Page:The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon.djvu/27

Rh by any Thing but the Air, as easily and quietly as a Fish in the Water, yet if they forced themselves never so little, it is impossible to imagine with what Swiftness they were carried, either Upward, Downward, or Sideways; I must ingenuously confess my Horror and Amazement in this Place was such, that had I not been armed with a true Spanish Resolution, I should certainly have died for Fear.

The next Thing that disturbed me was the Swiftness of the Motion, which was so extraordinary, that it almost stopt my Breath, if I should liken it to an Arrow out of a Bow, or a Stone thrown down from the Top of an high Tower, it would come vastly short of it; another Thing was exceeding troublesome to me, that is the Illusions of Devils and wicked Spirits, who the first Day of my Arrival came about me in great Numbers in the Likeness of Men and Women, wondering at me like so many Birds about an Owl, and speaking several Languages which I understood not, till at last I met with some that spoke good Spanish, some Dutch, and others Italian, all which I understood; and here I had only a Touch of the Sun's Absence once for a short Time, having him ever after in my Sight. Now though my Gansas were entangled in my Lines, yet they easily seized upon divers Kinds of Flies and Birds, especially Swallows and Cuckows, whereof there were Multitudes, even like Motes in the Sun, though I never saw them eat any Thing at all. I was much obliged to those, whether Men or Devils I know not, who among divers Discourses told me, “If I would follow their Directions, I should not only be carried safe Home, but be assured to command at all Times all the Pleasures of that Place.” To which Motion, not daring to give a flat Denial, I desired Time to consider, and withal indebted Rh