From the length of time that the sun is above the horizon, the continued action of his rays, in those climates where they fall vertically, or nearly so, would be intolerable, if it was not for the high mountains, from whose snow-clad summits a perpetual breeze derives a refreshing coolness, and for the deep glens and recesses, in which most animals seek protection from his meridian beams.  The transitions from heat to cold are less than one would expect, from the length of their days and nights—­the coolness of the one, as well as the heat of the other, being tempered by a constant east wind.  The climate gradually becomes colder as we approach the Poles; but there is little or no change of seasons in the same latitude.

The inhabitants of the moon have not the same regularity in their meals, or time for sleep, as we have, but consult their appetites and inclinations like other animals.  But they make amends for this irregularity, by a very strict and punctilious observance of festivals, which are regulated by the motions of the sun, at whose rising and setting they have their appropriate ceremonies.  Those which are kept at sunrise, are gay and cheerful, like the hopes which the approach of that benignant luminary inspires.  The others are of a grave and sober character, as if to prepare the mind for serious contemplation in their long-enduring night.  When the earth is at the full, which is their midnight, it is also a season of great festivity with them.

Eclipses of the sun are as common with the Lunarians as those of the moon are with us—­the same relative position of the three bodies producing this phenomenon; but an eclipse of the earth never takes place, as the shadow of the moon passes over the broad disc of our planet, merely as a dark spot.

The inhabitants of the moon can always determine both their latitude and longitude, by observing the quarter of the heavens in which the earth is seen:  and, as the sun invariably appears of the same altitude at their noon, the inhabitants are denominated and classed according to the length of their shadows; and the terms long shadow, or short shadow, are common forms of national reproach among them, according to the relative position of the parties.  I found the climate of those whose shadows are about the length of their own figure, the most agreeably to my own feelings, and most like that of my own country.

Such are the most striking natural appearances on one side of this satellite.  On the other there is some difference.  The sun pursues the same path in the corresponding latitudes of both hemispheres; but being without any moon, they have a dull and dreary night, though the light from the stars is much greater than with us.  The science of astronomy is much cultivated by the inhabitants of the dark hemisphere, and is indebted to them for its most important discoveries, and its present high state of improvement.