"Bob has turned slightly East now for in the distance he has noticed something bright deep down below, as though a lake of water might be hidden somewhere there in that heavy growth of timber and chaparral. Through our glasses we make sure it is water but we will have to lower a little into the valley to learn more about it. It is a wide, roaring river flowing from the north and filled with many heavy rapids. It seems to disappear right into the Moon earth for we saw no trace of it farther down in the valley."
"A high mountain suddenly loomed up in front of us so we had to rise sharply. As we rose, we noticed a large waterfall pouring over the side of the mountain. These falls are really beautiful as the waters drop over a deep crescent ledge into the river below, rising again a hundred feet or more in a hazy mist. We are going to circle them once more to get a better look at them. They are far greater than the Niagara Falls."
"On the top of the mountain and feeding the falls is another wide and bubbling river racing over the rocks and boulders. This looks as though it could be the beginning of the river we saw back there in the valley."
"Wait awhile, there is something else ahead of us in the distance. It looks like a big lake that might be the source of this river. The closer we get to it, the bigger it gets. This might be an ocean for we can't see across it. There is water as far as we can see. Bob has had to change our course and turn to the north, flying above this ridge of mountains for we surely don't want to cross any ocean, not knowing how big it is, but we will stay right along the shore of the water."
"We have flown fifteen hundred miles and Bob is continuing to fly at an altitude of forty thousand feet. Way off in the distance and to the east is another high ridge of snowcapped mountains that seem to be bordering this water line, so this is not an ocean but it is a vast, vast lake we are flying around whose waters must come from the melting of the snow on these high encircling mountains."
"Bob is keeping to his northerly direction and we are flying over another high ridge of snowcapped mountains. Nestled on a plateau about ten thousand feet above the floor of the valley, we see what looks like a community or city. Bob is lowering into the valley to get a better look. We are down to twenty-five thousand feet, now fifteen thousand, now only a thousand feet above the town or village."
"There are no tall buildings here, nothing over one story. All have peak roofs with chimneys from which smoke is coming, so they must use something like coal for their heating. This is the first time we have seen smoke since we have been on the Moon. The roadways between the dwellings are wide, well worn and seem to be well cared for, but not paved. A narrower road winds out of the village and down the mountain. As we circle this village, people come out of their dwellings into the roadways and look up at us. These people appear to be somewhat shorter than other Moonalites we have met thus far, and very dark. I am afraid we won't be able to land and meet these people for there doesn't seem to be a level cleared spot anywhere in these mountains large enough for us to land on."
"The chieftain says this must be the place from which a stranger sometimes comes to his village, since we haven't seen any other settlement on the way here."
"We have risen again to forty thousand feet and as we cross the ridge of mountains beyond the valley in which we just found the village, we see another tall peak ahead of us glistening brilliantly but it doesn't seem to be snow. It may be ice, a glacier. Bob is heading that way and he has to keep rising to get above it. We are flying at fifty-two thousand feet altitude and are only three thousand feet above that peak. It is a glacier! That ice certainly looks cold. Just looking at it makes us cold here in the ship. The temperature graph gives a reading of eighty-eight degrees below zero. This district must correspond with our polar regions on Earth."
"Bob has swung slightly east but our compass indicates south by east now instead of north as it has been, although we have not made such a turn. We must have flown completely over the top of the Moon and are going down the other side. We are two thousand miles from our starting point and the graph has been showing gradually warming atmosphere as we have got farther away from that glacier peak."