance, I should say it was surrounded by a frozen land. The earth,
with its ruddy and green continents, delineated as on a map, or veiled
in belted clouds, was a magnificent object for the telescope as it
wheeled in the blue rays of the sun.
Hour after hour, with a kind of loving fascination, we watched it
growing "fine by degrees and beautifully less," until at last it waned
into a bright star.
Venus, on the other hand, waxed more and more brilliant until it
rivalled the moon, and Mercury appeared as a rosy star not far from it.
We soon got accustomed to the funereal aspect of the sky, and the utter
silence of space. Indeed, I was not so much impressed by the reality as
I had been by the simulacrum in my dream of sunrise in the moon. When I
looked at the weird radiance of the sun, however, I realised as I had
never done before that he was only a star seen comparatively near, and
that the earth was but his insignificant satellite. Moreover, when I
gazed down into the yawning gulf, with its strange constellations so far
_beneath_ us, I felt to the full the awful loneliness of the universe;
and how that all life and soul were confined to mere sunlit specks
thinly scattered here and there in the blackness of eternal night.
Steering a calculated course by the stars, we reached the orbit of
Venus, and travelled along it in advance of the planet with a velocity
rather less than her own, so as to allow her to overtake us. Some
notion of the eagerness with which we scanned her approach may be
gathered by imagining the moon to fall towards the earth. Slowly and
steadily the illuminated crescent of the planet grew in bulk and
definition, until we could plainly distinguish all the features of her
disc without the aid of glasses. For the most part she was wrapped in
clouds, of a dazzling lustre at the equator, and duskier towards the
poles. Here and there a gap in the vapour revealed the summit of a
mountain range, or the dark surface of a plain or sea.
I need hardly say that none of us viewed the majestic approach of this
new world, suspended in the ether, and visibly turning round its axis,
without emotion. The boundary of day and night was fairly well marked,
and I pictured to myself the wave of living creatures rising from their
sleep to life and activity on one side, and going to sleep again on the
other, as it crept slowly over the surface. To compare small things with
great, the denizens of a planet reminded me of performers under the
limelight of a darkened theatre:
"All the world's a stage!"
We amused ourselves with conjectures as to our probable fate on Venus,
supposing we should arrive there safe and sound.
"I suppose the authorities will demand our passports," said I. "Perhaps
we shall be tried and condemned to death for invading a friendly
planet."
"It wouldn't surprise me in the least," said Gazen, "if they were to put
us into their zoological gardens as a rare species of monkey."
"What a ridiculous idea!" exclaimed Miss Carmichael. "Now _I_ feel sure
they will pay us divine honours. Won't it be nice?"
"You will make a perfect divinity," rejoined the professor with
consummate gallantry. "For my part I shall feel more at home in a
menagerie."
Thus far we had not observed any signs of intelligent beings on the
cloudy globe, and it was still doubtful whether we should not discover
it to be a lifeless world.
Our track did not lie exactly on the orbit of the planet, but
sufficiently beneath it to let her attraction pull the car up towards
her Southern Pole as it passed above us; and by this course of action we
trusted to enjoy a wider field of atmosphere to manoeuvre in, and
probably a safer descent into a cooler climate than we should have
experienced in attempting to land on the equator.
By an illusion familiar in the case of railway trains, it seemed to us
that the car was stationary, and the planet rushing towards us. On it
came like a great shield of silver and ebony, eclipsing the stars and
growing vaster every moment. Under the driving force of the engines and
the gravity of the planet, our car was falling obliquely towards the
orbit, like a small boat trying to cross the bows of an ironclad, and a
collision seemed inevitable. Being on the sunward side we could see more
and more of the illuminated crescent as it drew near, and were filled
with amazement at the sublime spectacle afforded by the strange contrast
between the purple splendour of the solar disc in the black abyss of
ether and the pure white celestial radiance which was reflected from the
atmosphere of the planet.
The climax of magnificence was reached when the approaching surface came
so close as to appear concave, and our little ark floated above a
hemisphere of dazzling brightness under a hemisphere of appalling
darkness faintly relieved by the glimmer of stars and the purple glory
of the sun.
Ere we could express our admiration, however, we were startled by a
magical transformation of the scene. The sky suddenly became blue, the
stars vanished from sight, the sun changed to a golden lustre, and the
broad day was all around us.
"Whatever has happened?" exclaimed Miss Carmichael between alarm and
wonder.
"We have entered the atmosphere of Venus," responded Gazen with
alacrity. "I wonder if it is breathable?"
So saying he opened one of the scuttles, and a whiff of fresh air blew
into the car. Thrusting his nose out, he sniffed cautiously for a while
and then drew several long breaths.
"It seems all right as regards quality," he remarked, "but there's too
little body in it. We must wait until we get nearer the ground before we
can go outside the car."
The pressure of the atmosphere as taken by an aneroid barometer
confirmed his observation, but as we were ignorant of its average
density it could not give us any certain indication of our height. Far
beneath us an ideal world of clouds hid the surface from our view. We
seemed to be floating above a range of snowy Alps, their dusky valleys
filled with glaciers, and their sovereign peaks glittering in the sun
like diamonds. As we descended in a long slant, their dazzling summits
rose to meet us, and the infinite play of light and shade became more
and more beautiful. The gliding car threw a distinct shadow which
travelled along the white screen, and equally to our surprise and
delight became fringed with coloured circles resembling rainbows.
"It is a good omen!" cried Miss Carmichael.
"Humph!" responded the professor, shaking his head but smiling
good-humouredly; "that is a mere superstition I'm afraid. It is simply
an optical effect, a variety of the phenomenon called 'anthelia,' like
Ulloa's Circle and the famous 'Spectre of the Brocken.'"
"Explain it how you will," rejoined Miss Carmichael, "to me it is an
emblem of hope. It cheers my heart."
"I am very glad to hear it, and I should be very sorry to crush your
hopes," said Gazen pleasantly. "We can sometimes derive moral
encouragement and profit from external phenomena. A rainbow in the midst
of a storm is a cheering sight. I daresay there is a reasonable basis,
too, for certain superstitions. St. Elmo's Fire may, for instance, from
natural causes, be a sign of good weather, only there is nothing
supernatural about it."
"I am not in the secrets of the supernatural," replied Miss Carmichael,
"but I believe that if we do not look for the supernatural, if we shut
our eyes to it, we are not likely to see it."
"Science has proved that so many things formerly thought to be
supernatural are quite natural," observed the astronomer a little more
humbly.
"Perhaps the natural and the supernatural are one," said Miss
Carmichael. "Does a thing cease to be supernatural because we know
something about it?"
"Well, it may have another meaning for us. Before the days of science,
great mistakes were made in our interpretations of phenomena.
Superstition is born of ignorance, and we can see the germ of it in the
child who is frightened by a bogie, or the horse that shies at the
moonlight."
"Its higher parent is a belief in the unseen."
"In any case it has done an immense amount of harm," said the professor.
"And probably quite as much good," responded Miss Carmichael. "However,
don't think me a friend of superstition. But in getting rid of it let us
take care that we do not fall into the opposite error. It seems to me
that if science had all its own way it would reduce man and nature to a
little machine working in the corner of a big one; but I think it will
cost us too dear if it make us lose our sense of the divine origin and
spiritual significance of the universe."
Further argument was cut short by the car suddenly dashing into the
clouds with a noiseless ease that astonished us, for they had appeared
as solid as the rock.
Lost in the vapours, our car seemed at rest; but although we saw
nothing, we could hear a vague and distant murmur which charmed our ears
after the long silence of space like a strain of music. Whether this was
due to the sounds of the surface collected in the clouds, or to
electrical discharges I cannot say, for we were trying to solve the
mystery by hearkening to it, when it abruptly died away as the car shot
into the clear air beneath the clouds.
"The sea! the sea!" cried Miss Carmichael, starting up in joyful
excitement to join her father; and sure enough we were flying above a
dark blue hemisphere which could only be the ocean.
