HONORED
We have reached the village on the dark side that we had seen from the
air, the one belonging to the white tribe. We are being taken to the
chieftain's own home which is a very large building, three stories high.
But as we entered the village everybody there turned out; there must
have been around three thousand people. The messengers apparently had
alerted the people about us and we really are being given a royal
welcome. They have rolled out on four large wheels a sort of a large
platform, beautifully decorated. The chieftain is going up onto the
platform and indicating that we are to follow him.
Everyone in this vast throng of people is quiet as their leader stands
before them. He is addressing them in their native tongue which we do
not understand, but from what we can get out of it, it seems as though
he is telling them about the flight we had taken him on and what he had
just witnessed. At the conclusion of his speech they all cheered.
We knew that he was talking about the flight, for he was pointing with
his hands in the directions over which we have flown. He no doubt told
them also about the big city farther up, for we saw the amazement which
the people took on in expression when they were told what could easily
have been astounding information about other inhabitants farther up the
valley about whom they knew nothing.
They seem to be quiet people, thinkers, quick in action proving their
minds are very active. We see some beautiful children and women among
them. All these people are well built in stature and they seem to
respect one another very highly.
The homes of these Moonalites are exceptionally neat and the people all
seem to be of an equality, that is possessing about the same amount of
wealth, whatever the wealth might be. In other words, they are as one
big family and each home seems to have plenty of everything alike. They
all have gems and minerals of value as decorations for their homes. The
natives in this village are very artistic, for there is much of what
could be called fine art in their homes, and what clothing they have
seems to be the best, with no distinction among any of them except the
leader.
Their education is a community system, from what we have been able to
learn. Both children and elders learn alike. It seems that learning
never ceases, for their temples are also their schools. Out of the
equivalent of every twenty-four hours of our day, they worship for
one hour, then they give one hour to study and schooling, as we could
make out, and they give three hours of service as a community, for the
community, which includes agriculture and all service necessary to fill
every need of all the inhabitants. After this is done, they do as they
desire for themselves.
At what we would call sunset on Earth, they all gather in the community
square and give thanks for the day. This is done every day. The
individual whom we would call the spiritual leader appears in a very,
very humble way, far more humble than anything we know on Earth in the
way of humbleness. Their sincerity of worship or their thanksgiving
every day can be felt even by the most skeptical person.
We have tried to find out who they were worshipping, if it was a God
like we on Earth worship, or what. But the best we can learn is what
we assume from their sign language with which they tried to answer us,
that they are worshipping some sort of a Supreme Intelligence, but the
name of It we cannot get, for the sound of their language is very hard
to grasp as to what it might mean. At times it sounds like it could be
a partial Sanskrit, yet Dr. Johnston knows Sanskrit and he says their
speech isn't Sanskrit. Yet their sign language to us is as good as any
we have ever known.
They seem to be getting our desires well. As we make statements they
understand them as to meaning, so we figure that they must be getting
it from an inner feeling from us. For when we speak they keep very
quiet as though they are getting a vibration from our bodies, which
would be a feeling as to what we are saying or what we want to know.
If we had been schooled better in recognizing our feelings and going
by them instead of the mind, I believe we would be able to understand
better everything they want to tell us, and they do want to tell us a
lot, from what we can see.
We have stayed in the village two full days with them. The chieftain
made us understand that we did not have to worry about the ship, he
had directed the dark ones to keep watch over it. With this assurance
we have been able to thoroughly enjoy every minute of our visit and to
learn much of the joyous freedom in which the Moonalites live.
During our second day here an elderly man passed away and when this
happened the whole community turned out. The big platform on which we
had stood the first day was rolled out again and they brought this body
upon the platform and placed it on a structure that looked something
like we have been picturing the Ark of the Covenant. They placed the
body naturally, in a lying position. Then twelve men and twelve women
stepped up and took positions along each side, standing one man and
one woman, six men on one side and six women, the same on the other
side. The spiritual leader stood at the foot of the corpse while the
chieftain stood at the head and both of these mumbled something for
about fifteen minutes. Then the twenty-four people, twelve on each
side, raised the body with the Covenant into the air and then lowered
it. They did this three times while all the people gathered about. Each
time that the body with the Covenant was raised, the people gave out a
shout, sort of song-like, very melodious. With each shout there was an
expression of tremendous joy on the part of the people. After this they
took the body off of the Covenant and wrapped it in a beautiful cloth
that had been made of the fiber we have previously spoken of.
