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Tycho, we shall be in a better position to find out the cause of this
radiation."
"Do you know, my friends, what that plain, seen from the height we are at,
resembles?" said Michel.
"No," replied Nicholl.
"Very well; with all those pieces of lava lengthened like rockets, it
resembles an immense game of spelikans thrown pellmell.
There wants but the hook to pull them out one by one."
"Do be serious," said Barbicane.
"Well, let us be serious," replied Michel quietly; "and instead of spelikans,
let us put bones. This plain, would then be nothing but an immense cemetery,
on which would repose the mortal remains of thousands of extinct generations.
Do you prefer that high-flown comparison?"
"One is as good as the other," retorted Barbicane.
"My word, you are difficult to please," answered Michel.
"My worthy friend," continued the matter-of-fact Barbicane, "it
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162
matters but little what it _resembles_, when we do not know what it _is_."
"Well answered," exclaimed Michel. "That will teach me to reason with
savants."
But the projectile continued to advance with almost uniform speed around the
lunar disc. The travelers, we may easily imagine, did not dream of taking a
moment's rest. Every minute changed the landscape which fled from beneath
their gaze.
About half past one o'clock in the morning, they caught a glimpse of the tops
of another mountain. Barbicane, consulting his map, recognized Eratosthenes.
It was a ringed mountain nine thousand feet high, and one of those circles so
numerous on this satellite. With regard to this, Barbicane related Kepler's
singular opinion on the formation of circles. According to that celebrated
mathematician, these crater-like cavities had been dug by the hand of man.
"For what purpose?" asked Nicholl.
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"For a very natural one," replied Barbicane. "The Selenites might have
undertaken these immense works and dug these enormous holes for a refuge and
shield from the solar rays which beat upon them during fifteen consecutive
days."
"The Selenites are not fools," said Michel.
"A singular idea," replied Nicholl; "but it is probable that
Kepler did not know the true dimensions of these circles, for the digging of
them would have been the work of giants quite impossible for the Selenites."
"Why? if weight on the moon's surface is six times less than on the earth?"
said Michel.
"But if the Selenites are six times smaller?" retorted Nicholl.
"And if there are _no_ Selenites?" added Barbicane.
This put an end to the discussion.
Soon Eratosthenes disappeared under the horizon without the projectile being
sufficiently near to allow close observation.
This mountain separated the Apennines from the Carpathians. In the lunar
orography they have discerned some chains of mountains, which are chiefly
distributed over the northern hemisphere. Some, however, occupy certain
portions of the southern hemisphere also.
About two o'clock in the morning Barbicane found that they were above the
twentieth lunar parallel. The distance of the projectile from the moon was
not more than six hundred miles.
Barbicane, now perceiving that the projectile was steadily approaching the
lunar disc, did not despair; if not of reaching her, at least of discovering
the secrets of her configuration.
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163
CHAPTER XIII
LUNAR LANDSCAPES
At half-past two in the morning, the projectile was over the thirteenth lunar
parallel and at the effective distance of five hundred miles, reduced by the
glasses to five. It still seemed impossible, however, that it could ever
touch any part of the disc.
Its motive speed, comparatively so moderate, was inexplicable to
President Barbicane. At that distance from the moon it must have been
considerable, to enable it to bear up against her attraction.
Here was a phenomenon the cause of which escaped them again.
Besides, time failed them to investigate the cause. All lunar relief was
defiling under the eyes of the travelers, and they would not lose a single
detail.
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Under the glasses the disc appeared at the distance of five miles. What would
an aeronaut, borne to this distance from the earth, distinguish on its
surface? We cannot say, since the greatest ascension has not been more than
25,000 feet.
This, however, is an exact description of what Barbicane and his companions
saw at this height. Large patches of different colors appeared on the disc.
Selenographers are not agreed upon the nature of these colors. There are
several, and rather vividly marked. Julius Schmidt pretends that, if the
terrestrial oceans were dried up, a Selenite observer could not distinguish on
the globe a greater diversity of shades between the oceans and the continental
plains than those on the moon present to a terrestrial observer. According to
him, the color common to the vast plains known by the name of "seas" is a dark
gray mixed with green and brown. Some of the large craters present the same
appearance. Barbicane knew this opinion of the
German selenographer, an opinion shared by Boeer and Moedler.
Observation has proved that right was on their side, and not on that of some
astronomers who admit the existence of only gray on the moon's surface. In
some parts green was very distinct, such as springs, according to Julius
Schmidt, from the seas of
"Serenity and Humors." Barbicane also noticed large craters, without any
interior cones, which shed a bluish tint similar to the reflection of a sheet
of steel freshly polished. These colors belonged really to the lunar disc,
and did not result, as some astronomers say, either from the imperfection in
the objective of the glasses or from the interposition of the terrestrial
atmosphere.
Not a doubt existed in Barbicane's mind with regard to it, as he observed it
through space, and so could not commit any optical error.
He considered the establishment of this fact as an acquisition to science.
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