Gazen now made another test of the atmosphere, and, finding it
satisfactory, we opened the door of the car and ventured on the gallery.
After our confinement the fresh air acted like a charm. It felt so cool
and sweet in the nostrils that every breath was a pleasure. We inhaled
it in long, deep, loving draughts, which imparted vigour to our
exhausted frames, and intoxicated our spirits like laughing gas. I could
hardly restrain a wild impulse to leap from the car into the unruffled
bosom of the sea below, and Gazen, habitually staid, actually shouted
with glee. His voice startled the utter stillness, and was mocked by a
faint echo from the surface of the water. By timing the interval between
a call and its echo we found it nearly ten seconds, which corresponded
to a height of about a mile. A repetition of the test from time to time
showed that the car was now travelling at a fairly constant level. The
wide ocean spread all around us; neither sail nor shore, nor living
creature was visible, and we had begun to ask ourselves whether we had
not found a watery planet, when Gazen suddenly cried out,
"Land!"
"Whereaway?" I enquired with breathless interest.
He pointed a little to the right of our course, and following the
direction of his finger, I saw a dim outline where sea and sky met. It
might have been mistaken for the tip of a cloud, but as we advanced it
rose above the horizon and took a definite shape not unlike a truncated
cone.
The glasses showed it to be an island apparently of volcanic formation,
and after a brief consultation with Carmichael, we steered towards it.
The emotion of Columbus when he arrived at the Bahamas affords, perhaps,
the nearest parallel to our feelings, but in our case the land in sight
was the outlier of another planet. Watchful curiosity and silent
expectation, the ineffable sorcery of new scenes, the mystery of the
unknown, the romance of adventure, the exultation of triumph, and the
dread of disaster, were inextricably blended in our hearts. It was a
glorious hour, and come what might, we all felt that we had not lived in
vain.
The island rose out of the sea like a volcanic peak, and was evidently
encircled with a barrier reef, as we could trace a line of snowy surf
breaking on its outer verge, and parting the sapphire blue of the deep
water without from the emerald green shoals within. The coast, sweeping
in beautiful bays, dotted with overgrown islets, and fended by rocky
promontories, was rimmed with beaches of yellow sand. The steep sides of
the mountain, broken with precipices, and shaggy with vegetation,
ascended from a multitude of spurs and buttresses, resembling billows of
verdure, and towered into the clouds.
I have used the word verdure, but it is really a misnomer, for although
the prevailing tint of the foliage was a dark green, the entire forest
was streaked like a rainbow with innumerable flowers, and the breeze
which blew from it was laden with the most delightful perfume, Evidently
it was all a howling wilderness, for we could not detect the slightest
vestige of human dwellings or cultivation. We did not even observe any
signs of bird or beast. A profound stillness brooded over the solitude,
and was scarcely broken by the drowsy murmur of distant waterfalls.
A forest, like the sea or desert, has a magical power to stimulate the
fancy and touch the primitive chords of the heart. Even a Scotch
hillside, or a Devonshire moor, can throw their wild spells over the
civilised man of letters, and appeal to savage or poetical instincts
underlying all his culture. So now, where everything seen or unseen, was
new and strange, and the imagination was quite free to rove, the charm
was more intense. We stood and gazed upon the moving panorama like
persons in a trance. The trees and plants grew in zones according to
their different levels above the sea, after the manner of those on the
earth, but we were too high to distinguish the various kinds.
Apparently, however, feathery palms and gigantic grasses prevailed in
the lower, and glossy evergreens, resembling the magnolia and
rhododendron, in the middle grounds. All this part of the forest was so
thickly encumbered with flowering creepers and parasites as to seem one
immense bower, dense enough to exclude the sunlight and make a perpetual
twilight underneath. The higher slopes were clad with pine-trees, having
long thin needles, which hung from their boughs like fringes of green
hair, and bushy shrubs which reminded me of heaths. Above these,
enormous ferns with fronds twenty or thirty feet in length, and thickets
draped in variegated mosses were thriving in the spray of a thousand
slender cataracts which poured from the brink of the precipitous crags
on the summit of the mountain.
Seen from a distance, the cliffs appeared of a ruddy tint, but on coming
closer we found this was due to myriads of huge lichens of a deep
crimson and orange, and that the natural colours of the rock, vermilion
and blue, lemon, yellow, purple, and olive green, almost vied with those
of the forest lower down the steep.
We glided over the crest at a point where it was almost free of cloud,
and were astonished to find it carved by the weather into the most
fantastic shapes, rudely imitating the colossal figures of men and
animals, or the towers and turrets of ruined castles. After the novelty
of this goblin architecture had passed, however, its effect was somewhat
dreary. The wind, moaning through the lifeless aisles and crannies of
the dripping rocks, the rolling mist and shuddering pools of water,
induced a sense of loneliness and depression. The revulsion in our
feelings was therefore all the greater when the car suddenly escaped
from this height of desolation, and a magnificent prospect burst upon
our view.
An immense valley seemed to lie far beneath us, but it was really a
table-land of hills, rocks, and mountains, shaggy with vegetation, and
flung together in riotous confusion like the billows of a raging sea.
The stupendous cliffs behind us dropped sheerly down to the level of the
plateau, some ten or twenty thousand feet below, and swept around it as
a curving wall on either hand until they vanished in the distance. It
was evidently the crater of the extinct volcano.
Our journey across that blooming wilderness will never fade from my
recollection, but when I attempt to give the reader an idea of it,
impressions crowd so thick and fast upon me as to choke my utterance; I
am equally in danger of soaring into a wild extravagance of generality
and sinking into a mere catalogue of detail. Yet I find it impossible
to hit a mean that can do any justice to it. The extraordinary way in
which the ancient lavas of the interior had been riven, upheaved, and
piled upon each other by the volcanic forces, the bewildering variety
and exuberance of the tropical plants and trees which battened on the
rich and crumbling soil, completely baffles all description. What the
imagination is unable to conceive, and the eye itself is overpowered in
beholding, the pen can never hope to depict. Let the grandest mountain
scenes of your memory be jumbled together as in a dream and overgrown
with the maddest jungles of the Ganges or the Amazon, and the
phantasmagoria would still be nothing to the living reality.
Most of the highest peaks and ridges, as well as the deepest valleys and
ravines, were covered with the embowering forest; but here and there a
huge boss of granite or porphyry reared its bare scalp out of the
verdure like the head and shoulders of some antediluvian monster. The
gigantic palms and foliage trees, all tufted with air-plants or
strangled with climbers, were literally buried in flowers of every hue,
and the crown of the forest rolled under us like a sea of blossoms.
Every moment one enchanting prospect after another opened to our
wondering eyes. Now it was a waterfall, gleaming like a vein of silver
on the brow of a lofty precipice, and descending into a lakelet bordered
with red, blue, and yellow lilies. Again it was a natural bridge,
spanning a deep chasm or tunnel in the rock, through which a river
boiled and roared in a series of cascades and rapids. Ever and anon we
passed over glades and prairies, carpeted with orchids, and dotted with
clumps of shrubbery, a mass of golden bloom, or tremendous blocks of
basalt hung with crimson creepers. Butterflies with azure wings of a
surprising spread and lustre, alighted on the flowers, and great birds
of resplendent plumage flashed from grove to grove. A sun, twice the
diameter of ours, blazed in the northern sky, but the intensity of his
rays was tempered by a thin veil of cloud. The atmosphere although warm
and moist, was not oppressive like that of a forcing-house, and the
breeze was balmy with delicious perfume.
As each new marvel came in sight, unstaled by familiar and untarnished
by vulgar associations, fresh from the hand of nature, so to speak, we
were filled as we had never been before with an intoxicating sense of
the divine mystery and miracle of life. For myself I was fairly
dumbfounded with amazement, and my companion, the hard-headed sceptical
astronomer, kept on crying and muttering to himself, "My God! my God!"
as if he had become a drivelling fool.
