A Voyage to the Moon, Page 4

  CHAPTER II.

  _The Brahmin's illness--He reveals an important secret to Atterley--Curious information concerning the Moon--The Glonglims--They plan avoyage to the Moon._

  About this period, one afternoon in the month of March, when I repairedto the hermitage as usual, I found my venerable friend stretched on hishumble pallet, breathing very quickly, and seemingly in great pain. Hewas labouring under a pleurisy, which is not unfrequent in the mountainousregion, at this season. He told me that his disease had not yielded tothe ordinary remedies which he had tried when he first felt its approach,and that he considered himself to be dangerously ill. "I am, however,"he added, "prepared to die. Sit down on that block, and listen to whatI shall say to you. Though I shall quit this state of being for anotherand a better, I confess that I was alarmed at the thought of expiring,before I had an opportunity of seeing and conversing with you. I am thedepository of a secret, that I believe is known to no other living mortal.I once determined that it should die with me; and had I not met with you,it certainly should. But from our first acquaintance, my heart has beenstrongly attracted towards you; and as soon as I found you possessedof qualities to inspire esteem as well as regard, I felt disposed togive you this proof of my confidence. Still I hesitated. I first wishedto deliberate on the probable effects of my disclosure upon the conditionof society. I saw that it might produce evil, as well as good; but onweighing the two together, I have satisfied myself that the good willpreponderate, and have determined to act accordingly. Take this key,(stretching out his feverish hand,) and after waiting two hours, inwhich time the medicine I have taken will have either produced a goodeffect, or put an end to my sufferings, you may then open that bluechest in the corner. It has a false bottom. On removing the paper whichcovers it, you will find the manuscript containing the important secret,together with some gold pieces, which I have saved for the day ofneed--because--(and he smiled in spite of his sufferings)--becausehoarding is one of the pleasures of old men. Take them both, and usethem discreetly. When I am gone, I request you, my friend, to dischargethe last sad duties of humanity, and to see me buried according to theusages of my caste. The simple beings around me will then behold thatI am mortal like themselves. And let this precious relic of femaleloveliness and worth, (taking a small picture, set in gold, from hisbosom,) be buried with me. It has been warmed by my heart's blood fortwenty-five years: let it be still near that heart when it ceasesto beat. I have yet more to say to you; but my strength is too muchexhausted."

  The good old man here closed his eyes, with an expression of patientresignation, and rather as if he courted sleep than felt inclined to it:and, after shutting the door of his cell, I repaired to his littlegarden, to pass the allotted two hours. Left to my meditations, whenI thought that I was probably about to be deprived for ever of theHermit's conversation and society, I felt the wretchedness of my situationrecur with all its former force. I sat down on a smooth rock under atamarind tree, the scene of many an interesting conference between theBrahmin and myself; and I cast my eyes around--but how changed was everything before me! I no longer regarded the sparkling eddies of the littlecascade which fell down a steep rock at the upper end of the garden, andformed a pellucid basin below. The gay flowers and rich foliage of thisgenial climate--the bright plumage and cheerful notes of the birds--wereall there; but my mind was not in a state to relish them. I arose, and inextreme agitation rambled over this little Eden, in which I had passed somany delightful hours.

  Before the allotted time had elapsed--shall I confess it?--my fears forthe Hermit were overcome by those that were purely selfish. It occurredto me, if he should thus suddenly die, and I be found alone in his cell,I might be charged with being his murderer; and my courage, which, fromlong inaction, had sadly declined of late, deserted me at the thought.After the most torturing suspense, the dial at length showed me that thetwo hours had elapsed, and I hastened to the cell.

  I paused a moment at the door, afraid to enter, or even look in; made oneor two steps, and hearing no sound, concluded that all was over with theHermit, and that my own doom was sealed. My delight was inexpressible,therefore, when I perceived that he still breathed, and when, on drawingnearer, I found that he slept soundly. In a moment I passed from miseryto bliss. I seated myself by his side, and there remained for more thanan hour, enjoying the transition of my feelings. At length he awoke, andcasting on me a look of placid benignity, said,--"Atterley, my time isnot yet come. Though resigned to death, I am content to live. The worstis over. I am already almost restored to health." I then administered tohim some refreshments, and, after a while, left him to repose. On againrepairing to the garden, every object assumed its wonted appearance. Thefragrance of the orange and the jasmine was no longer lost to me. Thehumming birds, which swarmed round the flowering cytisus and the beautifulwater-fall, once more delighted the eye and the ear. I took my usualbath, as the sun was sinking below the mountain; and, finding the Hermitstill soundly sleeping, I threw myself on a seat, under the shelter ofsome bamboos, fell asleep, and did not awake until late the next morning.

