A VOYAGE TO THE RINGED PLANET. 77 



very gradually into the surrounding and much rarer 

 atmosphere. 



When we actually entered this atmosphere, we found 

 that a noise as of a mighty whirlwind continually pre- 

 vails within it, while, from time to time, thunderous 

 reverberations are heard which echo and re-echo as 

 though they would never cease. We were at some loss 

 to conceive the cause of this tumult, since we could 

 perceive that collisions between satellites were few and 

 far between. Nor, indeed, were such collisions of a 

 nature to cause any such uproar as occasionally arose, 

 for it was worthy of notice that all the satellites were 

 travelling the same way round, though not in perfectly 

 circular paths, so that there were no direct encounters. 

 All that happened was that, from time to time, a tiny 

 satellite would overtake another and come into contact 

 with it : and even such collisions seemed to be softened 

 by the atmospheric surroundings of these bodies. 



But as we traversed the width of the dark ring and 

 approached the main edge of the great bright ring, we 

 perceived that one atmosphere envelopes the whole of 

 the ring system, insomuch that collisions taking place 

 in one part of the system are audible in other parts. 

 Now the bright rings consist, . like the dark ring, of 

 millions of minute satellites, but these are spread much 

 more densely. Rising for a few moments out of the 

 atmosphere of the rings, we could perceive that the 

 dark background of sky was readily discernible through 

 even the brightest part of the ring ; and passing down 

 again through the atmosphere and so beyond to the 



