I did so, and found that the aperture contained ten small canvas bags, in each of which, as Torrence told me, were a thousand English sovereigns. "And what on earth have you brought this amount of coin here for?" I inquired in amazement. Torrence simply said: "Because I thought we might need it before we got home again. Gold talks, you know, and we may be able to communicate with these people through its medium. Gold is current throughout our world, and I wanted to see if it were good here. If it is valuable we may not expect to find any very abnormal deposits; if not, look out for a bonanza, provided the air ship holds together, so that we can carry it out with us. I have my theory about it." "And what is that?" I asked. "Why simply that our little stock of sovereigns won’t buy bread enough for a square meal!" he answered. *XVII.* This circumstance reminded me of Torrence’s financiering and the discovery of pearls upon the beach. It seemed trivial to concern ourselves about gold when precious stones were to be had with so slight an effort, and I asked why he should care to carry any of the yellow metal away with him. "Merely to convince the outer world of its existence, and to confirm a theory I have always held," he replied. "To my mind there can be no reasonable doubt that we shall find deposits here exceeding anything our people have ever dreamed of!" "And why?" "Because gold is heavy," he answered. "Nonsense. Do you mean to say that the center of gravity is not quite as far below our feet here, as on the outer crust?" "Probably not. When our globe was in process of forming, two great forces moulded it—the centrifugal and centripetal. These produce various vibratory conditions in different masses, resulting in gravity or affinity upon one hand, and repulsion upon the other. Bodies having the greatest specific gravity grouped themselves about the inner surface, forming an arch, being thrown off in a gaseous state from the center. But from the very reason of their gravity were unable to descend any great distance into the crust; and therefore the heaviest substances should be found upon the inner or under side of the earth’s canopy." "I fail to see it," I answered. "Why should not a heavy weight sink deeper than a light one?"