We have been made to understand that the whole ceremony was a very
joyful one for one of their brothers was now going Home, and they
rejoice over that. That rejoicing can really be felt for it is so
intense that even a dead man would have to feel it. Yes, the chieftain
made us understand the best he could, that this individual has been
glorified by being allowed to return to the Home from which he came.
The body belonged to the Moon so it will be given back to the Moon,
which we consider burial, and thanks for it will be given the next day.
That is, thanks is given to the Moon for loaning material for the body
for the time which this individual had the use of it, which has served
him and the community well.
This part we will not see since we are leaving today.
On returning to our ship, we are accompanied by six guides, natives
of this village who have been chosen by the chieftain to assist us in
every way possible during our stay here on the Moon.
Sure enough, the darkies were at the ship watching over our things when
we reached there, and mighty glad to see us. They made us understand
they also would like to have us visit their village.
We promised them we would the following day.
In the meantime we want to do something for ourselves. When night
came on the light side where our ship is, we thought we would like to
investigate a little more in reference to our Earth from which we had
come. So we focused the six inch telescope upon the Earth and to our
amazement, what we saw made us ashamed of ourselves. For we were like
most of the people on Earth, thinking our planet was the finest in the
vastness of the heavens and the only one capable of maintaining human
beings like us. But had we not come from there, and looked at the Earth
through a telescope as we are now doing, we would never have believed
that there could be even as much as a fly living upon it, for it looked
so very bleak. It did not even have one percent of the markings which
the Moon shows from the Earth. We could not believe our own eyes. But
the old saying is that seeing is believing.
Some of the markings that we did see were very, very small dark patches
here and there, which we figured must have been forests or vegetation.
They were so small that they were hardly noticeable. For the most part,
all that we could see was that it was rough in some spots. Mountains on
Earth showed up like little pebbles do in the craters on the Moon, just
enough to be rough. As for the oceans, we could not tell whether it was
water or not. We assumed that it was the oceans, knowing just about
where they were, but they looked more like a desert area.
"You know, fellows," commented Johnny, "if I didn't see it, I wouldn't
believe it. Now I can understand the surprised expressions on the faces
of these natives when we showed them where we had come from. It wasn't
at all what I thought at the time."
And he was right, for really it was almost unbelievable to us that we
could have come from any place like that to the Moon, or that there
could be any people living there.
Right then and there we figured if that is all the showing of decent
markings observable of the Earth from the Moon, we get better showings
than that of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn through the telescopes on Earth.
At least there is something to look at and not just a ball of light.
As we sit through the long Moon night, observing the Earth pass
through her phases as seen from here, an amazing fact reveals itself
to us and unfolds as we think about it. Through our little telescope
the appearance of the Earth is as distinct as the Moon appears when
observed through telescopes on Earth.
Coming here we verified the fact that the Moon has an atmospheric belt
of three hundred miles in width surrounding her. We know now that
although this atmosphere is lighter than the Earth's, we can easily
live here comfortably, with the most noticeable difference being that
we do not tire so easily and our minds are quicker in receptivity.
The Earth has an atmospheric belt of five hundred miles width
surrounding her, with the heaviest atmosphere being closest to the
Earth.
Through telescopes on either orb, an observer can easily and clearly
study the other without the surrounding atmosphere acting as an
interference.
Astronomers on Earth have given the heavy atmosphere surrounding Venus
as the reason that planet's markings have never been seen with even the
finest telescopes. In this line of reasoning, the markings on Earth
should be obscured by her heavy atmospheric belt. But they are not.
