The Lowest Heaven (11 page)

.................curious we behold thy many
Belts

That gird thy Spacious Body round and large,

Formed from thick Vapours, Stormfronts dire

From which we may deduce that Jupitter is a vaprous world, such as could not be if its weight were consummate with its great size (as Neuton affirms), or those vapours would be drawn out of the sky to fall as rain and the obscurant clouds would clear away, as may be observ’d in the case the
Earth
.

Concerning the Patien race

As to whether the Patien specie have the knowledge to explain this anomalous circumstance I do not know, and some affirm they lack all knowledge themselves, and are mere clowns, or puppets, of some greater power. For (it is said by some) it may be that the Patien are not the inventors of the devices and vessels we call theirs, but only receiv’d them as gifts from a Higher race—or pilfer’d them from thence—much as we have come by such devices as are ours. Certain the Patien have not that force about their
affaires
such as we might think fitting for great inventors, and on the contrary seem distrait and eccentric; for all remarck how great a chance they daily miss to subdue the whole world with their advantages over us.

But I disbelieve this story myself, for if the Patien are not the progenitors of their machines, but took them from another race, then where is this race? Why have they permitted their advances to be stol’n? Why come they not hither to retrieve it? And as to the Patien claim, that they have come hither from the Pole star, which is
Polaris;
I believe this may be after the manner of some jest or riddle of their own; for it has been assiduously ascertained by the Chevalier de Mouhy and others that the fix’d stars are too distant for such voyaging. A Cannon-Bullet shot from the
Earth
must require 26 years in passing from hence to the
Sun,
and with the same Velocity wherewith it was discharged, it would require, in order to arrive at the fix’d Stars almost Seven hundred thousand Years: and a Ship that can sail 50 miles in a Day and a Night, will require 30,430,400 Years. As to the suppos’d Immortality of the Patien, I do not believe; for I have seen old ones as well as young, and seen that when cut they bleed, tho’ it is a curious form of blood, coloured like as milk or buttermilk; and besides, to advert Immortality to any
Being
not explicitly
Divine
is a blasphemous derogation of God’s Will in this
Univers
. It does less violence to credulity to believe the Patien come from some other world in orbit of the Sun, Mars as some say; which if Dobrée is to be believ’d (and there is much that is hard to credit in his
Voyage á le Monde Martien
) is near as desart and ayrless as the Moon herself. Some will say that Dobrée reported seeing none of the Patien race upon Mars in his time there; to which I reply, 1, that it being a world entire, it ought not offend our reason to believe that some parts are more inhabited than others, for if a visitor came to
our
world he might as well stop in the Afric desart and declare the whole globe void of population, as make any such categorical statement regarding Mars; and, 2, that Dobrée so poorly provision’d for his voyage, especially in consideration of ayr, but water also, that his crew, all but one, perish’d on the return, and both he and Valtat were driven from their wits with the suffering of it, such that I doubt a court of law in London would accept his testimony as gospel in any tryal or deposition. But this and other pedantic questioning may best be left for future expeditions to that Scarlet world to determine.

What else can be said of the Patiens is that cold incommodes them not at all, nor heat, nor thinness of ayr; but as to how their boddies are constituted, with what Juices their Veins are supply’d, and what Sense they are capable of, we can but say that their Life is other than Ours. They exist according to an other logick of life, and distribute their Governance according to a different oeconomy entire, which I am perswaded after all my dealings with them.

The Cristal House

I shall give a brief account of the Cristal House maintained upon the moon at the pleasure of His Catholick Majesty. It is a very spacious demense, and easy to traverse, for the lightness of the boddy under Lunar influence permits great leaps and gallops. The smell of the dust, there, is offensive, and reeks like gunpowder; although I was assur’d by those dwelling there it is not combustible. This, where the Peruvians have widely water’d the lunar soil, first covering this with such roofage as expand about a quantity of 2 or 3 acre, making a soft black ouze they claim very quick in the cultivation of yams and fruit; and certain the vegetables grow to prodigious sizes, much priz’d for this on the home market. But the expence of maintaining such an establishment is hardly to be defray’d by such market-gardening. I spoke to one who said that, the vegetation breath’d such virtue into the ayr that it would render needless the importation of breathable vapour from the Earth, were it not that the lunar nights grow so cold, and last fully a fortnight long, that the inhabitants of that house are oblig’d to light fires all about to prevent the crops parching with the freeze, and these flames do devour the air that would otherwise be available for the breathing of the inhabitants. But the prestige of maintaining their establishment is great, and the hope, although it is but rarely fulfill’d, of chancing upon discarded ordnance of the Patiens race, comprize sufficient reason for the difficulty of the undertaking.