We travelled league after league of this paradise run wild (I cannot
tell how many) without noticing any change in the character of the
scenery. At length, however, it grew less savage by degrees, and we
entered on a park-like country which gained in loveliness what it lost
in grandeur. Low hills, clad from base to summit in masses of gorgeous
bloom, and mirrored in sequestered lakes fringed with pied water-lilies;
groves of majestic cedars inviting to repose; rambling shrubberies and
evergreen trees festooned with flowering vines; brooks as clear as
crystal, murmuring over their pebbly beds, now hiding under drooping
boughs, now lost in brakes of tall reeds and foliage plants; grassy
meadows gay with crocusses, hyacinths, and tulips, or such-like flowers;
isolated rocks and boulders mantled with vivid moss and lichens; hot
springs falling over basins and terraces of tinted alabaster; clustering
palms and groups of spiry pine-trees; geysers throwing up columns of
spray tinged with rainbows; all these and a thousand other features of
the landscape which must be nameless passed before our view.
Again and again we startled some herd of wild quadrupeds or flock of
gaudy birds unknown to science. Legions of large and burnished insects,
veritable living jewels, might be seen everywhere, and flaunting
butterflies hovered about the car. So far we had not observed the least
sign of human occupation, and yet, as Gazen remarked, the appearance of
the country seemed to betray the influence of art. It had not the wild
and wasteful luxuriance of the earlier tract, of a region left entirely
in the hands of Nature, but rather of a paradise which had been dressed
and kept by the gods.
Owing to the height at which we were travelling, and the undulating
character of the surface, we could not see very far ahead. At length,
however, on emerging from a gap in a range of hills, we came upon a vast
plain or prairie stretching away into the distance, and there in the
blue haze of the horizon we saw, or fancied we saw, the architecture and
gardens of a great city, on the borders of a lake, and above the lake,
suspended in mid-air, a spectral palace, glittering in the sunbeams.
We raised a shout of joy and triumph at this discovery.
"Stop a minute, though," said Gazen, and a shade of doubt passed over
his face. "Perhaps it is only a mirage."
We levelled our glasses at the distant scene, and scanned it with
palpitating hearts. We could discern the general shape, and even the
details of many houses, and the roofs and minarets of the palace, which
was evidently built on the top of an island in the midst of the lake.
"That is not a phantasm," said I at last; "it is a real city."
Gazen made no reply, but turned and silently shook me by the hand. The
tears were standing in his eyes.
A delightful breeze, fragrant with innumerable flowers, mantled the long
grass of the prairie which was threaded by a maze of silver streams, and
diversified with bosky woodlands. Ere long we observed fantastic
cottages and picturesque villas nestling in the coppices, and as may be
imagined we were all on tip-toe with curiosity to catch a sight of their
inhabitants. We were anxious to see whether they looked like human
beings, and how they were disposed towards us.
For a long time we looked in vain, but at length we saw a figure moving
across the prairie which turned out to be that of--a _man_. Yes, a man
like ourselves, but well stricken in years, and to judge by his costume
apparently a savage. His back was towards us, and as we floated past the
professor shouted in a tone loud enough for him to hear,
"Good evening, sir."
The native started, and lifting his eyes to the car beheld it with
astonishment and awe. He raised his hands in the air, then dropped them
by his side, and sank upon his knees.
"That's a good sign," said Gazen with a grim smile. "I wonder if he
understands English. Let's try him again," and he cried out, "What's the
name of this place?" but the car was going rapidly, and if there was any
response it was lost upon the wind.
As we approached the city, the cottages became thicker and thicker. They
were of various sizes, and of a light fanciful design adapted to a warm
climate. Each of them was surrounded by a grove or garden rich in
flowers and fruit. There were grassy trails and roads from one to
another, but we did not see any fields or fences, flocks or herds.
We also saw more and more of the inhabitants--men, women, and children.
They were evidently a fine race, tall, handsome, and of white
complexion; but the men in general were darker than the women. From
their gay dresses, and the condition of the land, we had set them down
for savages; but on a nearer view, their lack of arms, the beauty of
their homes, and their own graceful demeanour, obliged us to reconsider
our opinion. When they first saw the car they did not fly in terror, or
muster hastily in armed and yelling bands. Many of them ran and cried,
it is true, but only to call their friends, and while some stood with
bowed heads and upraised hands as the car floated by, others, like the
old man, fell upon their knees as though in prayer.
It was getting late in the day, and the sun was now sloping to the crest
of the mountain wall encircling the crater. Accordingly we held a
consultation with Carmichael as to whether we should land there, or
proceed to the city.
Carmichael thought we should go on.
"But," said Gazen, "would it not be safer to try the temper of the
people first, here in the country?"
"These people are not savages," replied Carmichael. "They are civilised,
or semi-civilised, else how could they have built so fine a city as that
appears. If we should see any signs of hostility amongst them, however,
the car is plated with metal and will protect us--we have arms and can
defend ourselves--and, besides, we can rise again, and slip away from
them."
We decided to advance, but Gazen and I took the precaution to belt on
our revolvers.
The huge limb of the sun, red and glowing, sank to rest in a bed of
purple clouds on the summit of the rosy precipice, and filled all the
green plain with a rich amber light. The fantastic towers and trees of
the distant city by the lake shone in his mellow lustre; the solitary
island swam in a flood of gold, and the quaint edifice which crowned it
blazed with insufferable splendour. As the eerie gloaming died in the
west, and thin grey mists began to veil the outlandish scene, we
realised to the full that we were all alone and friendless in an unknown
world, and a deep sentiment of exile took possession of our souls.
The gloaming fell, and myriads of lights twinkled in the dusk, some
flitting about like fireflies, others stationary, while a hum of many
voices ascended to our ears. The lights showed us that we were gliding
over the city, and the voices told us that our arrival was causing a
great commotion. Presently we floated above a large open space or
square, lit with coloured lanterns, and evidently adorned with trees,
fountains, and statuary. Here a great number of people had assembled,
and as they appeared quite orderly and peaceable, we determined to land.
While the car descended cautiously, Gazen and I kept a sharp watch on
the crowd, with our revolvers in our hands. Instead of anger and
resistance, however, the natives only manifested friendly signs of
welcome. They withdrew to a respectful distance, and, dropping on their
knees, burst into a song or hymn of wonderful sweetness as the car
touched the ground.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CRATER LAND.
A man of dignified and venerable mien stepped from the crowd, and
followed by a train of youths and maidens, each bearing a vase or a tray
of fruit and flowers, came towards the car. While yet some ten or twelve
paces distant he stopped, and saluted Gazen and myself by lifting his
hands gracefully in the air, and bowing his head. After we had
acknowledged his greeting with due respect, he addressed us, speaking
fluently, and in a reverent, not to say a humble tone; but his words,
being entirely strange to our ears, we could only shake our heads with a
baffled smile, and reply in English that we did not understand. On this
a look of doubt and wonder passed over his face, and pointing, first to
the car, then to the sky, he seemed to enquire whether we had not
dropped from the clouds. We nodded our assent, and the astronomer,
indicating the Earth, which was now shining in the east as a beautiful
green star, endeavoured to let him know by signs that we had come from
there.
The countenance of our host seemed to brighten again, and, saluting us
with a profound obeisance, he said a few words to the attendants, who
advanced to the car, and sinking upon their knees proffered us their
charming tribute.
"Good!" exclaimed Gazen, testifying his delight and manifesting his
gratitude by an elaborate pantomime.
I am afraid his performance must have appeared slightly ludicrous to the
Venusians, for one or two of the younger girls had some difficulty in
keeping their gravity. On a hint from the Elder the young people retired
to their places, leaving their offerings upon the ground.
