To them, as well as to those who listened in rapt
wonder to their tales, the ``Coal-sack'' seemed to possess some occult
connection with the mystic ``Cross.'' In the eyes of the sailors it
was not a vacancy so much as a sable reality in the sky, and as,
shuddering, they stared at it, they piously crossed themselves. It was
another of the magical wonders of the unknown South, and as such it
formed the basis of many a ``wild surmise'' and many a sea-dog's yarn.
Scientific investigation has not diminished its prestige, and today no
traveler in the southern hemisphere is indifferent to its fascinating
strangeness, while some find it the most impressive spectacle of the
antarctic heavens.
All around, up to the very edge of the yawning gap, the sheen of the
Milky Way is surpassingly glorious; but there, as if in obedience to
an almighty edict, everything vanishes. A single faint star is visible
within the opening, producing a curious effect upon the sensitive
spectator, like the sight of a tiny islet in the midst of a black,
motionless, waveless tarn. The dimensions of the lagoon of darkness,
which is oval or pear-shaped, are eight degrees by five, so that it
occupies a space in the sky about one hundred and thirty times greater
than the area of the full moon. It attracts attention as soon as the
eye is directed toward the quarter where it exists, and by virtue of
the rarity of such phenomena it appears a far greater wonder than the
drifts of stars that are heaped around it.
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