262 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



twenty- four hours, without changing place, one has 

 seen the whole world." 



"Yes, I agree with you, it would be an admirable 

 way to see countries. To this spot where we are 

 other peoples will come, brought by the rotation; 

 seas, distant regions, snowy mountains will take our 

 place; and to-morrow at the same hour we shall be 

 here again. Where we are talking now, in the shade 

 of the juniper-trees, first will pass the sea, the som- 

 ber Atlantic, which will replace our conversation by 

 the grand voice of its waves. In less than an hour 

 the ocean will be here. Some large war-vessel, with 

 its triple row of guns, will float perhaps, all sails 

 set, over the spot we are occupying. The sea has 

 passed. Now we have North America, the great 

 Canadian lakes, and the interminable prairies where 

 the red-skinned Indians hunt buffaloes. The sea 

 begins again, much larger than the Atlantic ; it takes 

 nearly seven hours to pass. What line of islands is 

 this where fishermen wrapped in furs are drying 

 herrings? They are the Koorile Isles, south of 

 Kamchatka. They pass quickly; we scarcely have 

 time to give them a glance. Now it is the turn of the 

 yellow-faces the Mongolians and Chinese, with 

 slanting eyes. Oh ! what curious things we could see 

 here! But the ball is always turning, and China is 

 already in the distance. The sandy plateaus of Cen- 

 t ral Asia and mountains higher than the clouds come 

 next. Here are the pastures of the Tartars, with 

 neighing herds of mares; here are the grassy plains 

 nf the Caspian with the flat-nosed Cossacks; then 

 southern Russia, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, 



