Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-01

VI inihti, lIiuituttu tuub llb tuI
riCd in his breast some object which he
wished us to see.
With our assistance he pulled out
book
Actually it was book, not very I'M
like the books which we have upon the
EARTH but printed, of course, m char
acters that were entirely strange and
unknown to us. Yet these characters
evidently gave expression to highly
intellectual language. All these who
were sta HlinR by at the moment uttered
shout of wonder and of delight, and
| the cry Of "a book a book - ran
around the circle, and the good news
was even promptly communicated to
some of tho neighboring electric ships of
the squadron. Several other learned
men were summoned in haste from them
to examine our new treasure.
| The Marian, whose good nature had
manifestly leen growing day after day.
! watched our inspection of his book with
evidences of great interest, not unmin
| gled with amusement. Finally he beck
oned the holder of the book to his SIDE
and placing his broad finger upon one
7
! for they more nearly resembled the
characters employed by the Chinese
! printer-he uttered sound which we,
/ of course, took to be- a word, but which
was different from any we had yet
heard. Then he pointed to one after
another Of us standing around.
"Ah, explained everybody, the truth
being apparent, THAT is the word by
which the Martians designate us. They
of the earth. "
cor perhaps it is rather tho name for
the earth itself, " said one.
Bot this could not, of course, be ut
once determined. Anyhow, the word,
| whatever its precise meaning might be,
had now been added to our vocabulary,
although rs yet our organs Of speech
proved unable to reproduce it in rec
! ognizalle form.
This promising and unexpected dis
covery Of the Martian's book lent added
/ enthusiasm - those who were engaged
| in the work of trying to master tine
language Of our prisoner, and the prog
ress that they made in the course of tho
next few days was truly astonishing. If
the prisoner had been unwilling to aid
them. of course it would have been ill-
| possible to proceed; but, fortunately
for US, he seemed more and more to en-.
ter into the spirit Of the undertaking
and actually to enjoy it himself, So
bright and quick was his understanding
that lie was even able to indicate to US
Jg Ia Ia hat
would otherwise probably never have
occurred ~ our minds
Ia fact, in very short time he had
turned teacher, and all these learned
men, pressing around him with eager
attention. had become his pupils.
l cannot undertake to say precisely
how much of the Martian language had
been acquired hy the chief linguists Of
the expedition before the time when
we arrived so near to Mars that it be-
came necessary for most Of us to aban-
don cur studies in order to make ready
for the more serious business which
now confronted u.s.
But at any rate the acquisition was
so considerable rs to allow Of the inter
change of ordinary ideas with our pris-
oner, and there was no longer any doubt
that be would be able to give Us much
information when we landed on his ma
tive planet
At the end Of 23 days, as measured by
terrestrial time, since our departure
from the asteroid we arrived in the sky
of Mars.
For long time the ruddy planet had
been growing larger and moro fcrmida-
bic, gradually turning from huge star
into n great red moon, and then ox-
pending more and moro until it began
to shut out from sight the constells-
tiuns behind it. The curious markings
on its surface, which from the earth
can only be dimly glimpsod with Il
powerful telescope, began to reveal
themselves clearly to our naked eyes.
l have related how even before we
; had reached the asteroid Mors began to
, present most imposing appearance as
we saw it with our telescopes. Now,
, however, that it was close at hand, tho
baked eye Wow Of the planet was moro
wonderful than anything we had been
, able to SEQ with telescopes " ncn at a
{ greater distance.
We were approaching tho southern
, hemisphere Of Mars III about latitude
Al degrees south. 1t was near the time
{ of the vernal equinox in that hemi-
| sphere of the planet, and under the
stimulating influence of the spring sun,
, rising higher and higher every day,
-, some such awakening of hse and activ-
ity upon its surface as occurs on the
earth under similar circumstances was
evidently going on.
, Around the south pole were spread
, immense fields of snow and ice, gleam-
, ing with great briliance. Cutting deep
into the borders of these icefelds, we
, could see broad channels of open water,
indicating the rapid breaking Of the
grip Of the frost
J Almost directly beneath us was q
broad oval region, light red in color, to
a (which terrestrial astronomers had given
a the name of Hellas. Toward the south,
q between Hellas and the borders of the
polar ice, was great belt of darkness
that astronomers had always been in
4 clined to regard us a sea. Looking to-
= ward the north, we could perceive the
immense red eXpanses of the continents
= of Mars, with the long curved line OF
| the Syrts Major, or 1.-The Hourglass
o Sea, !" sweeping through tho midst Of
ID