O, I know all about it now. The stars over the pole would appear still, because the pole is still. The stars over England would appear to describe a larger circle than those of the Great Bear over Sweden. Where we are now, the stars overhead describe a very large circle.
And at the equator the greatest circle of all?
Yes, yes,—and I can now see why the Great Bear seems to go away from us, as we get up the hill toward the equator. That constellation is opposite to a part of the earth a good way to the north of us. As we rise higher from that place, we must appear to rise higher than the stars over it. How I do long to stand under that bright Belt of Orion, and under Sirius! And how I should like to see the pretty Cross stretched over the mast-head!
Wait a bit, my lad, and you may see all these wonders in time.
How delighted I am to make out that all those funny motions among the stars are simply owing to the world being round.”
SIZE OF THE WORLD
It was while half tired of ship life already, and longing for the excitements of shore in a new country, that the boy turned round to his father, and said, with a sort of yawn—
“What a long while we shall be getting to Australia, father.
It is a great distance to go, James.