  When I arose, I found the good Brahmin up, and, though much weakened byhis disease, able to walk about. He told me that the Mirvoon, uneasy atmy not returning as usual in the evening, had sent in search of me, andthat the servant, finding me safe, was content to return without me. Headvised me, however, not to repeat the same cause of alarm. Sing Fou, onhearing my explanation, readily forgave me for the uneasiness I hadcaused him. After a few days, the Brahmin recovered his ordinary healthand strength; and having attended him at an earlier hour than usual,according to his request on the previous evening, he thus addressedme:--

  "I have already told you, my dear Atterley, that I was born and educatedat Benares, and that science is there more thoroughly understood andtaught than the people of the west are aware of. We have, for manythousands of years, been good astronomers, chymists, mathematicians, andphilosophers. We had discovered the secret of gunpowder, the magneticattraction, the properties of electricity, long before they were heard ofin Europe. We know more than we have revealed; and much of our knowledgeis deposited in the archives of the caste to which I belong; but, forwant of a language generally understood and easily learnt, (for theserecords are always written in the Sanscrit, that is no longer a spokenlanguage,) and the diffusion which is given by the art of printing,these secrets of science are communicated only to a few, and sometimeseven sleep with their authors, until a subsequent discovery, under morefavourable circumstances, brings them again to light.

  "It was at this seat of science that I learnt, from one of our sages,the physical truth which I am now about to communicate, and which hediscovered, partly by his researches into the writings of ancient Pundits,and partly by his own extraordinary sagacity. There is a principle ofrepulsion as well as gravitation in the earth. It causes fire to riseupwards. It is exhibited in electricity. It occasions water-spouts,volcanoes, and earthquakes. After much labour and research, this principlehas been found embodied in a metallic substance, which is met with in themountain in which we are, united with a very heavy earth; and thiscircumstance had great influence in inducing me to settle myself here.

  "This metal, when separated and purified, has as great a tendency tofly off from the earth, as a piece of gold or lead has to approach it.After making a number of curious experiments with it, we bethoughtourselves of putting it to some use, and soon contrived, with the aidof it, to make cars and ascend into the air. We were very secret inthese operations; for our unhappy country having then recently fallenunder the subjection of the British nation, we apprehended that if wedivulged our arcanum, they would not only fly away with all our treasures,whether found in palace or pagoda, but also carry off the inhabitants,to make them slaves in their colonies, as their government had not thenabolished the African slave trade.

  "After various trials and many successive improvements, in which ourdesires increased with our success, we determined to penetrate theaerial void as far as we could, pr
oviding for that purpose an apparatus,with which you will become better acquainted hereafter. In the courseof our experiments, we discovered that this same metal, which was repelledfrom the earth, was in the same degree attracted towards the moon; for inone of our excursions, still aiming to ascend higher than we had everdone before, we were actually carried to that satellite; and if we hadnot there fallen into a lake, and our machine had not been water-tight,we must have been dashed to pieces or drowned. You will find in thisbook," he added, presenting me with a small volume, bound in greenparchment, and fastened with silver clasps, "a minute detail of theapparatus to be provided, and the directions to be pursued in makingthis wonderful voyage. I have written it since I satisfied my mind thatmy fears of British rapacity were unfounded, and that I should do moregood than harm by publishing the secret. But still I am not sure,"he added, with one of his faint but significant smiles, "that I amnot actuated by a wish to immortalize my name; for where is the mortalwho would be indifferent to this object, if he thought he could attain it?Read the book at your leisure, and study it."

  I listened to this recital with astonishment; and doubted at first,whether the Brahmin's late severe attack had not had the effect ofunsettling his brain: but on looking in his face, the calm self-possessionand intelligence which it exhibited, dispelled the momentary impression.I was all impatience to know the adventures he met with in the moon,asking him fifty questions in a breath, but was most anxious to learnif it had inhabitants, and what sort of beings they were.

  "Yes," said he, "the moon has inhabitants, pretty much the same as theearth, of which they believe their globe to have been formerly a part.But suspend your questions, and let me give you a recital of the mostremarkable things I saw there."

