A Journey in Other Worlds: A Romance of the Future

by John Jacob Astor

  CHAPTER XI.

  A JOVIAN NIAGARA.

  Four days later, after crossing a ridge of mountains that thepressure on the aneroid barometer showed to be about thirty-twothousand feet high, and a stretch of flat country a few miles inwidth, they came to a great arm of the sea. It was about thirtymiles wide at its mouth, which was narrowed like the neck of abottle, and farther inland was over one hundred miles across, andthough their glasses, the clear air, and the planet's sizeenabled them to see nearly five hundred miles, they could notfind its end. In the shallow water along its shores, and onthe islands rising but a few feet above the waves, they sawall kinds of amphibians and sea-monsters. Many of these werealmost the exact reproduction in life of the giant plesiosaurs,dinosaurs, and elasmosaurs, whose remains are preserved in themuseums on earth. The reptilian bodies of the elasmosaurs,seventy-five feet in length, with the forked tongues, distendedjaws and fangs of a snake, were easily taken for the oftendescribed but probably mythical sea- serpent, as partially coiledthey occasionally raised their heads twelve or fifteen feet.

  "Man in his natural state," said Cortlandt, "would have but smallchance of surviving long among such neighbours. Buckland, Ithink, once indulged in the jeu d'esprit of supposing anichthyosaur lecturing on the human skull. 'You will at onceperceive,' said the lecturer, 'that the skull before us belongedto one of the lower order of animals. The teeth are veryinsignificant, the power of the jaws trifling, and altogether itseems wonderful how the creature could have procured food.'Armed with modern weapons, and in this machine, we are, ofcourse, superior to the most powerful monster; but it is notlikely that, had man been so surrounded during the whole of hisevolution, he could have reached his present plane."

  Notwithstanding the striking similarity of these creatures totheir terrestrial counterparts that existed on earth during itscorresponding period, there were some interesting modifications.The organs of locomotion in the amphibians were more developed,while the eyes of all were larger, the former being of coursenecessitated by the power of gravity, and the latter by thegreater distance from the sun.

  "The adaptability and economy of Nature," said Cortlandt, "havealways amazed me. In the total blackness of the Kentucky MammothCave, where eyes would be of no use to the fishes, our commonmother has given them none; while if there is any light, thoughnot as much as we are accustomed to, she may be depended upon torise to the occasion by increasing the size of the pupil and thepower of the eye. In the development of the ambulatory muscleswe again see her handiwork, probably brought about through the'survival of the fittest.' The fishes and those wholly immersedneed no increase in power, for, though they weigh more than theywould on earth, the weight of the water they displace isincreased at the same rate also, and their buoyancy remainsunchanged. If the development of life here so closely followsits lines on earth, with the exception of comparatively slightmodifications, which are exactly what, had we stopped to think,we should have expected to find, may we not reasonably askwhether she will not continue on these lines, and in time producebeings like ourselves, but with more powerful muscles and eyescapable of seeing clearly with less light? Reasoning by analogy,we can come to no other conclusion, unless their advent isanticipated by the arrival of ready-made colonists from the moreadvanced earth, like ourselves. In that case man, by pursuingthe same destructive methods that he has pursued in regard tomany other species, may exterminate the intervening links, and soarrest evolution."

  Before leaving Deepwaters Bay they secured a pail of its water,which they found, on examination, contained a far largerpercentage of salt and solid material than the oceans on earth,while a thermometer that they immediately immersed in it soonregistered eighty-five degrees Fahrenheit; both of whichdiscoveries confirmed them in what they already knew, namely,that Jupiter had advanced comparatively little from the conditionin which the water on the surface is hot, in which state theearth once was.

  They were soon beyond the estuary at which they had stopped tostudy the forms of life and to make this test, and kept on duenorth for several days, occasionally rising above the air. Astheir familiarity with their surroundings increased, they madenotes of several things. The mountains covered far moreterritory at their bases than the terrestrial mountains, and theywere in places very rugged and showed vast yawning chasms. Theywere also wooded farther up their sides, and bore but littlesnow; but so far the travellers had not found them much higherthan those on earth, the greatest altitude being the thirty-twothousand feet south of Deepwaters Bay, and one other ridge thatwas forty thousand; so that, compared with the size of the planetand its continents, they seemed quite small, and the continentsthemselves were comparatively level. They also noted that spraywas blown in vast sheets, till the ocean for miles was white asmilk. The wind often attained tornado strength, and the wholesurface of the water, about what seemed to be the storm centre,frequently moved with rapidity in the form of foam. Yet,notwithstanding this, the waves were never as large as those towhich they were accustomed on earth. This they accounted forvery easily by the fact that, while water weighed 2.55 times asmuch as on earth, the pressure of air was but little more thanhalf as much again, and consequently its effect on all but thevery surface of the heavy liquid was comparatively slight.

