They now heard
them whistling over their heads, and, notwithstanding the
protection afforded by the sides of the canon, occasionally
received a gust that made the Callisto swerve. They kept on
steadily, however, till sunset, at which time it became very dark
on account of the high banks, which rose as steeply as the
Palisades on the Hudson to a height of nearly a thousand feet.
Finding a small island near the eastern bank, they were glad to
secure the Callisto there for the night, below the reach of the
winds, which they, still heard singing loudly but with a musical
note in what seemed to them like the sky.
"It is incomprehensible to me." said Ayrault, as they sat at
dinner, "how the sun, at a distance of four hundred and
eighty-three million miles, can raise the amount of water we have
here passing us, and compared with which the discharge of the
greatest river on earth would be insignificant, to say nothing of
the stream we ascended before reaching this."
"We must remember," replied Cortlandt, "that many of the
conditions are different here from those that exist on earth. We
know that some of the streams are warm, and even hot, and that
the temperature of Deepwaters Bay, and doubtless that of the
ocean also, is considerably higher than ours.
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233