When they grown old they do not die, but turn into air and dissolve like smoke!  As for their drink, they need none.  They have but one finger upon each hand, with which they perform everything in as perfect a manner as we do who have four besides the thumb.  Their heads are placed under their right arm, and when they are going to travel or about any violent exercise, they generally leave them at home, for they can consult them at any distance:  this is a very common practice; and when those of rank or quality among the Lunarians have an inclination to see what’s going forward among the common people, they stay at home, i.e., the body stays at home and sends the head only, which is suffered to be present incog., and return at pleasure with an account of what has passed.

[Illustration:  WARRIORS OF THE MOON]

Their eyes they can take in and out of their places when they please, and can see as well with them in their hand as in their heads! and if by any accident they lose or damage one, they can borrow or purchase another, and see as clearly with it as their own.  Dealers in eyes are on that account very numerous in most parts of the moon, and in this article alone all the inhabitants are whimsical:  sometimes green and sometimes yellow eyes are the fashion.  I know these things appear strange; but if the shadow of a doubt can remain on any person’s mind, I say, let him take a voyage there himself, and then he will know I am a traveler of veracity.

* * * * *

X

During the early part of his present Majesty’s reign I had some business with a distant relation who then lived on the Isle of Thanet; it was a family dispute, and not likely to be finished soon.  I made it a practice during my residence there, the weather being fine, to walk out every morning.  After a few of these excursions, I observed an object upon a great eminence about three miles distant:  I extended my walk to it, and found the ruins of an ancient temple:  I approached it with admiration and astonishment; the traces of grandeur and magnificence which yet remained were evident proofs of its former splendor:  here I could not help lamenting the ravages and devastations of time, of which that once noble structure exhibited such a melancholy proof.  I walked round it several times, meditating on the fleeting and transitory nature of all terrestrial things; on the eastern end were the remains of a lofty tower, near forty feet high, overgrown with ivy, the top apparently flat; I surveyed it on every side very minutely, thinking that if I could gain its summit I should enjoy the most delightful prospect of the circumjacent country.  Animated with this hope, I resolved, if possible, to gain the summit, which I at length effected by means of the ivy, though not without great difficulty and danger; the top I found covered with this evergreen, except a large chasm