"The uplifted Mountain Arm, as though raised in anger, threatens
you and your little ones with destruction.....Let all hearts unite
in prayer, that Heaven may inspire your Tootmanyoso with the means
of saving the world from so dire a calamity!.."
The ordinary elevation of the tides is immense. They advance and rise to
a height far beyond any similar phenomenon in your planet, and the
waters retire in proportion, leaving at low water many miles of seashore
uncovered.
In Montalluyah the sun's electricity is very powerful. It is the power
of the sun, and not of the moon, which principally influences the tides.
A huge mountain mass projects from the elevated continent of Montalluyah
for miles above the sea.
The heart and base of the mountain mass had been carried away from under
the higher mass by some great convulsion of nature, leaving the upper
part of the mountain without support, except by its adhesion to the main
continent, of which it formed part. From the point of juncture the
suspended mass extends itself out horizontally in the air over cities
built on the ridges, sides, and foot of the parent mountain-chain, and
far beyond the extreme bounds of these cities, for miles over and
parallel with the sea, at a height which from the lower cities makes the
superincumbent mass rarely distinguishable from the illuminated clouds
above.
The electric agencies in our world are very powerful; and it is supposed
that at an early age of our world's history the mountain-foot covered
with cities extended considerably beyond the land on which stand the
present lower cities, and for many miles beyond the actual point to
which the sea now recedes at low water, and that through a great
electric disturbance, the upheaving seas of mighty waters rolled on,
and, rising to an immense height--some think above the summit of the
great mountain--with resistless force carried away miles of intermediate
rock-land, which had till then formed the heart of the mountain.
When after some time the waters receded the mountain mass above the
point of their ravages was left suspended, deprived of the support of
the intermediate and nether strata, which before the upheavings of the
waters had connected the plateaus and peaks of the mountain with the
land beneath.
The suspended or aerial mountain stretches from the high lands of the
continent horizontally through the air, just as one of your largest
continents stretches into the sea. Between it and the sea below,
however, is a space to be measured by miles.
The sea in subsiding did not recede to its old limits; for a part only
of the miles of the lower lands between the scooped-out mountain heart
and the sea was restored to the world by the retiring waters, and the
heart of the mountain having been carried away and engulfed for ever,
the projecting mountain mass was left suspended not only over the land
now covered by the lower cities, but for miles over the sea. Neither can
be approached except by proceeding first for a long distance in an
opposite direction inland, until the extreme point is reached where the
sea stopped its ravages on the mountain's heart; the road then leads by
circuitous bendings to the land below.
On the rocky ridges of the heart or indent of the mountain, and on the
part of the mountain foot restored by the sea, now stand the middle and
lower cities of Montalluyah.
The hanging mountain mass, with its promontories and high hills,
presents all varieties of shape and outline, and is itself intersected
by rocks, ravines, cataracts, and torrents.
One great torrent runs on for many miles, and having been swelled by
tributaries into an immense gathering of mighty waters, rushes
impetuously seaward, to the extreme point of the suspended mountain,
whence from its aerial height it falls into the sea beneath, the spray
bringing refreshment to the parched atmosphere of the lower and
intervening cities, built on the ridges and peaks of the sea-worn heart
of the mountain. This torrent, called the Great Cataract, forms a
feature of great grandeur and beauty.
On the suspended mountain itself is built a city larger than your
largest capitals, called the Upper city of Montalluyah. The Lower city,
nearer the sea-level, is distant vertically about three miles from the
nearest under part of the projecting mountain-arm above. The cities
swarm with human beings, whilst the wealth of the districts is
incalculable.
Before my time many of the under parts of the suspended mountain had
broken from the parent mountain arm, burying cities and their
inhabitants under the masses of rock.
In the then state of science these catastrophes could scarcely have been
prevented, but at that time the inhabitants of Montalluyah rarely
thought of preventing accidents till after they had occurred!
Although in my reign the suspended mountain did not threaten immediate
danger, I saw that unless means could be devised to support it, like
catastrophes would at some time recur, and perhaps the whole mountain
arm would give way, hurling the upper cities to destruction, and
crushing the nether cities under its falling masses. The terrible
consequences that would ensue were more appalling even in their
remoteness than the most vivid imagination dared realize.
Acting therefore on the principle governing my polity--that of
preventing evils--I determined to use the immense mechanical and
electrical powers with which the marvellous progress of science had
supplied me, to construct a work strong and durable enough to support
the suspended mountain.
I assembled from all parts the mighty men of our world, men of truth and
wisdom, fathers of science and knowledge, chiefs in all the principal
departments; for it was provided by one of my laws that before any great
work was undertaken these men should be consulted, and that, so far as
was in accordance with the chief intent, the work should be carried on
in harmony with the requisitions of the principal sciences.
After much thought, deliberation, and study, a stupendous work was
undertaken; a work so great in the parent thought, and so wondrous in
the execution, that it is looked upon by the people as the wonder of our
world.
With your limited mechanical appliances, and backwardness of electrical
science, you will perhaps have difficulty in realizing the practicability
of such a construction.