It is almost needless to say that, upon coming to a due sense of
my situation, and emerging from the terror which had absorbed every
faculty of my soul, my attention was, in the first place, wholly
directed to the contemplation of the general physical appearance of
the moon. It lay beneath me like a chart- and although I judged it to
be still at no inconsiderable distance, the indentures of its
surface were defined to my vision with a most striking and
altogether unaccountable distinctness. The entire absence of ocean
or sea, and indeed of any lake or river, or body of water
whatsoever, struck me, at first glance, as the most extraordinary
feature in its geological condition. Yet, strange to say, I beheld
vast level regions of a character decidedly alluvial, although by
far the greater portion of the hemisphere in sight was covered with
innumerable volcanic mountains, conical in shape, and having more
the appearance of artificial than of natural protuberance. The highest
among them does not exceed three and three-quarter miles in
perpendicular elevation; but a map of the volcanic districts of the
Campi Phlegraei would afford to your Excellencies a better idea of
their general surface than any unworthy description I might think
proper to attempt.
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