"They don't intend to starve us at all events," muttered Gazen to me, in
an undertone. "The very fragrance of these fruits entices a man to eat
them; but will they agree with our stomachs? Notwithstanding my
scientific curiosity, and my natural appetite, I am quite willing to let
you and Carmichael try them first."
Having found the value of gestures in our intercourse, the Elder leaned
his head on one hand, and pointed with the other to a large house at
the upper end of the square. His meaning was plain; but as we had
already made up our minds to stay in the car, at all events until we had
looked about us, Gazen signified as much by energetic but indescribable
actions, and further contrived to intimate that we were all thoroughly
tired and worn out with our voyage.
The Senior politely took the hint, and repeating his courteous salute,
withdrew from our presence, accompanied by his followers.
"I told you so!" cried Miss Carmichael, when Gazen and I re-entered the
car. "They are treating us like superior beings."
"It shows their good sense," replied Gazen, and even as he spoke a
strain of heavenly music rose from the assembled multitude, and
gradually died away as they departed to their homes.
We could not sufficiently admire the beauty and fragrance of the flowers
and fruit, or the exquisite workmanship of the vases they had brought.
What struck us most was the lovely iridescence which they all displayed
in different lights. The vases in particular seemed to be carved out of
living opals, yet each was large enough to contain several pints of
liquor. Miss Carmichael decorated the dinner-table with a selection from
the trays, but although we found the fruits and beverages delicious to
the taste, we prudently partook very sparingly of them.
After dinner we all went outside to enjoy the cool evening breeze, but
without actually leaving the car. It was hardly dusk, only a kind of
twilight or gloaming, and it did not seem to grow any darker. Yet
innumerable fire-flies, bright as glow-lamps, and of every hue, were
flashing like diamonds against the whispering foliage of the trees.
With the exception of an occasional group or a solitary who stopped
awhile to look at the car and then passed on, the square was deserted;
but the dwellings around it were lighted up, and being of a very open
construction, we could see into them, and hear the voices of the inmates
feasting and making merry. Needless to say that everything we observed
was interesting to us, for it was all strange; but we were so much
exhausted with excitement that we were fain to go to bed.
Next day the professor and I, obeying a common impulse of travellers,
got up early and went forth to survey our new quarters. It was a
splendid morning, the whole atmosphere steeped in sunshine, and musical
with the songs of birds. The big sun was peeping over the distant wall
of the crater, but we did not feel his rays uncomfortably hot. A sky of
the loveliest azure was streaked with thin white clouds, drawn across it
like muslin curtains, and a cooling breeze played gently upon the skin.
The dewy air, so spring-like, fresh and sweet, was a positive pleasure
to breathe, and we both felt the intoxication, the rapture of life, as
we had never felt it since our boyhood. The grass underfoot was green as
emerald, and soft as velvet; fountains were flashing in the sunshine,
statues gleaming amongst the flowering trees, and birds of brilliant
plumage glancing everywhere.
The square opened on the lake, and afforded us a magnificent view of the
island. It was conical in shape, and the peak, no doubt, of an old
volcanic vent. I should say it was at least a thousand feet in height;
the sides were a veritable "hanging garden," wild and luxuriant; and the
summit was crowned by a glittering mass of domes, minarets, and spires.
Numbers of people, old and young, were bathing along the beach, and
swimming, diving, and splashing each other in the water with innocent
glee. Large birds, resembling swans, double the size of ours, and of
pale blue, rose, yellow, and green, as well as white plumage, were
floating in and out, and some of the children were riding on their
backs. Fantastic boats, with carved and painted prows, might be seen
crossing the lake in all directions, some under sail, and others with
rowers, keeping stroke to the rhythm of their songs. The shores of the
lake, sloping quietly to the waterside, were covered more or less
thickly with the houses and gardens of the city, and far in the
distance, perhaps fifty, perhaps a hundred miles away, the view was
bounded by the dim and ruddy precipice of the crater wall.
Regaling our eyes on the beautiful prospect, and our lungs on the pure
atmosphere, we wandered along the beach, ever and anon pausing to admire
the strange forms and beautiful colouring of the shells and seaweeds, or
to pick up a rare pebble, then shie it away again, little thinking that
it might have been a ruby, sapphire, or topaz, worth a king's ransom on
the earth. At length the way was barred by the mouth of a broad river,
and after a refreshing plunge in the lake, we returned home to
breakfast.
During our absence Carmichael had been visited by our venerable host of
the evening, whose name was Dinus, and a young man called Otāré, who
turned out to be his son. They had brought a fresh supply of dainties,
and what was still more important, some pictorial dictionaries and
drawings which would enable us to learn their language. As the structure
of it was simple, and the vocabulary not very copious, and as we also
enjoyed the tuition of the young man, who was devoted to our service,
and conducted us in most of our walks abroad, at the end of a fortnight
we could maintain a conversation with tolerable fluency.
In the meanwhile, and afterwards, we learned a good deal about the
country, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants. Womla, or
Woom-la, which means the "bowl" or hollow-land, is evidently the crater
of an extinct volcano of enormous dimensions, such as are believed to
exist upon the moon. It belongs to an archipelago of similar islands,
which are widely scattered over a vast ocean in this part of Venus, but
is, we were told, far distant from the nearest of them. The climate may
be described as a perpetual spring and summer, with a sky nearly always
serene, and of a beautiful azure blue, veiled with soft and fleecy
clouds.
Thanks to the lofty walls of the crater, which penetrate the clouds and
condense their moisture, the land is watered with many streams. These
flow into the central lake, which discharges into the surrounding ocean
by a rift or chasm in the mountain side. Moreover, there are frequent
showers, and heavy dews by night, to refresh the surface of the ground.
Thunderstorms occur on the tops of the mountain and in the open sea;
but very seldom within the enchanted girdle of the crater. The air is
remarkably pure, sweet, and exhilarating, owing doubtless to the high
percentage of oxygen it contains, and the absence of foreign matter,
such as microbes, dust, and obnoxious fumes. In fact, we all felt a
distinct improvement in our health and spirits, a kind of mental
intoxication which was really more than a rejuvenescence. Nor was the
heat very trying, even in the middle of the day, because although the
sun was twice as large as on the earth, he did not rise far above the
horizon, and cooling breezes blew from the chilled summit of the cliffs.
The vegetation seems to go on budding, flowering, and fruiting
perpetually, as in the Elysian Fields of Homer, where
"Joys ever young, unmixed with pain or fear,
Fill the wide circle of the eternal year:
Stern winter smiles on that auspicious clime
The fields are florid with unfading prime;
From the bleak Pole no winds inclement blow,
Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow;
But from the breezy deep the blessèd inhale,
The fragrant murmurs of the western gale."
The mysterious behaviour of the sun was a great puzzle to our
astronomer. I have said that he rose very little above the horizon, or
in other words the lip of the crater, as might be expected from our high
southern latitude; but we soon found that he always rose and sank at the
same place. In the morning he peeped above the cliffs, and in the
evening he dipped again behind them, leaving a twilight or gloaming (I
can scarcely call it dusk), which continued throughout the night. From
his fixity in azimuth, Gazen concluded that Schiaparelli, the famous
Italian observer, was right in supposing that Venus takes as long to
turn about her own axis as she does to go round the sun, and that as a
consequence she always presents the same side to her luminary. All that
we heard from the natives tended to confirm this view. They told us that
far away to the east and west of Womla there was a desert land, covered
with snow and ice, on which the sun never shone. We also gathered that
the sun rises to a greater and lesser height above the cliffs
alternately, thus producing a succession of warmer and cooler seasons; a
fact which agrees with Schiaparelli's observation that the axis of the
planet sways to and from the sun. Gazen was intensely delighted at this
discovery, partly for its own sake, but mainly, I think, because it
would afford him an opportunity of crushing the celebrated Pettifer
Possil, his professional antagonist, who, it seems, is bitterly opposed
to the doctrines of Schiaparelli. But why did the sun rise and set every
fifteen hours or thereabout, and so make what I have called a "day" and
"night"? Why did he not continue in the same spot, except for the slow
change caused by the nutation or nodding of Venus? Gazen was much
perplexed over this anomaly, and sought an explanation of it in the
refraction of the atmosphere above the cliffs producing an apparent but
not a real motion of the orb.
