Abbeville press. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1860-1869, 1869-01-29
Interesting Planetary Discoveries.

The planet Mars is The only object in
the wi ole heavrns Which is known to ex-
hibit features similar 10 that of our own
cath. And the accumulate explorations
and discoveries OF astronomers during the
last two hundred years have resulted in
the construction Of q globe representing
the characteristics Of this planet as astron.
omers believe them TO exist AT a recent
meeting of the Astronomical Society of
England, globe of Mars was exhibited,
on which lond and seas were depiciured as
uron an ordinary dericturcd globe. By
far the larger part Of these lands and seas
were laid down as well known entities. res
pec,ing which no doubt is felt among the
astronomers than is felt by geog,aphers com
| cer!,ing 'he dreams and continents of our
own globo. An in,eres ing description or
this slote appears in F,azer's Mayaxine
L" the lands and seas developed in tie
planet are applied the names of those As
! tronomers whose rese riches have added
to our knowI"dge on the subject. Each
pole Of Mars. it scenes, is captured by i:e,
! which varies in extent according to the
; progress Of the season. Around each cap
,''ere is poplar sea, a northern sea being
termed, the Srhro,er's Sea. TIE equa,n.
rial regions Of Mars re mainly occupied
| by ex e'.siv" continents, four in number
ami named DIVES Continent Made, Con
tinen; S"cciii Contren,. and urrschel l.
| (Sr W Continent. Between Dawes ard
! H"rschrI Continents f,ws sea shaped
like nh hour glass, called Kaiser Sea, the
large southern ocean out Of which il flows
being denom;natcd Dawes Ocean. Be
tween NJ .dlrr and Dawes Continents f,ws
Dawes Strait, connecting large southern
ocean and a northern eea, named alter
Tycho. ucrschcl Cun,inent is separated
from Secchi Continent by Higgins Inlet,
flowing from large southern sea termed
Maraidi Sea. In like manrer Bessel Inlet
flowing out of Airev Sea E., northern sea)
separates the Madler and Secchi Conf
ne'ts. Dawes Ocean separates into four
large seas. and large tracts of land lies be
tween them, but whether they are Islands
or rot is uncertain. In Delarne Ocean
there is a small island, which presents 80
bright and gIittering an aspect rs to sug-
gest the probability Of its being usually
covered with snow. These seas, separated
by lands of doubtful exlont, reach from
DeIarne Ocean toward the South pole.
| Que OF tile most singular features of
Mars is the prevalence OF ling winding
inlcts and bottled necked seas. These
features are wholly distinct from anything
OH our earth. For example, Higgins In.
let, is loEg fo'ked stream extending for
about three thousand miles. Bessel Inlet
is nearly "s long, and Nas,nith Inlet still
more remarkable in its form. On our
earth the oceans are about three times as
extensive as the continents. On Mars
very different arrangement prevails. In
the first place there is little dsp. rily be-
tween the extents Of oceans and continents
and then, these are mixed up in a most
complex manner. "A traveller either by
land or water could visit almost every
quarter OF the planet without leaving The
element in which he began hisjourneyings.
II he chose to go by water he could jour-
ney for upwards of 10000 miles, always
10 sight Of land, generally with land in
view on both sides, in such; intricate iaby
rintbine fashion are the lands and seas of
Mars interlwined.-Boston Journal.