Page:The Strange Voyage and Adventures of Domingo Gonsales, to the World in the Moon.djvu/29

Rh again; whether I lay quiet and rested, or were carried in the Air, I perceived myself to be always directly between the Moon and the Earth, whereby ’tis plain, that my Gansas took their Way directly toward the Moon, and that when we rested, as we did at first for many Hours, either we were insensibly carried round about the Globe of the Earth, though I perceived no such Motion, or else that, according to the Opinion of Copernicus, the Earth is carried about, and turneth round perpetually from West to East, leaving to the Planets only that Motion which the Astronomers call natural, and is not upon the Poles of the Equinoctial, commonly called the Poles of the World, but upon those of the Zodiac; the Air in that Place I found without any Wind, and exceeding temperate, neither Hot nor Cold, where neither the Sun Beams had any Object to reflect upon, nor the Earth and Water appear to affect the Air with their natural Quality of Coldness; as for the Philosophers attributing Heat and Moisture to the Air, I always esteemed it a Fancy: Lastly, I remember that after my Departure from the Earth, I never felt either Hunger or Thirst, whether the Purity of the Air, freed from the Vapours of the Earth and Water, might yield Nature sufficient Nourishment, or what else might be the Cause I cannot determine, but so I found it, though I was perfectly in Health both of Body and Mind, even above my usual Vigour.

Some Hours after the Departure of that Devilish Company, my Gansas began to bestir themselves, still directing their Course toward the Globe or Body of the Moon, making their Way with such incredible Swiftness, that I conceive they advanced little less than fifty Leagues in an Hour, in which Passage I observed three Things very remarkable, one Rh