Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

by Captain Adam Seaborn

By the aid of Surui, we entered immediately into conversation. The first inquiries of the Best Man were, as to whence I came, and my motives for leaving my country. By means of a globe, which I had brought from the ship, and which I now caused to be produced, I explained to him the situation of my country, and the phenomena attending the external region, of which, till now, he had no conception, except from some supposed ravings of a Wise man, who was thought to be mad. The frightful glare of the sun, and the great extremes of heat, as his imagination pictured them in such an external region, were horrible to his apprehension.

My motive I stated to be, a desire to gain a more extended knowledge of the works of nature; adding, that I had undertaken this perilous voyage only to ascertain whether the body of this huge globe were an useless waste of sand and stones, contrary to the economy usually displayed in the works of Providence, or, according to the sublime conceptions of one of our Wise men, a series of concentric spheres, like a nest of boxes, inhabitable within and without, on every side, so as to accommodate the greatest possible number of intelligent beings.

I was already too well acquainted with the sentiments of this people, not to know that it would be extremely imprudent to suffer any expression to escape me which should discover that a desire of wealth, or of the means of sensual gratification, was among the motives which actuate the externals; such a disclosure being calculated: only to excite their aversion, and contempt.

The Best Man indulged me with a long interview; and it was a happy circumstance that I had with me a globe, charts, maps, books, and drawings, to illustrate and corroborate my statements; for otherwise I might have caused him to suspect that I was a most desperate liar, so strange and absurd did many of my representations appear to him. Happily, Surui was already able to read English books; and when I observed an appearance of doubt on the part of the Best Man, I sought out some passage in a printed work to corroborate my statement, which Surui translated into the language of the country.

I spoke of the danger I had encountered from ice. This was incomprehensible to him. He assured me that water never congealed in the internal world; that the innate warmth of the earth was sufficient to prevent it, and he could not understand how so great a degree of cold could exist in the external world, so much more exposed to the direct influence of the fountain of light and heat. I endeavoured to account for this by explaining to him the generation of cold by evaporation and absorption, and promised to send to the ship for my air pump, to show him ice artificially produced by absorption in an exhausted receiver. I then proceeded to account for the equable heat in the internal world, and the extreme cold at the icy hoop, upon principles which appeared to me to be very obvious.

In the first place, the sun’s direct influence is exerted, on an equal portion of the globe at all times; which influence is felt, on the external surface, only where it is directly exerted. In such places it is felt intensely, but from the free action of the external atmosphere, so soon as that influence is withdrawn the heat escapes and flies off rapidly, generating cold in its passage, or by evaporation as we express it. Those parts of the external world from which the influence of the sun is withdrawn for the greatest length of time thus become intensely cold, excepting in the immediate vicinity of the polar openings, where the issue of warm air, from the internal cavity, tempers the atmosphere: but at a short distance from the verge of the opening the very influence of this warm air generates cold, by parting rapidly with its latent heat and condensing into snow and hail, which causes the circle of ice between the 70th and 80th degrees of latitude, called the “icy hoop.” This escape of heat from the warm air which issues from the internal world, is so great as to irradiate the atmosphere near the polar openings; and in the extreme cold of winter, during the absence of the sun, this irradiation is so vivid as to be visible fifty degrees towards the equator, where the inhabitants, being fond of simple names, call it Aurora Borealis.

On the other hand, as an equal portion of the globe is at all times acted upon directly by the sun’s rays, the internal contents of that globe must be always subject to the same degree of heat, excepting such variations as may be occasionally produced by the direct rays of the sun admitted through the polar openings. Of this fact we had evidence on the external world, where, in the most intense cold weather, we had but to penetrate a short distance into the earth to escape its influence. The temperature of mines, dug a short distance into the earth, was always above the freezing point; and the degree of heat at a given distance below the general surface of the earth, was found to be nearly the same in all latitudes, and at all seasons.

Hence what he called the innate warmth of the earth, was nothing more than the collected heat of the sun absorbed and retained by the globe from the continued action of that luminary upon an equal proportion of it, at all times, in the same manner as a glass globe full of water, when set before a fire, will absorb and diffuse heat throughout the contents of the vessel equally, although but one side is exposed to the direct influence of the fire, while that part of the external surface of the vessel which is not exposed to the fire, but is subject to the influence of the cold air of the room, will obtain no other heat than may be communicated by the fluid within.

My printed books were subjects of great interest. The art of printing was unknown, although that of engraving was practised. I explained the process of making and using types, and promised the Best Man to instruct such persons as he might be pleased to direct, in the art, in return for the hospitality and civilities I had received.

He expressed a desire to be made acquainted with the form of government, the religion, habits, sentiments and practices of the people of the external world, particularly as to our acquirements in useful knowledge: on all which subjects I was extremely disinclined to converse, being aware that if I spoke the truth I should fill him with disgust, and if I endeavoured to disguise the truth, and to reply to his inquiries from my own imagination, I might be detected in falsehood, and deservedly turned with contempt out of the country.