  I checked my impatience, and listened with all my ears to the wondershe related. He went on to inform me that the inhabitants of the moonresembled those of the earth, in form, stature, features, and manners,and were evidently of the same species, as they did not differ more thandid the Hottentot from the Parisian. That they had similar passions,propensities, and pursuits, but differed greatly in manners and habits.They had more activity, but less strength: they were feebler in mind aswell as body. But the most curious part of his information was, that alarge number of them were born without any intellectual vigour, andwandered about as so many automatons, under the care of the government,until they were illuminated with the mental ray from some earthly brains,by means of the mysterious influence which the moon is known to exerciseon our planet. But in this case the inhabitant of the earth loses whatthe inhabitant of the moon gains--the ordinary portion of understandingallotted to one mortal being thus divided between two; and, as might beexpected, seeing that the two minds were originally the same, there is amost exact conformity between the man of the earth and his counterpart inthe moon, in all their principles of action and modes of thinking.

  These Glonglims, as they are called, after they have been thus imbuedwith intellect, are held in peculiar respect by the vulgar, and arethought to be in every way superior to those whose understandings areentire. The laws by which two objects, so far apart, operate on eachother, have been, as yet, but imperfectly developed, and the wildertheir freaks, the more they are the objects of wonder and admiration."The science of _lunarology_," he observed, "is yet in its infancy.But in the three voyages I have made to the moon, I have acquired somany new facts, and imparted so many to the learned men of that planet,that it is, without doubt, the subject of their active speculationsat this time, and will, probably, assume a regular form long before thenew science of phrenology of which you tell me, and which it must, intime, supersede. Now and then, though very rarely, the man of the earthregains the intellect he has lost; in which case his lunar counterpartreturns to his former state of imbecility. Both parties are entirelyunconscious of the change--one, of what he has lost, and the other ofwhat he has gained."

  The Brahmin then added: "Though our party are the only voyagers of whichauthentic history affords any testimony, yet it is probable, from obscurehints in some of our most ancient writings in the Sanscrit, that thevoyage has been made in remote periods of antiquity; and the Lunarianshave a similar tradition. While, in the revolutions which have so changedthe affairs of mankind on our globe, (and probably in its satellite,)the art has been lost, faint traces of its existence may be perceivedin the opinions of the vulgar, and in many of their ordinary forms ofexpression. Thus it is generally believed throughout all Asia, that themoon has an influence on the brain; and when a man is of insane mind, wecall him a lunatic. One of the curses of the common people is, 'May themoon eat up your brains;' and in China they say of a man who has doneany act of egregious folly, 'He was gathering wool in the moon.'"

  I was struck with these remarks, and told the Hermit that the languageof Europe afforded the same indirect evidence of the fact he mentioned:that my own language especially, abounded with expressions which couldbe explained on no other hypothesis;--for, besides the terms "lunacy,""lunatic," and the supposed influence of the moon on the brain, when wesee symptoms of a disordered intellect, we say the mind _wanders_,which evidently alludes to a part of it rambling to a distant region, asis the moon. We say too, a man is "_out of his head_," that is, hismind being in another man's head, must of course be out of his own.To "know no more than the man in the moon," is a proverbial expressionfor ignorance, and is without meaning, unless it be considered to referto the Glonglims. We say that an insane man is "distracted;" by which wemean that his mind is drawn two different ways. So also, we call alunatic _a man beside himself_, which most distinctly expresses the twodistinct bodies his mind now animates. There are, moreover, many otheranalogous expressions, as "moonstruck," "deranged," "extravagant," andsome others, which, altogether, form a mass of concurring testimony thatit is impossible to resist.

  "Be that as it may," said he, "whether the voyage has been made in formertimes or not, is of little importance: it is sufficient for us to knowthat it has been effected in our time, and can be effected again. I amanxious to repeat the voyage, for the purpose of ascertaining some facts,about which I have been lately speculating; and I wish, besides, toafford you ocular demonstration of the wonders I have disclosed; for,in spite of your good opinion of my veracity, I have sometimes perceivedsymptoms of incredulity about you, and I do not wonder at it."

  The love of the marvellous, and the wish for a change, which had longslumbered in my bosom, were now suddenly awakened, and I eagerly caughtat his proposal.

  "When can we set out, father?" said I.

  "Not so fast," replied he; "we have a great deal of preparation to make.Our apparatus requires the best workmanship, and we cannot here commandeither first-rate articles or materials, without incurring the risk ofsuspicion and interruption. While most of the simple villagers arekindly disposed towards me, there are a few who regard me with distrustand malevolence, and would readily avail themselves of an opportunityto bring me under the censure of the priesthood and the government.Besides, the governor of Mergui would probably be glad to lay hold ofany plausible evidence against you, as affording him the best chance ofavoiding any future reckoning either with you or his superiors. We musttherefore be very secret in our plans. I know an ingenious artificerin copper and other metals, whose only child I was instrumental in curingof scrofula, and in whose fidelity, as well as good will, I can safelyrely. But we must give him time. He can construct our machine at home,and we must take our departure from that place in the night."