The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon — John Shaqi
The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the MoonGodwin, Francis
Science
The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon
Godwin, Francis
Moon -- Fiction; Voyages, Imaginary -- Early works to 1800
Scarce had we ended our Banquet, when I saw myself surrounded with a
strange kind of People both in Feature, Manners, and Apparel; their
Stature was very different, but they Were generally twice as high as
ours; their Shape and Countenance pleasant, and their Habit hardly to
be described; for I never saw either Cloth, Silk, nor other Stuff,
like that whereof their Cloths were made; neither can I possibly
relate their Colour, they being in a manner all cloathed alike; it was
neither Black, White, Yellow, Red nor Blue, nor any Colour composed of
these: If you ask what was it then? I must tell you, it was a Colour
never seen in our earthly World, and so neither to be described nor
conceived by us; for as it is hard to make a Man born blind understand
the Difference between Green and Blue, so neither can I decypher this
Moon-colour, as having no Affinity with any I ever beheld; I can only
say it was the most glorious and delightful that can be imagined,
neither was any Thing more pleasant to me during my Stay there.
Being surprized at the Appearance of these People so suddenly and in
such Accoutrements, I crossed myself, and cried out, _Jesu Maria_: No
sooner was the Word _Jesu_ pronounced, but Young and Old fell all on
their Knees (whereat I not a little rejoiced) holding up their Hands on
high, and repeating certain Words which I understood not; and relently
rising again, one much taller than the rest came and kindly embraced
me, and ordering, as I perceived, some of the rest to attend my Birds,
he took me by the Hand, and led me to his Dwelling, down toward the
Foot of the Hill, which was a Building so great and beautiful, as
nothing in our World is comparable thereto; yet afterward I saw such as
this seemed but a Cottage in respect of them, there was no Door about
the House less than thirty Foot high, and twelve broad, the Rooms were
forty or fifty Foot in Height, and answerable in Proportion neither
could they be much less, the Master thereof being full twenty-eight
high, and I suppose his Body would weigh twenty-five or thirty of ours:
After I had rested with him about one of our Days, he led me five
Leagues off to the Palace of the Prince of the Country, the Stateliness
whereof I have not now Leisure to describe; this Prince was much taller
than the former, and called (as near as I can by Letters declare it,
for their Sounds are not perfectly to be expressed by our Characters)
_Pylonas_, which in their Language is _First_ or _Chief_, if it doth
not rather denote his Authority and Dignity, as being the Principal Man
in all those Parts; though yet there is one Supreme Monarch amongst
them, much greater of Stature than he, commanding over all that whole
World, having under him twenty-nine other Princes of great Power; and
every one of these has twenty-four inferior Governors, whereof this
_Pylonas_ was one. The first Ancestor of this great Monarch came out
of the Earth, as they relate, and by marrying the Heiress of that
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