The territory of Womla may be divided into three zones, namely, a
central plain under cultivation, a belt of undulating hills, kept as a
park or pleasaunce, and a magnificent, nay, a sublime wilderness, next
to the crater wall.
The natural wealth of the country is very great. Some of its productions
resemble and others are different from those of the earth. We saw gold,
silver, copper, tin, and iron, as well as metals which were quite new to
us. Some of these had a purple, blue, or green colour, and emitted a
most agreeable fragrance. There are granites and porphyries, marbles and
petrifactions of the most exquisite grain or tints. Precious stones like
the diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, emerald, garnet, opal, turquoise,
and others familiar or unfamiliar to us, fairly abound, and can be
picked up on the shores of the lake. I presume that many of them have
been formed on a large scale in chasms of the rock by the volcanic fumes
of the crater.
What struck us most of all, however, was the prevalence of
phosphorescent minerals which absorbed the sunlight by day, and
glimmered feebly in the dusk. Professor Gazen seems to think that the
presence of snow and clouds, together with these phosphorescent bodies,
may help to account for the mysterious luminosity on the dark side of
Venus.
The vegetation is wonderfully rich, varied, and luxuriant. As a rule,
the foliage is thick and glossy; but while it is green to blackness in
some of the trees, it is parti-coloured or iridescent in others. Many of
the flowers, too, are iridescent, or change their hues from hour to
hour. The beauty and profusion of the flowers is beyond conception, and
some of the loveliest grow on what I should take for palms, ferns,
canes, and grasses. A distant forest or woodland rivals the splendid
plumage of some tropical bird. We heard of "singing flowers," including
a water-lily which bursts open with a musical note, and of many plants
which are sensitive to heat as well as touch, and if Gazen be correct,
to electricity and magnetism. We saw one in a house which was said to
require a change of scene from time to time else it would languish and
die.
The borders of the lakes and ponds teemed with corals, delicate
seaweeds, and lovely shells. Innumerable fishes of gay and brilliant
hues darted and burned in the water like broken rainbows.
Reptiles are not very common, at least, in the cultivated zone; but we
saw a few snakes, tortoises, and lizards, all brightly and harmoniously
marked. One of the snakes was phosphorescent, and one of the lizards
could sit up like a dog, or fly in the air like a swallow. The variety
and beauty of the birds, as well as the charm of their song, exceed all
description. Most of them have iridescent feathers, several are
wingless, and one at least has teeth. The insects are a match for the
birds in point of beauty, if not also in size and musical qualities.
Many of them are luminescent, and omit steady or flashing lights of
every tint all through the night.
There are few large quadrupeds in the country, and so far as we could
learn none of these are predaceous. We saw an animal resembling a deer
on one hand, and a tapir on the other, as well as a kind of toed horse
or hipparion, and a number of domestic pets all strange to us.
The people, according to their tradition, came originally from a
temperate land far across the ocean to the south-east, which is now a
dark and frozen desert. They are a remarkably fine race, probably of
mixed descent, for they found Womla inhabited, and their complexions
vary from a dazzling blonde to an olive-green brunette. They are nearly
all very handsome, both in face and figure, and I should say that many
of them more than realise our ideals of beauty. As a rule, the
countenances of the men are open, frank, and noble; those of the women
are sweet, smiling, and serene. Free of care and trouble, or unaffected
by it, mere existence is a pleasure to them, and not a few appear to
live in a kind of rapture, such as I have seen in the eyes of a young
artist on the earth while regarding a beautiful woman or a glorious
landscape. Their attitudes and movements are full of dignity and grace.
In fact, during my walks abroad, I frequently found myself admiring
their natural groups, and fancying myself in ancient Greece, as depicted
by our modern painters. Their style of beauty is not unlike that of the
old Hellenes, but I doubt whether the delicacy and bloom of their skins
has ever been matched on our planet except, perhaps, in a few favoured
persons.
From some experiments made by Gazen, it would appear that while their
senses of sight and touch are keener, their senses of hearing and also
of heat are rather blunter than ours.
Partly owing to the genial climate, their love of beauty, and their easy
existence, their dress is of a simple and graceful order. Many of their
light robes and shining veils are woven from silky fibres which grow on
the trees, and tinged with beautiful dyes. Bright, witty, and ingenious,
as well as guileless, chaste, and happy, I can only compare them to
grown-up children--but the children of a god-like race. Thanks to the
purity of their blood, and the gentleness of their dispositions,
together with their favourable circumstances, they live almost exempt
from disease, or pain, or crime, and finally die in peace at the good
old age of a hundred or a hundred and fifty years.
Their voices are so pleasing, and their language is so melodious that I
enjoyed hearing their talk before I understood a word of it. Moreover,
their delightful manners evince a rare delicacy of sentiment and
appreciation of the beautiful in life. We foreigners must have been
objects of the liveliest curiosity to them, yet they never showed it in
their conduct; they never stared at us, or stopped to enquire about us,
but courteously saluted us wherever we went, and left us to make
ourselves at home. We never saw an ugly or unbecoming gesture, and we
never heard a rude, unmannerly word all the time we stayed in Womla.
Some of their public buildings are magnificent; but most of their
private houses are pretty one-storied cottages, each more or less
isolated in a big garden, and beyond earshot of the rest. They are
elegant, not to say fanciful constructions of stone and timber,
generally of an oval shape, or at least with rounded outlines; but
sometimes rambling, and varying much in detail. Everyone seems to follow
his particular bent and taste in the fashion of his home. Many of them
have balconies or verandahs, and also terraces on the roof, where the
inmates can sit and enjoy the surrounding view. They are doorless, and
the outer walls are usually open so that one may see inside; but in
stormy weather they are closed by panels of wood, and a translucent
mineral resembling glass. They are divided into rooms by mats and
curtains, or partitions and screens of wood, which are sometimes
decorated with paintings of inimitable beauty. The ceilings are usually
of carved wood, and the floors inlaid with marbles, corals, and the
richer stones. There are no stuffy carpets on the floors, or hangings on
the walls to collect the dust. The light easy furniture is for the most
part made of precious or fragrant woods of divers colours--red, black,
yellow, blue, white, and green. At night the rooms are softly and
agreeably lighted by phosphorescent tablets, or lamps of glow-worms and
fire-flies in crystal vases.
The dishes and utensils not only serve but adorn the home. Most of the
implements and fittings are made of coloured metals or alloys. Many of
the cups and vessels are beautifully cut from shells and diamonds,
rubies, or other precious stones. Statuary, manuscripts, and musical
instruments, bespeak their taste and genius for the fine arts.
Their love of Nature is also shown in their gardens and pleasure
grounds, which are stocked with the rarest flowers, fruits, and pet
animals; such as bright fishes, luminous frogs and moths, singing birds,
and so forth, none of which are captives in the strict sense of the
word.
Members of one family live under the same roof, or at all events within
the same ground. The father is head of the household, and the highest in
authority. The mother is next, and the children follow in the order of
their age. They hold that the proper place for the woman is between the
man and the child, and that her nature, which partakes of both, fits
her for it. On the rare occasions when authority needs to be exercised
it is promptly obeyed. All the members of the family mix freely together
in mutual confidence and love, with reverence, but not fear. They are
very clean and dainty in their habits. To every house, either in an open
court or in the garden, there is a bathing pond of running water, with a
fountain playing in the middle, where they can bathe at any time without
going to the lake.