Taking all known facts into consideration, planets Mars, Jupiter, and
Saturn must have atmosphere very similar to the Earth or the Moon,
or maybe somewhat between these two, since from the Earth definite
markings around and on these other planets are so plainly visible. Even
through five hundred miles of atmosphere, with some of it as dense
as it is close to the surface of the Earth, people there can easily
see planets and other heavenly bodies with their naked eyes although
markings cannot be observed without the aid of a telescope.
It has been said that if atmosphere surrounded the Moon and other
planets, clouds would be seen from time to time floating above them,
such as we see over the Earth when on the Earth. We have been watching
for cloud formations around the Earth as we have been sitting here
noting every little detail and discussing our observations. But we
haven't seen any. Yet we know from experience that somewhere over the
Earth there are clouds moving. At the same time we realize that a cloud
large enough to cover the entire state of California would scarcely
be visible even from here and certainly not from the great distance
between other planets and the Earth. Earth observers have however noted
dark patches on these planets which were not always there the next time
they looked. These may have been cloud shadows.
On the other hand, since the Earth is visible from the Moon and the
Moon and other planets, with the exception of Venus, are visible from
the Earth, then all these must have a rarefied atmosphere in comparison
to that surrounding Venus, yet similar to each other.
Continuing in this line of thought, there is an atmospheric
condensation that takes place over different parts of the Earth from
time to time which is impenetrable even with our finest telescopes.
This we call 'fog'. Should a dense fog enfold the entire Earth at one
time, she probably would be hidden from the view of other planets,
unless they had telescopes better than those on Earth which would
penetrate such denseness.
This must be the type of atmosphere constantly around Venus. If so,
people on that planet would be unable to view the heavens as we do
unless they have more penetrating eyes than we have. Also their
scientists and astronomers must have finer instruments than we have
on Earth to be able to study the vastness of the universe as our
scientists are able to delve into it with the aid of their instruments.
"Wonder if I can find anything in the sky from here that I've never
heard of on Earth," mused George as he played around with the telescope.
"Hey, Doc, what's this?" he suddenly exclaimed.
"Looks like a moon to me," remarked Dr. Johnston as he looked intently
into the telescope. "Could be a moon to this one yet never be seen from
Earth. I've heard of a dark moon to the Earth, but of course no one
there has ever seen it. This must be it."
As he continued his observations from time to time, Dr. Johnston
estimated this second moon was about five hundred thousand miles away
from the Earth and traveling a lot faster than the one we are on. The
sun seems to shine on it about the same time that it is shining upon
the Earth. This is the reason we have never been able to see it from
the Earth-plane, while at night it seems to be strongly luminous
towards the Moon that we know, and not towards the Earth. In other
words, as Dr. Johnston explained to us, what the light side of our
Moon, as we know it, is to us at the time it is shining, the second
moon would be shining on the opposite side, which to us would mean the
dark side of our Moon. This is where our Moon on the dark side gets the
twilight during their night-time.
Seeing this from here, we become more inquisitive than ever. We would
like to try for the second moon, or for one of the planets for they
look very close from here. Yet we know they are far. But we are now
positively sure that with the markings on other planets better than
those of Earth, as we see the Earth from here, and the Moon inhabited
as we have already found it to be, all these other planets must be
inhabited.
At the same time we realize that we have much of this Moon yet to
explore, even though the desire of going to investigate the second moon
is strong, or of going on to other planets. We still have a big job
to do on the Moon, since that is the purpose for which we came here.
Also we know that when we get through doing our work here and after
returning back to the Earth, later we can make another trip, since we
have made this first one successfully and then venture on for further
exploration.
The Earth has now sunk from view and another day is breaking. This
is the day we have promised the darkies to visit their village. The
six white boys who escorted us from their village back to our ship
have remained with us. With their help we believe we will be able to
explore the Moon more thoroughly. As the first bright rays of the sun
pierce the morning skies, we set out towards the mountains, led by our
native friends. Just as we get started we are joined by a group of the
dark ones who have come to meet us. Instead of going up the mountain
as we had previously done on our first day here, we were taken along
a regular path that ran along the foot of the mountain and gradually
ascended it in circular fashion towards the village, halfway up. Hiking
early in the morning as we are is most enjoyable. Later it will be hot
and quite uncomfortable.
