The latter was indeed over my head, and completely
hidden by the balloon, while the moon- the moon itself in all its
glory- lay beneath me, and at my feet.
The stupor and surprise produced in my mind by this extraordinary
change in the posture of affairs was perhaps, after all, that part
of the adventure least susceptible of explanation. For the
bouleversement in itself was not only natural and inevitable, but
had been long actually anticipated as a circumstance to be expected
whenever I should arrive at that exact point of my voyage where the
attraction of the planet should be superseded by the attraction of the
satellite- or, more precisely, where the gravitation of the balloon
toward the earth should be less powerful than its gravitation toward
the moon. To be sure I arose from a sound slumber, with all my
senses in confusion, to the contemplation of a very startling
phenomenon, and one which, although expected, was not expected at
the moment. The revolution itself must, of course, have taken place in
an easy and gradual manner, and it is by no means clear that, had I
even been awake at the time of the occurrence, I should have been made
aware of it by any internal evidence of an inversion- that is to say,
by any inconvenience or disarrangement, either about my person or
about my apparatus.
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