A Voyage to the Moon: With Some Account of the Manners and Customs, Science and Philosophy, of the People of Morosofia, and Other LunariansTucker, George
Science
A Voyage to the Moon: With Some Account of the Manners and Customs, Science and Philosophy, of the People of Morosofia, and Other Lunarians
Tucker, George
Science fiction; Space flight to the moon -- Fiction
_Eclipses of the sun_ are as common with the Lunarians as those of the
moon are with us--the same relative position of the three bodies producing
this phenomenon; but an _eclipse of the earth_ never takes place, as
the shadow of the moon passes over the broad disc of our planet, merely as
a dark spot.
The inhabitants of the moon can always determine both their latitude and
longitude, by observing the quarter of the heavens in which the earth is
seen: and, as the sun invariably appears of the same altitude at their
noon, the inhabitants are denominated and classed according to the length
of their shadows; and the terms _long shadow_, or _short shadow_, are
common forms of national reproach among them, according to the relative
position of the parties. I found the climate of those whose shadows are
about the length of their own figure, the most agreeably to my own
feelings, and most like that of my own country.
Such are the most striking natural appearances on one side of this
satellite. On the other there is some difference. The sun pursues the same
path in the corresponding latitudes of both hemispheres; but being without
any moon, they have a dull and dreary night, though the light from the
stars is much greater than with us. The science of astronomy is much
cultivated by the inhabitants of the dark hemisphere, and is indebted to
them for its most important discoveries, and its present high state of
improvement.
If there is much rivalship among the natives of the same hemisphere, who
differ in the length of their shadows, they all unite in hatred and
contempt for the inhabitants of the opposite side. Those who have the
benefit of a moon, that is, who are turned towards the earth, are lively,
indolent, and changeable as the face of the luminary on which they pride
themselves; while those on the other side are more grave, sedate, and
industrious. The first are called the Hilliboos, and the last the
Moriboos--or bright nights, and dark nights. And this mutual animosity is
the more remarkable, as they often appeared to me to be the same race, and
to differ much less from one another than the natives of different
climates. It is true, that enlightened and well educated men do not seem to
feel this prejudice, or at least they do not show it: but those who travel
from one hemisphere to the other, are sure to encounter the prejudices of
the vulgar, and are often treated with great contempt and indignity. They
are pointed at by the children, who, according as they chance to have been
bred on one side or the other say, "There goes a man who never saw
Glootin," as they call the earth; or, "There goes a Booblimak," which means
a night stroller.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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