  "Gravity is a useful factor here," observed Cortlandt, as theymade a note of this; "for, in addition to giving immunity fromwaves, it is most effective in checking the elevation of highmountains or table-lands in the high latitudes, which we shalldoubtless find sufficiently cool, or even cold, while in tropicalregions, which might otherwise be too hot, it interferes withthem least, on account of being partly neutralized by the rapidrotation with which all four of the major planets are blessed."

  At sunrise the following morning they saw they were approachinganother great arm of the sea. It was over a thousand miles wideat its mouth, and, had not the photographs showed the contrary,they would have thought the Callisto had reached the northern endof the continent. It extended into the land fifteen thousandmiles, and, on account of the shape of its mouth, they called itFunnel Bay. Rising to a height, they flew across, and came to agreat table-land peninsula, with a chain of mountains on eitherside. The southern range was something over, and the northernsomething less than, five thousand feet in height, while thetable-land between sloped almost imperceptibly towards themiddle, in which, as they expected, they found a river comparedto which the Mississippi or the Amazon would be but a brook. Inhonour of the President of the Terrestrial Axis StraighteningCompany, they called this great projection, which averaged aboutfour thousand miles across by twelve thousand miles long,Bearwarden Peninsula. They already noticed a change in climate;the ferns and palms became fewer, and were succeeded by pines,while the air was also a good deal cooler, which was easilyaccounted for by their altitude--though even at that height itwas considerably denser than at sea- level on earth--and by thefact that they were already near latitude thirty.

  The exposed points on the plateau, as also the summits of thefirst mountains they had seen before alighting, were devoid ofvegetation, scarcely so much as a blade of grass being visible.Since they could not account for this by cold, they concludedthat the most probable explanation lay in the tremendoushurricanes that, produced by the planet's rapid rotation,frequently swept along its surface, like the earth's trade-winds,but with far more violence. On reaching the northern coast ofthe peninsula they increased their elevation and changed theircourse to northeast, not caring to remain long over the greatbody of water, which they named Cortlandt Bay. The thousands ofmiles of foam fast flew beneath them, the first thing attractingtheir attention being a change in the ocean's colour. In theeastern shore of Cortlandt Bay they soon observed the mouth of ariver, ten miles across, from which this tinted water issued in aflood. On account of its colour, which reminded them of a streamthey knew so well, they christened it the Harlem.

  Believing that an expedition up its valley migh
t reveal somethingof interest, they began the ascent, remaining at an elevation ofa few hundred feet. For about three hundred miles they followedthis river, which had but few bends, while its sides became moreand more precipitous, till it flowed through a canon four and ahalf miles across. Though they knew from the wide discolorationof Cortlandt Bay that the volume of water discharged wastremendous, the stream seldom moved at a rate of more than fivemiles an hour, and for a time was free from rocks and rapids,from which they concluded that it must be very deep. Half anhour later they saw a cloud of steam or mist, which expanded, andalmost obscured the sky as they approached. Next they heard asound like distant thunder, which they took for the prolongederuption of some giant crater, though they had not expected tofind one so far towards the interior of the continent. Presentlyit became one continuous roar, the echo in the canon, whose wallswere at this place over six hundred feet high, being simplydeafening, so that the near discharge of the heaviest artillerywould have been completely drowned.

  "One would think the end of the world was approaching!" shoutedCortlandt through his hands.

  "Look!" Bearwarden roared back, "the wind is scattering themist."

  As he spoke, the vapoury curtain was drawn aside, revealing awaterfall of such vast proportions as to dwarf completelyanything they had ever seen or even imagined. A somewhat openhorseshoe lip, three and a half miles straight across and overfour miles following the line of the curve, discharged a sheet ofwater forty feet thick at the edge into an abyss six hundred feetbelow. Two islands on the brink divided this sheet of liquidinto three nearly equal parts, while myriads of rainbows hoveredin the clouds of spray. Two things especially struck theobservers: the water made but little curve or sweep on passingover the edge, and then rushed down to the abyss at almostlightning speed, shivering itself to infinitesimal particles onstriking any rock or projection at the side. Its behaviour was,of course, due to its weight, and to the fact that on Jupiterbodies fall 40.98 feet the first second, instead of sixteen feet,as on earth, and at correspondingly increasing speed.