Before leaving for this trip we had radared to the Earth and given them
some knowledge of our findings.
Their message of congratulations also contained a note of incredulity
since our findings were so different than had been expected.
Although all our radar messages had been in code, Johnny had faithfully
kept the people on Earth informed as to what we are doing and
concerning our findings.
After two hours of walking along the side of the mountain, we reach
the village of the darkies. Here too all the tribespeople welcome us
and have a feast prepared in our honor. This feast consisted of dried
vegetation and also dried meat which seemed to be that of some kind of
a fowl whose name we have not learned.
The six white scouts acting as interpreters make it easier for us,
for they understand our signs well. These boys are certainly quick in
learning, for just three days with us and they are beginning to use
some of our words correctly.
The village of the darkies is a cliff type village, as it had appeared
to us from the air. The reason for this is because of the heat through
the day. They have running water in their dwellings, and quite natural
at that, for each time they cut out a cave in the mountain of rock for
a dwelling, they seemed to have encountered water which they used. In
some cases there is much, in other cases less, but they all have water.
We notice the difference of air within the dwellings and outside.
Within the dwellings the air is cool and easy to breathe. Outside it is
hot and stifling.
Their mode of living is very much like that of the white villagers and
they too possess much precious stones and minerals. Because of the
nature of the mountains in which these people live they do not produce
their own food but receive their vegetables and grain from the white
tribespeople in the valley. Being explorers by nature, as they are,
they provide many of the gems the white ones possess. Their exchange
system is not based on value of articles exchanged but rather on the
needs and desires of the people.
On some of their exploring expeditions they have gone far from home. In
this way they have learned more of other places and other people than
the whites.
Through the interpreters we tried to find out how much farther we would
have to go to find a good sized city and in what direction.
The chieftain tells us there is a city about a thousand miles to the
northeast from their village.
Bob asked if he was talking about the one we had seen from the air.
He answered, "No, that isn't the one." Then he added that if we wanted
to fly there in our ship, he would be glad to go with us to show us the
way. He seemed to enjoy flying. It was something different than he had
ever done before.
We told him we would like to have him go with us and the date was set
for two days later.
Now we have returned to our ship. The dark chieftain also sent six
of his men back with us to serve us for the time we are staying on
the Moon. After arriving at the ship, having this trip two days later
to prepare for, we had these native boys help us remove some of the
supplies we had brought with us from Earth and which we wouldn't need
on the trip, thereby lessening the weight of the ship.
The two days of waiting were spent exploring more of the light side.
The darkies acted as our guides while the whites remained at the ship.
We went to some of the larger craters acting as valleys. Here there was
no lack of material for building many homes, if anyone wanted to use
that type of material, for there was an abundance of beautiful volcanic
rock. It seemed that the whole Moon on the light side was of volcanic
nature. Yet we have found some granite, like that on Earth, brown or
red sand which could easily have been soil at one time, dehydrated
now. Also we came across a large territory that on Earth we would call
desert, which on examination showed that it could have been the bottom
of a river or sea, with quite a lot of vegetation of moss-like nature
like we saw first in the crevices, and a certain amount of moisture.
At nightfall the moisture increased in surprising abundance. In places
some of these flat spots looked a little like our Salton Sea territory.
There was a variety of small creatures. One especially could easily
have been related to our horned toad, except that its body was long
instead of being broad.
All this time we had no need for oxygen masks. We could not walk as
far without rest, due to the light air and the heat, but it was fairly
comfortable at that. Of course we did strike out exploring in the early
morning when it was not yet too hot. In fact, we believe that this
desert region surrounded with volcanic craters and mountains could be
very fertile, once water was brought to it. It seems that if trees and
vegetation were planted here, they soon would cool off the desert. And
there is plenty of water on the dark side. This could be piped here for
irrigation purposes without too much trouble, we believe.