Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches.Rhodes, W. H. (William Henry)
Science
Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches.
Rhodes, W. H. (William Henry)
Science fiction
The Lunarians are not formed at all like ourselves. They are less in
height, and altogether of a different appearance. When fully grown, they
resemble somewhat a chariot wheel, with four spokes, converging at the
center or axle. They have four eyes in the head, which is the axle, so
to speak, and all the limbs branch out directly from the center, like
some sea-forms known as "Radiates." They move by turning rapidly like a
wheel, and travel as fast as a bird through the air. The children are
undeveloped in form, and are perfectly round, like a pumpkin or orange.
As they grow older, they seem to drop or absorb the rotundity of the
whole body, and finally assume the appearance of a chariot wheel.
They are of different colors, or nationalities--bright red, orange and
blue being the predominant hues. The reds are in a large majority. They
do no work, but sleep every four or five hours. They have no houses, and
need none. They have no clothing, and do not require it. There being no
night on the side of the moon fronting the sun, and no day on the
opposite side, all the inhabitants, apparently at a given signal of some
kind, form into vast armies, and flock in myriads to the sleeping
grounds on the shadow-side of the planet. They do not appear to go very
far over the dark rim, for they reappear in immense platoons in a few
hours, and soon spread themselves over the illuminated surface. They
sleep and wake about six times in one ordinary day of twenty-four hours.
Their occupations cannot be discerned; they must be totally different
from anything upon the earth.
The surface of the moon is all hill and hollow. There are but few level
spots, nor is there any water visible. The atmosphere is almost as
refined and light as hydrogen gas. There is no fire visible, nor are
there any volcanoes. Most of the time of the inhabitants seems to be
spent in playing games of locomotion, spreading themselves into squares,
circles, triangles, and other mathematical figures. They move always in
vast crowds. No one or two are ever seen separated from the main bodies.
The children also flock in herds, and seem to be all of one family.
Individualism is unknown. They seem to spawn like herring or shad, or to
be propagated like bees, from the queen, in myriads. Motion is their
normal condition. The moment after a mathematical figure is formed, it
is dissolved, and fresh combinations take place, like the atoms in a
kaleidoscope. No other species of animal, bird, or being exist upon the
illuminated face of the moon.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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