which continued about the same Time, and was questionless the vast Atlantick Ocean: After this succeeded a Spot almost Oval, just as we see America described in our Maps, then another immense Clearness, representing Mare del zar or the South Sea; lastly, a number of Spots like the Countries and lands in the East-Indies, so that it seemed to me no other than an huge mathematical Globe turned round leisurely before me, wherein successively all the Countries of our earthly World were within twenty-four Hours represented to my View, and this was all the Means I now had to number the Days, and reckon the Time.

I could now wish that Philosophers and Mathematicians would confess their own Blindness, who have hitherto made the World believe that the Earth hath no Motion, and to confirm it, are forced to attribute to every one of the celestial Bodies two Motions directly contrary to each other, one from the East to the West, to be performed in twenty-four Hours with an impetuous rapid Motion; the other from West to East in several Proportions: O incredible Supposition! that those huge Bodies of the fixed Stairs in the highest Orb, whereof they confess divers, are above an hundred Times bigger than the whole Earth, should like so many Nails in a Cart-wheel be whirled about in so short a Time; whereas it is many thousand Years, no less (say they) than thirty thousand, before that Orb finishes his Course from West to East, which they call his natural Motion; now whereas they allow their natural Course from West to East to every one of them, therein they do well; the Moon performs it in seven and twenty Days, the Sun, Venus and Mercury in a Year or thereabout, Mars in three Years, Jupiter in twelve, and Saturn in thirty. But to attribute to these celestial Bodies contrary Motions at once, is an absurd Conceit, and much more to imagine, that the same Orb wherein the fixed Stars are, whose natural, Course takes up so many thousands of Years, should be turned about every twenty-four Hours. I will not go so far as Copernicus, who makes, the Sun the Center of the Earth and immoveable, neither will I be positive in any Thing, only this I say, allow the Earth its Motion, which these Eyes of mine can testify to be true, and all those Absurdities are removed, every one having only his own single and proper Motion.

But where am I? I promised an History, and am unawares turned Disputer. One Accident more befell me worth mentioning, that during my Stay I saw a kind of a reddish Cloud coming toward me, and continually approaching nearer, which at last I perceived was nothing but a huge Swarm of Locusts. He that reads the Discourses of learned Men concerning them, as John Leo of Africa, and others who relate that they are seen in the Air several Days before they fall on the Earth, and adds thereto this Experience of mine, will easily conclude, that they can come from no other Place than the Globe of the Moon. But now give me leave to go on quietly in my Journey for eleven or twelve Days, during all which Time I was carried directly toward the Globe or Body of the Moon, with such a violent Whirling as is inexpressible, for I cannot imagine a Bullet out of a Cannon could make Way through the vaporous and muddy Air near the Earth with half that Celerity; which is the more strange, since my Gansas moved their Wings but now and then, and sometimes for a quarter of an Hour not at all, only holding them stretched out, as we see Kites, and Eagles sometimes do for a short Space, during which Pauses, I suppose they took their Naps, and Times of Sleeping, for other Times I could perceive they never had any; for myself I was so fastened to mine Engine, that I durst slumber enough to serve my Turn, which I took with as great Ease, as if I had lain on the best Down-bed in Spain.

After eleven Days Passage in this violent Flight, I perceived we began to approach to another Earth (if I may so call it) being the Globe or very Body of that Star which we call the Moon. The first Difference I found between this and our Earth was, that it appeared in its natural Colours, as soon as ever I was free from the Attraction of the Earth; whereas with us, a Thing a League or two from us, puts on that deadly Colour of Blue. I then perceived also that this World was the greatest Part covered with a huge mighty Sea, those Parts only being dry Land which, are to us somewhat darker than the rest of her Body, I mean, what the Country People call, The Man in the Moon, and that Part which shines so bright is another Ocean besprinkled with Islands, which for their Smallness we cannot discern so far off; so that the Splendor which appears to us in the Night, is nothing but the Reflection of the Sun-beams returned to us out of the Water as from a Lookin'glass. How much this disagrees with what our Philosophers teach in the Schools is evident: But alas, how many of their Errors hath Time and Experience in this our Age, and among other vain Conjectures, who hath not hitherto believed the upper Region of the Air to be very hot; as being next, forsooth, to the natural Place of the Element of Fire; meer Vanities, Fancies and Dreams: For after I was once free from the attractive Beams of that tyrannous Load-stone the Earth, I found the Air altogether serene, without Winds, Rain, Mists or Clouds, neither hot nor cold, but constantly pleasant, calm and comfortable, till my Arrival in that New World of the Moon as for that Region of Fire, our Philosophers talk of, I heard no News of it, mine Eyes have sufficiently informed me there is no such Thing.

The Earth had now by turning about shewed me all her Parts twelve Times, when I finished my Course; for when my Reckoning it seemed to be (as indeed it was) Tuesday, September 11, (at which Time the Moon being two Days old was in the twentieth Degree of Libra) my Gansas seemed by one Consent to stay their Course, and rested for certain Hours, after which they took their Flight, and in less than an Hour set me on the Top of an high Hill in that Other World, where many wonderful Things were presented to my Sight. For I observed first, that though the Globe of the Earth appeared much greater there than the Moon doth to us, even three Times bigger, yet all Things there were ten, twenty, yea thirty Times larger than ours; their Trees were thrice as high, and above five Times, broader and thicker; so were their Herbs, Birds, and Beasts, though I cannot well compare them to ours, because I found not any kind of Beast or Bird there which any way resembled ours, except Swallows, Nightingales, Cuckoos, Woodcocks, Batts, and some kind of Wild Fowl: And likewise such Birds as my Gansas, all which, as I now perceived, spend their Time in their Absence from us, in that World, neither do they differ in any Thing from ours, but are the very same kind.

No sooner was I upon the Ground, but I found myself extreme hungry; stepping then to the next Tree, I fastened my Engine and Ganzas thereto, and in great Haste fell to examining my Pockets for the Victuals I had reserved there; but to my great Surprize and Vexation, instead of Partridges and Capons, which I thought I had hoarded there, I found nothing but a Medley of dry Leaves, Goats Hair, Sheep or Goats Dung, Moss, and the like; my Canary-wine was turned, and stunk like Horse-piss: O the Villainy and Cheats of these cursed Spirits, whose Assistance if I had depended on, in what a Condition had I been! While I stood musing at this strange Metamorphosis, on a sudden I heard my Gansas fluttering behind me, and looking back, I spied them falling greedily upon a Shrub within the Reach of their Lines, whose Leaves they fed earnestly upon, whereas before I had never seen them eat any green Thing whatever; so stepping to the Shrub; I put a Leaf to my Mouth; the Taste was so excellent; that I cannot express it, and if I had not with Discretion moderated my Appetite, I should have forfeited thereon; yet it happened, to be a good Bait both for