The Secret of the Earth

by Charles Willing Beale

But we were approaching a remarkable sight. In the distance was a fleet of boats, similar to the one we had passed, and beyond them, looming in the denser background we saw a magnificent city of white and gold. We brought our glasses to bear upon this strange vision of the new earth. As we approached, the fleet presented a vision of splendor impossible to describe. Whereas before a single vessel had so impressed us, we were now confronted with a vista of hundreds, which stretched away down the wide avenue of this unknown river as far as the eye could reach. Flashing sails in a thousand strange designs of form and color. Decks loaded with men, women, and children, in such fantastic and magnificent apparel that we were startled and bewildered at the sight. On nearing this extraordinary scene, we hovered above, and caused the wildest excitement. Trumpets were blown at us. Bells were lifted on poles and jangled. Chimes were sounded that came floating down the water from ship to ship as if each vessel had its own special note, and then were answered back again, receding in the distance, until they faded on the air. In all the sounds there was a singular harmony, a softness of tone strangely gratifying. We moved slowly down the line—above the mastheads, above the music—for I cannot call it noise—to exclamations of joy and wonder. Here was a revelation awful to contemplate. Had we been living just above these people, in such close proximity for the unnumbered ages of man's creation, and never even guessed of their existence? But why was it any more remarkable than that they had not discovered, or even thought of us? A double world indeed; a shell, a bubble, a hollow ball; and yet neither had given a thought to the other's existence.

We hovered above this scene for hours, trying to communicate with the people, and examining their surroundings; and then, having learned but little, hastened on to the distant city.

* * * * *

Another singular feature of our new world was the fact that there were no shadows. I do not mean that there were no shady places, but a shadow, in our sense, with clear cut edges did not exist. And indeed it was impossible that it should, the sun itself being nowhere visible from the inner side of the globe, the light entering from the poles, and being disseminated throughout the interior, as after sunset with us. The facilities for this distribution are vastly superior to anything we know, both from the electrified air, and a certain humidity, which seizes the rays of the great luminary, and equalizes and softens them most agreeably.

As we neared the great white city it grew upon us in splendor. Minarets and towers, arcades and domes, hanging gardens, tiers of arches rising one above another, majestic colonnades leading to palaces of regal magnificence, delighted and bewildered us. Although white was the predominating color, every conceivable hue and tint was used in ornamentation. Green domes with golden devices. Lapis lazuli columns. Malachite archways communicating with gardens where flowers of a thousand tints mingled in the spray of colored waters, whose trembling waves of iridescent mist would alternately hide and reveal them; where birds sang, and throngs of gayly attired people loitered. These were mere glimpses through the arches; but the parks, the great public spaces of the city where thousands of citizens met for pleasure and recreation, these were a vision of glory which word painting cannot approximate; for dreams of paradise were they, beyond the power of man to conceive. Here the very atmosphere was alive with song birds, whose plumage sparkled like jewels. We were entranced. The sights, the perfumes, and the sounds made the brain reel in its effort to absorb them. When the sense of vision would weary with the shifting pageant beneath, the nerves would be soothed with strange perfumes, whose origin was unseen, but whose effect was marvelous, creating an inexplicable sense of rest and quiet. When this power of enjoyment had reached an apparent climax, it would be relieved by such music as only the voices of the dream-world can equal. Was the place heaven? I do not know; but can only affirm that it was too utterly marvelous, too glorious for language.

As we moved slowly above the glittering streets, listening to the musical voices of those below, and watching the excited gestures of the populace, electrified at the sight of us, we marked the varied monuments of beauty, and saw that all were heavily decorated with gold and flashing with precious stones. Not only was this the case, but there existed a grace of outline and proportion nowhere to be found in our world of to-day. Beyond this was a majesty in height and size, eclipsing the creative genius of the most famous architects of history. The ancient Egyptian colonnades must slightly have resembled some of those we saw, judging from the drawings we have of them, but even these were crude, heavy, and cheerless by contrast. The city was indeed a vision of glory and magnificence, whose streets, if not paved with gold, were ornamented with it, and gems beside. I can never give the reader even the faintest conception of what we saw, nor can I recall to my own mind the fullness of the vision. Over all was thrown that rosy haze we had sometimes seen before, and which added distance and dreaminess to the picture.

We hovered over a park near the center of the city, and brought the air ship to a stand, while holding a consultation as to whether we should descend, and risk our lives among the inhabitants, who seemed so anxious to have us among them. Golden trumpets emitted notes of singular sweetness, and seemed to invite us to come down. Words, signals, and banners all spoke of the same hospitable thought, and we deliberated long and earnestly.

"I am willing to risk it!" said Torrence.

I acceded to the proposition, and slowly we began to lower ourselves into the midst of these unknown denizens of the inner world.

On perceiving our intention pandemonium reigned below. Trumpets sounded a harsher note than before. Bells jangled, and shrieks of applause rent the air. Crowds flocked into the space beneath, making it unsafe for a landing, as we were particularly desirous that no one should be hurt. We motioned the people away, but they surged to and fro, directly under the air ship, regardless of their lives, and with apparently no more intelligence than animals. This, of course, was the rabble, which the better portion of the populace tried to control, but without effect. Indeed it is not to be wondered that so marvelous a sight should have made them lose their heads.