They deem it not only gross to eat flesh or fish, but also barbarous,
nay cruel, to enjoy and sustain their own lives through the suffering
and death of other creatures. This feeling, or prejudice as some would
call it, extends even to eggs. They live chiefly on fruits, nuts, edible
flowers, grain, herbs, gums, and roots, which are in great profusion. I
did not see any alcoholic, or at least intoxicating beverages amongst
them. Their drink is water, either pure or else from mineral springs,
and the delectable juices of certain fruits and plants. They eat
together, chatting merrily the while, and afterwards recline on couches
listening to some tale, or song, or piece of music, but taking care not
to fall asleep, as they believe it is injurious.
They rejoice when a child is born, and cherish it as the most holy
gift. For the first eight or ten years of its life it is left as much as
possible to the teaching of Nature, care being taken to guard it from
serious harm. It is allowed to run wild about the gardens and fields,
developing its bodily powers in play, and gaining a practical experience
of the most elementary facts. After that it goes to school, at first for
a short time, then, as it becomes used to the confinement and study, for
a longer and longer period each day. Their end in education is to
produce noble men and women; that is to say, physical, moral, and
intellectual beauty by assisting the natural growth. They hold it a sin
to falsify or distort the mind, as well as the soul or body of a child.
They seem to be as careful to cultivate the genius and temperament as
the heart and conscience. Their object is to train and form the pupil
according to the intention of Nature without forcing him beyond his
strength, or into an artificial mould. Studious to preserve the harmony
and unity of mind, soul, and body, they never foster one to the
detriment of the others, but seek to develop the whole person.
It is not so much words as things, not so much facts, dates, and
figures, as principles, ideas, and sentiments, which they endeavour to
teach. The scholar is made familiar with what he is told by observation
and experience whenever it is possible, for that is how Nature teaches.
Precept, they say, is good, and example is better; but an ideal of
perfection is best of all.
At first more attention is paid to the cultivation of the body than the
mind. Not only are the boys and girls trained in open-air gymnasia, or
contend in games, but they also work in the gardens, and during the
holidays are sent into the wilderness under the guidance of their
elders, especially their elder brothers, to rough it there in primitive
freedom.
The first lessons of the pupil are very short and simple, but as his
mind ripens they become longer and more difficult. The education of the
soul precedes that of the mind. They wish to make their children good
before they make them clever; and good by the feelings of the heart
rather than the instruction of the head. Every care is taken to refine
and strengthen the sentiments and instincts, the conscience, good sense
and taste, as well as the affections, filial piety, friendship, and the
love of Nature. Spiritual and moral ideals are inculcated by means of
innocent and simple tales or narratives. Children are taught to obey the
authority placed over them, or in their own breast, and to sacrifice all
to their duty. The conduct of the teacher must be irreproachable,
because he is a model to them; but while they look upon him as their
friend and guide, he leaves them free to choose their own companions and
amuse themselves in their own way.
In the cultivation of the mind they give the first and foremost place to
the imagination. The reason, they say, is mechanical, and cannot rise
above the known; that is to say, the real; whereas the imagination is
creative and attains to the unknown, the ideal. Its highest work is the
creation of beauty. Because it is unruly, and precarious in its action,
however, the imagination requires the most careful guidance, and the
assistance of the reason. Students are taught to idealise and invent, as
well as to analyse and reason, but without disturbing the equilibrium of
the faculties by acquiring a pronounced habit of one or the other. It is
better, they say, to be reasonable than a reasoner; to be imaginative
than a dreamer; and to have discernment or insight than mere knowledge.
The most important study of all is the art of living, or in other words
the art of leading a simple, noble, and beautiful life. It finishes
their education, and consists in the reduction of their highest precepts
and ideals to practice. The reasons for every lesson are given so far
as they are known, and they are always founded in the nature of things.
A pupil is taught to act in a particular way, not in the hope of a
reward or in the fear of punishment, but because it would be contrary to
the laws of matter and spirit to act otherwise; in short, because it is
right. They hold that life is its own end as well as its own reward.
According as it is good or bad, so it achieves or fails of its purpose,
and is happy or miserable. We are happy by our emotions or feelings, and
through these by our actions. Happiness comes from goodness, but is not
perfect without health, beauty, and fitness: hence the pupils are taught
self-regulation, practical hygiene, and a graceful manner. Indeed, their
passion for beauty is such that they regard nothing as perfect until it
is beautiful.
As beauty of mind, soul, and body, is their aim, a beautiful person is
held in the highest honour. Prizes are offered for beauty, and statues
are erected to the winners. Many are called after some particular trait;
for example, "Timāré of the lovely toes," and a pretty eyelash is a
title to public fame. Beauty they say is twice blessed, since it pleases
the possessor as well as others.
The sense of existence, apart from what they do or gain, is their chief
happiness. Their "ealo," or the height of felicity, is a passive rather
than an active state. It is (if I am not mistaken) a kind of serene
rapture or tranquil ecstasy of the soul, which is born doubtless from a
perfect harmony between the person and his environment. In it, they say,
the illusion of the world is complete, and life is another name for
music and love.
As far as I could learn, this condition, though independent of sexual
love, is enhanced by it. On the one hand it is spoiled by too much
thought, and on the other by too much passion. They cherish it as they
cherish all the natural illusions (which are sacred in their eyes), but
being a state of repose it is transient, and only to be enjoyed from
time to time.
Since an unfit employment is a mistake, and a source of unhappiness,
everyone is free to choose the work that suits his nature. Parents and
teachers only help him to discover himself. One is called to his work by
a love for it, and the pleasure he takes in doing it easily and well. If
his bent is vague or tardy, he is allowed to change, and feel his way to
it by trial. Since the work or vocation is not a means of living, there
is no compulsion in it. Their aim is to do right in carrying out the
true intentions of Nature.
For the same reason everyone is free to choose the partner of his life.
They are monogamists, and believe that nothing can justify marriage but
love on both sides. The rite is very simple, and consists in the elected
pair sipping from the same dish of sacred water. It is called "drinking
of the cup."
Most of them die gradually of old age, and they do not seem to share our
fear and horror of death, but to regard it with a sad and pleasing
melancholy. The body is reduced to ashes on a pyre of fragrant wood, and
the songs they sing around it only breathe a tender regret for their
loss, mingled with a joyful hope of meeting again. They neither preserve
the dust as a memento, nor wear any kind of mourning; but they cherish
the memory of the absent in their hearts.
They believe that labour like virtue is a necessity, and its own reward;
but it is moderate labour of the right sort, which is a blessing and not
a curse. They all seem happy at their work, which is often cheered by
music, songs, or tales. Everyone enjoys his task, and tries to attain
the perfection of skill and grace. Those who excel are honoured, and
sometimes commemorated with statues.
They seem artists in all, and above all. They hold that every beautiful
thing has a use, and they never make a useful thing without beauty.
Apart from portraits, their pictures and statuary are mostly historical,
or else ideal representations. Many of these are typical of life; for
example, a boy at play, a pair of lovers, a mother weaning her child,
and the parting of friends. The ideal of art is to them not merely a
show to please the eye for a while, but a model to be realised in their
own lives; and I daresay it has helped to make them such a fine people.
They are clever architects and gardeners. Indeed, the whole country may
be described as a vast ornamental garden. In the middle zone, which
borders on the wilderness, their wonderful art of beautifying natural
scenery is at its best. They have a good many simple machines and
implements, but I should not call them a scientific people. Gazen, who
enquired into the matter, was told by Otāré, himself an artist, by the
way, that science in their opinion had a tendency to destroy the
illusion of Nature and impair the finer sentiments and spontaneity of
the soul; hence they left the systematic study of it to the few who
possess a decided bias for it. As a rule they are content to admire.