We were receiv’d cordially by the Peruvians, who came up to the very double door of the
Cometes
in one of their contrivances for moving about the Selenic surface; which is a great globe seal’d rubber and leather, fill’d with ayr, such that one man or several may roll it over the ground by running at the curv’d wall. A sac can be inflated and section’d away, through which egress and exit is possible; and Kindermann, Moulville and I wriggl’d with some loss of dignity into this device, leaving only Cano behind to attend to the
Cometes
. Inside the ball all must shift, and none may be a passenger, or they would be rollt about with the motion of the sphear, so I ran like a rat in a wheel with the others, and so we made it into the Cristal
House
.

Here we were handsomely received by the Lord of the farm, Don Frederico de Vouert, and we toasted the health of our respective kings, His Boreal Majesty and His Catholick Majesty, and ate steaks cuts from the yams grown therein which were very tasty, and ate jerked beef also. My Spanish and Portugueze being equally indifferent, and Don Frederico not speaking French (tho’ I expected it of him) we convers’d tolerably well in
Lattin
, and so grew cordial gabbling together like novitiate priests. I presented my Commission to Don Frederico, and render’d it into terms he might understand, and we discuss’d the treaty of amity between our two great empires, which news was a great surpize and joy to him; for the only commerce he has with the Earth comes with the cargoes of ayr and victuals, which being merchanters are not trusted to carry epistles containing matters of State. We talk’d for a time concerning the Patiens, but tho’ he lived a matter of leagues from one of their settlements, yet he had nothing to report on them that I had not heard before. For the truth is, these creatures remain as much a mystery to us as they did when first they appear’d amongst us, forty years since.

I was honour’d with a tour of the whole House, and admir’d especially the grid of crysytal panes and wrought-iron support that made up the structure. Don Frederico show’d me two suits, moulded and fashion’d most cunningly of indiarubber, with a helmet of iron and a visor of glass, for a man to wear if he ventur’d out upon the Moonic surface. He had worn one himself on divers occasions, he reported; as had his men.
But,
he said,
it was but a poor shift;
for on stepping outside the ayr inside the suit puffed and hardened, such that it became near impossible to move the limbs, and perambulation became a matter of great arduosity. We retir’d to the Don’s private quarters, and continu’d diplomatick exchange over glasses of Selenic brandie, most agreeably flavoursome.

Said he:
the union of our two empires will put an short end to the ambitions of Spain, whose history in the Americas had poysoned the people against them even before the arrival of the Patiens.

To which I replied that, his Boreal Majesty King George wish’d for nothing more heartily than mondial peace, and prosperity for us all. But was he sure, as common report claim’d, that the Spaniards had lost all the Propulse devices they had ever had?

To which he replied that he believ’d so; that they only had ever had two, and that one had been taken from them by the Brasilian navy, and they themselves have destroy’d the other in the furnace for fear it would fall into the hands of the Turques. And that he, for one, was glad of it; for he was in continual anxiety as to the fragility of his roof, and the ease with which a determin’d enemy could lay waste to the whole
Casa Crystall
. In the light of what transpir’d, his words were prophetic as
Jeremiah
.

Are you much bother’d with the Patien, in this place?
I enquir’d of him. To which he made answer, not much; that they kept themselves to themselves, tho’ they watch’d their goings & comings not without anxiety,
for
(he said)
they are capricious, and swarm from task to task, and follow not great plan, It is my belief we have acquir’d their devices only thro’ their carelessness, and should they become aware of us it would be of a sudden, and then they would swarm upon us and devour us verily as locusts do.

