Chapter 11

FACT AND FANCY.

"Have you ever seen the Moon?" said a teacher ironically one day in
class to one of his pupils.

"No, sir;" was the pert reply; "but I think I can safely say I've heard
it spoken about."

Though saying what he considered a smart thing, the pupil was probably
perfectly right. Like the immense majority of his fellow beings, he had
looked at the Moon, heard her talked of, written poetry about her, but,
in the strict sense of the term, he had probably never seen her--that
is--scanned her, examined her, surveyed her, inspected her, reconnoitred
her--even with an opera glass! Not one in a thousand, not one in ten
thousand, has ever examined even the map of our only Satellite. To guard
our beloved and intelligent reader against this reproach, we have
prepared an excellent reduction of Beer and Maedler's _Mappa_, on which,
for the better understanding of what is to follow, we hope he will
occasionally cast a gracious eye.

When you look at any map of the Moon, you are struck first of all with
one peculiarity. Contrary to the arrangement prevailing in Mars and on
our Earth, the continents occupy principally the southern hemisphere of
the lunar orb. Then these continents are far from presenting such sharp
and regular outlines as distinguish the Indian Peninsula, Africa, and
South America. On the contrary, their coasts, angular, jagged, and
deeply indented, abound in bays and peninsulas. They remind you of the
coast of Norway, or of the islands in the Sound, where the land seems to
be cut up into endless divisions. If navigation ever existed on the
Moon's surface, it must have been of a singularly difficult and
dangerous nature, and we can scarcely say which of the two should be
more pitied--the sailors who had to steer through these dangerous and
complicated passes, or the map-makers who had to designate them on their
charts.

You will also remark that the southern pole of the Moon is much more
_continental_ than the northern. Around the latter, there exists only a
slight fringe of lands separated from the other continents by vast
"seas." This word "seas"--a term employed by the first lunar map
constructors--is still retained to designate those vast depressions on
the Moon's surface, once perhaps covered with water, though they are now
only enormous plains. In the south, the continents cover nearly the
whole hemisphere. It is therefore possible that the Selenites have
planted their flag on at least one of their poles, whereas the Parrys
and Franklins of England, the Kanes and the Wilkeses of America, the
Dumont d'Urvilles and the Lamberts of France, have so far met with
obstacles completely insurmountable, while in search of