They have many books of various kinds, either printed or finely written
and illustrated by hand. I should say their favourite reading was
history and travels, or else poetry and fiction; anything having a
human interest, more especially of a pathetic order. Everyone is taught
to read aloud, and if he possess the voice and talent, to recite. Poets
are highly esteemed, and not only read their poems to the people, but
also teach elocution. They have dramatic performances on certain days,
and seem to prefer tragedies or affecting plays, perhaps because these
awaken feelings which their happy lot in general permits to sleep. They
are very fond of music, and can all sing or play on some musical
instrument. Their favourite melodies are mostly in a minor key, and they
dislike noisy music; indeed, noise of any sort. Gesture and the dance
are fine arts, and they can imitate almost any action without words. A
favourite amusement is to gather in the dusk of the evening, crowned
with flowers, or wearing fanciful dresses, and sing or dance together by
the light of the fire-flies.
The inhabitants of the whole island live as one happy family.
Recognising their kinship by intermarriage, and their isolation in the
world, they never forget that the good or ill of a part is the good or
ill of the whole, and their object is to secure the happiness of one and
all. It is considered right to help another in trouble before thinking
of oneself.
When Gazen explained the doctrine of "the struggle for existence ending
in the survival of the fittest" to Otāré, he replied that it was an
excellent principle for snakes; but he considered it beneath the dignity
and wisdom of men to struggle for a life which could be maintained by
the labour of love, and ought to be devoted to rational or spiritual
enjoyment.
Thanks to the helpful spirit which animates them, and the bounty of
Nature, nobody is ever in want. As a rule, the garden around each home
provides for the family, and any surplus goes to the public stores, or
rather free tables, where anyone takes what he may require.
As I have already hinted, personal merit of every kind is honoured
amongst them.
Dinus, the gentleman who received us on the night of our arrival, is the
chief man or head of the community, and was appointed to the post for
his wisdom, character, and age. He is assisted in the government by a
council of a hundred men, and there are district officers in various
parts of the country.
They have no laws, or at all events their old laws have become a dead
letter. Custom and public opinion take their place. Crime is practically
unknown amongst them, and when a misdemeanour is committed the culprit
is in general sufficiently punished by his own shame and remorse.
However, they have certain humane penalties, such as fines or
restitution of stolen goods; but they never resort to violence or take
life, and only in extreme cases of depravity and madness do they
infringe on the liberty of an individual.
Quarrels and sickness of mind or body are almost unknown amongst them.
The care and cure of the person is a portion of the art of life as it is
taught in the schools.
An account of this remarkable people would not be complete without some
reference to their religion; but owing to their reticence on sacred
subjects, and the shortness of our visit, I was unable to learn much
about it. They believe, however, in a Supreme Being, whom they only name
by epithets such as "The Giver" or "The Divine Artist." They also
believe in the immortality of the soul. One of their proverbs, "Life is
good, and good is life," implies that goodness means life, and badness
death. They hold that every thought, word, and deed, is by the nature of
things its own reward or punishment, here or hereafter. Their ideals of
childlike innocence, and the reign of love, seem to be essentially
Christian. Their solicitude and kindness extends to all that lives and
suffers, and they regard the world around them as a divine work which
they are to reverence and perfect.
Our visit fell during a great religious festival and holiday, which they
keep once a year, and by the courtesy of Dinus, or his son, we witnessed
many of their sacred concerts, dances, games, and other celebrations. Of
these, however, I shall only describe the principal ceremony, which is
called "Plucking the Flower," and appears to symbolise the passage of
the soul into a higher life.
CHAPTER IX.
THE FLOWER OF THE SOUL.
Early on the chief day of the festival Otāré came and took us to see the
mystical rite of cutting the "Flower of the Soul."
The morning was fine, and the clear waters of the lake were bright with
boats filled with joyous parties bound like ourselves for the Holy
Island.
Landing at a noble quay of red granite, we climbed the steep and shaggy
sides of the mountain by a sacred and winding avenue, bordered with
blooming trees and statuary. Most of the figures were exquisitely carved
in a white wood or stone, having a pearly sheen, and represented the
former priestesses of the Temple, or illustrated the animating spirit of
the cult.
On gaining the summit we found ourselves at the brim of a spacious
hollow or basin, which in past ages must have been the crater of the
volcanic peak. The grassy slopes of the basin were laid out in flower
gardens and terraces of coloured marbles, shaded with sombre trees, and
ornamented with sculpture. In the bottom lay an oval sheet of water a
mile long or more, and from the midst of it, towards the near end, a
beautiful islet, crowned by a magnificent temple, rose like a mirage to
the view, and seemed to float on its glassy bosom.
Words of mine cannot give any idea of that sublime architecture, which
resembled no earthly order, though it seemed to partake of both the
Saracenic and the Indian. Fragrant timber, precious stones, and
burnished metals; in fine, the richest materials known to the builders,
had been united with consummate art into one harmonious emblem of their
faith. The first beams of the rising sun blazed on its golden roof and
fretted pinnacles of diamond, and ruby, sapphire, topaz, and emerald;
but the lower part was still in shadow. Nevertheless, we could
distinguish a grand portal in the southern front, which faced the sun,
and a broad flight of marble steps descending from it into the water;
but the massive doors were shut, and not a soul was to be seen about the
temple.
As the worshippers arrived they seated themselves on the turf amongst
the flowering shrubs, or on the benches along the terraces, and either
spoke in subdued tones, or preserved a religious silence. Otāré led us
to a kind of throne or stand facing the temple, and raised above the
other seats, where his father, as chief of the community, sat in state.
Dinus received us with his usual gracious dignity, and gave us chairs on
his right and left hand.
From this height we enjoyed a splendid panorama of the Craterland, at
least that portion which had already caught the sunshine. It lay beneath
us like a picture, the surface rising in a series of zones from the
central sea, which mirrored the serene azure and plume-like vapours of
the heavens, through the sweet meadows, and the smiling gardens, to the
luxuriant wilderness beyond; and we could plainly see the shadow of the
bounding rampart shrink towards the south as the sun mounted higher and
higher.
It was a lovely dawn. A rosy mist hung like a veil of gauze over the
southern sky, and from behind a bar of purple cloud, lined with gold,
which rested on the summit of the cliffs, a coronet of auroral beams or
crepuscular rays, blue on a pink ground, shot upwards, heralding the
advent of the sun, and reminding me of the ancient simile of the earth
as a bride awaiting the arrival of her lord.
At length the first glowing tip of the solar disc peeped over the rim
of the crater, and a deep low murmur, swelling to a shrill cry, ascended
from the passive multitude.
All the people rose to their feet, and every eye was turned on the south
front of the temple, which was now illuminated to the edge of the water.
As the sunlight crept over the surface it sparkled on the dense foliage
of what seemed a bed of water-lilies flourishing quite close to the
marble stairs.
Presently a rich and stately barge, moved by crimson oars, and enlivened
with young girls draped in sky-blue, was seen to glide round a corner of
the temple, and come to rest beside the water-lilies.
A deep silence, as of breathless expectation, fell upon the vast
assembly, and then, without other warning, the great purple doors of the
temple swung open, and revealed a white-robed figure walking at the head
of a glittering procession of maidens decked in jewels and luminous
scarves, which vied with the colours of the rainbow. It was the young
priestess and her train of virgins.
Simultaneously the immense multitude raised their voices in a sacred
hymn of melting sweetness, very low at first, but gathering volume as
the priestess descended the marble stairs to the waterside.
Here, on the lowest of the steps, one of her maidens put into her hand
a sacred knife or sickle, which, as Otāré informed us had a blade of
gold, and a handle of opal. The woman then retired, and we saw her stand
erect for a moment in the full blaze of the mellow sunlight, with her
golden hair falling about her in a kind of glory, and stretch out her
arms towards the sun in a superb attitude of adoration. Then, with a
slow and swan-like movement, she entered the water, and wading among the
lilies, cut the sacred blossom, and held it aloft in triumph, while the
music swelled to a mighty pæan of thanksgiving and praise.
After that she went on board the barge, which had been waiting for her,
and was rowed around the border of the lake not far from the shore, so
that the onlookers might see the loveliness of the flower, and even
smell its perfume. The barge was not unlike an ancient galley in shape,
but ornately curved like the proa of a South Sea Islander. The rowers
were concealed underneath the deck, but the crimson oars kept time to
the music of their voices, and the spectators joined in the song as the
vessel glided onwards.