But we are better able to defend ourselves,
I observ’d,
because we have acquir’d their devices.
And with this he was in agreement.

He then teaz’d me, the brandie working visibly in his manner, that
tho’ King George permitt’d the world to believe he had but four Propulse devices, yet the rumours were he had six.

I of course refus’d to discuss such Statecraft, tho’ in joviall manner enough; and we parted on good terms. But one of the Cristal House’s men, leading me below to quarters, ask’d whether we thought it politick to employ a Bavarian in our crew. I inform’d him that Pilot Kindermann was from Northern Prussia, and serv’d in the Baltic navy a time; but this Peruvian (whose name, he said, was Hermann) assur’d me he that he not only spoke tolerable
German
, but knew a Bavarian accent from a Prussian. I, being somewhat incommoded with liquor, decided to leave any further inquiry to the morn. This, I now regret.

I was oblig’d to sleep in a chamber cut from cold Selenic rock, below the floor of the crater, with my two crewmen; such spaces being but hard-worked and the rock all granite, so they had as yet fashioned but a few. Nor did I enjoy a long sleep, for some hours I was awoken by the sound of some thunder and catarwawling from above. And by the time I had rows’d myself fully, and dressed, and hurry’d above, we found a scene of commotion.

One of the panes of cristal having broke, or been shatter’d, a quantity of ayr had fled into the Selenic sky; and tho’ the pane had been soon restor’d—for the Pervuians are practised at repair, as well they might be given that their very life depends upon it, yet Don Frederico was gravely concern’d at his supply of breathable.
How could it come that your cristal is broke?
I asked of him. To which he replied
that meteors sometimes fell from the heavens, but that he did not put aside the possibility of treachery from within, since the fragments of cristal would on either occasion be thrown outside by the uncompressing wind of ayr leaving the House.
I ask’d after the resupply of his ayr, and he put upon himself a sober face and said that there was a week more before any new balons might be expected; and that the Selenic night began in three days.
You can hardly credit, Señor Ingles, how quick,
he said,
the cold comes, and how unsupportable it be without a fire be lit.
Yet fire would consume his breathable, and so he declar’d they must ready for the cold. According to his own report the ayr itself turns icy, and can only be made vapour by being heated in a great copper cauldron they keep for that purpose.

I of course took my leave of them; for tho’ he pressed his continued hospitality upon us, yet he had no need of three subjects of King George breathing up his ayr. Yet before we could pass out there was more anxiety, for one of Don Frederico’s men was found smitted and prone, by the exit. Salts and liquor reviv’d him, yet how he came to have been laid out he could not say; only that he had heard something amongst the foliage of the plantation, and had receiv’d a pate-blow when he look’d into it, from whom he knew not. It seem’d to me (yet am I no
surgeon
) that he had been struck across the forehead by a sabre, for the red groove ran from eye to hairline.

I felt some anxiety on account of our departure seeming suspicious, giv’n this wicked development; yet the preciousness of ayr was a consideration not to be gainsaid, and the fellow look’d fair to recover, and after many assurances of our amity and concern we three clamber’d ungainly into the sphear, with one of Don Frederico’s men. For after delivering us to the
Cometes Georgius,
there must be one fellow yet remaining to roll the sphear back to the Cristal House.

What transpir’d with Kindermann

Don Frederico bade us farewell, and made us the gift of one of his indiarubber suits; although disavow’d his own generosity, and claiming it worse than
useless
, yet was I glad to have it. We rolled the sphear with ease along the paved road, and with difficulty among the dusty portion of our way. But at last we return’d to the
Cometes Georgius,
and though I hurry’d Moulville and Kindermann before me, yet did Kindermann loiter back; and so contriv’d it that he was the last, save only Don Frederico’s man, to leave the sphear. Then, turning before the seal was broke, he withdrew from his shirt a pistol, and began gabbling something in Spanish. I order’d him to put up his Arms, but he shriek’d, and discharg’d the
gunn;
and I am very sorry to say that Don Frederico’s man receiv’d a bullet in his ribs; for he fell back with terrible rapidity and his blood leapt so far and high to spatter the sides of sphear it look’d as tho’ it had come to life and been gifted with powr’s of flight.