  Finding that they were being rapidly dazed and stunned by thenoise, the travellers caused the Callisto to rise rapidly, andwere soon surveying the superb sight from a considerableelevation. Their minds could grasp but slowly the full meaningand titanic power of what they saw, and not even the vast fallsin their nearness could make their significance clear. Here wasa sheet of water three and a half miles wide, averaging fortyfeet in depth, moving at a rapid rate towards a sheer fall of sixhundred feet. They felt, as they gazed at it, that the power ofthat waterfall would turn backward every engine and dynamo on theearth, and it seemed as if it might almost put out the fires ofthe sun. Yet it was but an illustration of the action of thesolar orb exerted on a vast area of ocean, the vapour in the formof rain being afterwards turned into these comparatively narrowlimits by the topography of the continent. Compared with this,Niagara, with its descent of less than two hundred feet, and itsrelatively small flow of water, would be but a rivulet, or atbest a rapid stream. Reluctantly leaving the fascinatingspectacle, they pursued their exploration along the river abovethe falls. For the first few miles the surface of the water wasnear that of the land; there were occasional rapids, but fewrocks, and the foaming torrent moved at great speed, the redsandstone banks of the river being as polished as though they hadbeen waxed. After a while the obstructions disappeared, but thewater continued to rush and surge along at a speed of ten ortwelve miles an hour, so that it would be easily navigable onlyfor logs or objects moving in one direction. The surface of theriver was soon on an average fifty feet below the edge of thebanks, this depression being one result of the water's rapidmotion and weight, which facilitated the carving of its channel.

  When they had followed up the river about sixty miles towards itssource they came upon what at first had the appearance of anocean. They knew, however, from its elevation, and the floodcoming from it, that the water must be fresh, as they soon foundit was. This lake was about three hundred miles wide, andstretched from northeast to southwest. There was rolling landwith hills about its shores, and the foliage on the banks was abeautiful shade of bluish purple instead of the terrestrialubiquitous green.

  When near the great lake's upper end, they passed the mouth of ariver on their left side, which, from its volume, they concludedmust be the principal source, and therefore they determined totrace it. They found it to be a most beautiful stream, averagingtwo and a half miles in width, evidently very deep, and with afull, steady current. After proceeding for several hours, theyfound that the general placidity grew less, the smooth surfaceoccasionally became ruffled by projecting rocks and rapids, andthe banks rose till the voyagers again found themselves in aravine or canon.

  During their sojourn on Jupiter they had had but littleexperience with the tremendous winds that they knew, from reasonand observation, must rage in its atmosphere. They now heardthem whistling over their heads, and, notwithstanding theprotection afforded by the sides of the canon, occasionallyreceived a gust that made the Callisto swerve. They kept onsteadily, however, till sunset, at which time it became very darkon account of the high banks, which rose as steeply as thePalisades on the Hudson to a height of nearly a thousand feet.Finding a small island near the eastern bank, they were glad tosecure the Callisto there for the night, below the reach of thewinds, which they, still heard singing loudly but with a musicalnote in what seemed to them like the sky.

  "It is incomprehensible to me." said Ayrault, as they sat atdinner, "how the sun, at a distance of four hundred andeighty-three million miles, can raise the amount of water we havehere passing us, and compared with which the discharge of thegreatest river on earth would be insignificant, to say nothing ofthe stream we ascended before reaching this."

  "We must remember," replied Cortlandt, "that many of theconditions are different here from those that exist on earth. Weknow that some of the streams are warm, and even hot, and thatthe temperature of Deepwaters Bay, and doubtless that of theocean also, is considerably higher than ours. This wouldfacilitate evaporation. The density of the atmosphere and thetremendous winds, of which I suspect we may see more later, mustalso help the sun very much in its work of raising vapour. Butthe most potent factor is undoubtedly the vast size of the basinthat these rivers drain."

  "The great speed at which the atmospheric currents move," saidBearwarden, "coupled with the comparative lowness of the mountainchains and the slight obstruction they offer to their passage,must distribute the rain very thoroughly, notwithstanding thegreat unbroken area of the continents. There can be no suchstate of things here as exists in the western part of SouthAmerica, where the Andes are so high that any east-bound clouds,in crossing them, are shoved up so far into a cold region thatall moisture they may have brought from the Pacific is condensedinto rain, with which parts of the western slope are deluged,while clouds from the Atlantic have come so far they have alreadydispersed their moisture, in consequence of which the region justeast of the Andes gets little if any rain. It is bad for acontinent to have its high mountains near the ocean from which itshould get its rain, and good for it to have them set well back."

  "I should not be surprised," said Cortlandt, "if we saw anotherwaterfall to-morrow, though not in the shape of rain. In thehour before we stopped we began to see rapids and protrudingrocks. That means that we are coming to a part of the channelthat is comparatively new, since the older parts have had time towear smooth. I take it, then, that we are near the foot of aretreating cascade, which we may hope soon to see. That isexactly the order in which we found smooth water and rapids inriver No. 1, which we have named the Harlem."

  After this, not being tired, they used the remaining dark hoursfor recording their recent adventures.