As for the priestess, she lay reclining under a golden canopy on the
poop, with her face half turned towards the people, and holding the
sacred lily in her hand, whilst two of her maidens fanned her with
brilliant plumes,
"And made their bends adorning."
Ever since she had come out of the temple I had scarcely taken my eyes
off her, and now that I could see the marvellous beauty of her
countenance, I was absolutely fascinated. Never shall I forget these
moments as long as I live, and yet I cannot give a clear and connected
relation of them. I see only a picture in my mind of a purple couch
under a golden canopy, a fair form, a beautiful head crowned with golden
hair, a glowing arm holding a white flower on its long green stalk.
Suddenly, as if impelled by an instinct, she turns her face full upon me
as the barge comes opposite to her father's throne. I see her great
violet eyes fixed upon mine as though she would read into my very soul.
I do not shrink from that pure search. On the contrary, I feel myself
drawn towards her by an irresistible attraction, and return her gaze.
She does not look away. She smiles--yes, she smiles upon me, and
inclines her head to see me, like a sunflower following the sun, as she
is floating past.
From that moment I was an altered man. The vision of that peerless
beauty had worked a miracle in my nature. A strange peace, an
unfathomable joy, I should rather say an ecstacy of bliss, reigned in my
heart. I felt that I had found something for which my soul had craved
without knowing it, and had been seeking unawares--something beyond all
price, which is not merely the best that life, eternity, can offer; but
gives to life, eternity, an inestimable value--I felt that I had found
the counterpart of myself--the celestial mate of my spirit. Henceforth
there was only one woman in the world, in the universe, for me. A
mysterious instinct whispered that we belonged to each other--that this
incomparable creature was mine by an inviolable right, if not on this
side of time at all events hereafter, and for ever. I felt, too, that my
own being had now completed its development, and burst into bloom like a
plant under the vivifying rays of the sun.
Exulting in my new-found happiness, and overcome with gratitude for it,
I watched the receding boat in a sort of trance until the matter-of-fact
voice of Gazen broke the spell.
"Prettiest sight I ever saw in my life," said he to Otāré. "Quite a
living picture."
"I am glad you like it," responded Otāré evidently gratified.
"But what is the good of it?" enquired the professor.
"The good of it?" rejoined the Venusian; "it is beautiful, and gives us
pleasure."
"Oh, of course; but what is the meaning--the inner meaning of it?"
"Ah! the meaning of it," said Otāré, a new light breaking on him, "I
will explain. You saw the flower which the priestess cut and carried in
her hand--?"
"A kind of water-lily, is it not?"
"Yes, it is the Sacred Lily. The plant is rooted in the mire at the
bottom of the pond, and grows up through the water to the surface. The
stem rises in a serpentine curve, and terminates in a flower-bud, which
opens with a sigh of delight when the sun strikes upon it, and fills the
air with its perfume."
"A sigh, did you say?"
"Yes, a low sweet sound resembling a sigh. The flower is white--'living
white'--that is to say, white shot with many colours like the opal. We
call it the Sun Lily, or 'Flower of the Soul.'"
"Why 'Flower of the Soul?'"
"Because we say it has the infinite and ever-changing beauty of the
soul. It is an emblem of Love, and its manifestations--beauty, genius,
holiness. In particular it signifies the birth or awakening of love in
the human soul. As the plant may be said to exist for the flower, its
chief glory, so the man attains his perfection through love, which
confers a boundless and immortal worth upon his life. As the root takes
from the soil and the flower brings forth the fruit, so hate feeds upon
the ill, and love dies for the good of others. It also represents the
human race, for man, and especially woman, may be regarded as the flower
of this lower world. Moreover, the entire plant, root, stem, and flower,
is symbolical of all creation, and some of our poets have named it the
'Lily of Life.' For as the plant begins in the black earth to end in the
sunny ether, so the world, the universe, begins in chaos and darkness,
to end in light and order; begins in matter and force, to end in life
and spirit--begins in hate and selfishness, to end in love and
self-sacrifice--begins in ugliness, to end in beauty. Thus the flower
and root stand for the upper and lower limits or poles of nature, and
the stalk which joins them for the upward range or path of creation. It
is a beautiful stem, curving in opposite ways like a serpent, or the
side of a wave; in fact, it is the most beautiful curve we know--it runs
like this."
Here Otāré described a flamboyant curve in the air with his finger.
"If I'm not mistaken it is what our artists call the 'line of beauty,'"
observed Gazen.
"Oh, indeed!" responded Otāré, with pleased surprise. "Well, with us it
is a symbol of the continuous unfolding of things; the graceful progress
of development."
"So the path of evolution is the 'line of beauty,'" said the professor.
"Apparently," rejoined Otāré, "and as the ends of the curve point
oppositely, we say that a thing has not reached its final stage--that
its development is not complete--until it has turned to its opposite.
Thus man is not a finished being until hate and selfishness have turned
to love and self-sacrifice. The flower of the soul is love, and as the
sun is an emblem of the divine love, when the sacred lily opens and
displays all its beauty in the sunshine, it means to us that the flower
of the soul blooms in the smile of 'The Giver.'"
"I see," said the professor; "and what is done with the flower?"
"It is an offering," replied Otāré, "and after the Priestess of the
Lily, or Priestess of the Sun, as we call her, has shown it to the
people it will be treasured in the temple, and will never fade."
"Beautiful woman, the priestess! And so young."
"She is barely seventeen. The Priestess of the Sun Lily must be in the
flower of her age, and the early dawn of her womanhood. Every year by
the popular voice she is chosen from all the maidens of the country for
her intelligence, beauty, and goodness. For a year before the ceremony
she lives in the temple with her maidens, and never leaves the sacred
island, or has any visitors from the outer world. During this period she
undergoes a preparation and purification for the fulfilment of her holy
office--the culling of the flower. It consists mainly in the study of
our sacred writings, the eating of a certain food, and bathing in the
waters of a holy fountain, which issues from the rock in a sacred grotto
of the island. When the ceremony of cutting the lily is over, and the
holy month has expired, that is to say in ten days from now, she will
leave the temple and return to her family. Another girl will take her
place--the priestess appointed for the coming year--in fact, the maiden
who gave her the sickle."
I had listened to this conversation with breathless interest, but
without daring to take part in it.
"Will she ever marry?" enquired Gazen.
I waited for the answer with a beating heart.
"Oh, yes," replied Otāré, "why not? She will marry if she finds a lover
whom she can love. There are many who admire Alumion."
"What of yourself?" asked the professor, smiling pointedly. "You seem to
know a good deal about her."
"I am her brother."
Nothing more was said, for at this moment the barge was seen coming from
behind the temple, after having made a round of the spectators, and
presently drew up at the marble stairs. Again the doors swung open, and
the maidens reappeared to welcome their mistress with a song of joy. I
saw her ascend the steps bearing the lily in her hand, then turn and
wave an adieu to the multitude, who responded by a parting hymn as the
great purple valves closed together and rapt her from my sight.
CHAPTER X.
ALUMION.
Alumion--Alumion--I could think of nothing but Alumion. Her very name
was music in my ears, and her image in my heart was a perpetual banquet
of delight I had never known such felicity before. My inclination for
Miss Carmichael and every other transient affection or interest I may
have felt was altogether of a lower strain--with one exception, a boyish
admiration for a school girl who died a mere child. The ethereal flame
of this new passion seemed to purify all that was earthly, and exalt all
that was celestial in my nature. This beautiful land, so green and
smiling under a sky of serene azure and snowy wreaths, became as the
highest heaven to me, and I wandered about in a dream of ecstacy like
one of the blessed gods inebriated with nectar.
I avoided my travelling companions. Their worldly conversation jarred on
the mood I was in, and I preferred my own thoughts to t
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