Chapman
clung nervously to me, and complained of a light nausea and dread. I
felt only a tonic exhilaration, and as we slowly sank through the shaft
of air, crossed by sunlight for some distance, and then passed into the
cooler shadows of its deeper parts, where the yet level sun failed to
penetrate, I cried aloud with delight, and the abyss around us shouted
its salutation back.
"Still we descended, and soon saw back in the deep prolongations of the
tunnel the shining walls of this phosphorescent cave. The light glowed
so effulgently that it seemed a soft radiant haze, through which came
the sound of voices, and in it black figures moved incessantly.
"The method of quarrying is not unlike that of the marble quarries on
the earth. Drilling long holes in and under the stone, which from
pressure has assumed a rudely cubical cleavage, separates the rock into
heavy pieces. These holes are wedged, and the rocks forced off into
useful blocks. All is done by hand, and the picture of activity, with
workers constantly engaged at their various duties made a singular
scene. We walked far into the ever deepening womb of the mountain, while
on either hand lateral tunnels, or rather avenues had been pushed,
penetrating rich segregations wherever they had been traced, and where
also glowed the welcome glow of this lithic lamp.
"The Superintendent explained that the stone was quite unequal in
quality, and he told us how the illuminating power of the stone was
actually tested in what on the Earth we would call candle powers, but
is known on Mars as Ki-kans, or a unit of light derived from a platinum
wire one millimetre thick, carrying 100 volts current.
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