Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-08

But the shadow of night lay upon the
greater portion of the land of Chryse
In our rapid motion westward we had
outstripped the sun and had now arriv-
ed at point where day and night met
upon the surface of the planet beneath
us.
Behind all was brilliant with sun
shine, but before us the face of Mars
gradually disappeared in the deepening
gloom. Through the darkness far away
we could behold magnificent beams OF
electric light darting across the curtain
of night and evidently serving to illu-
inmate towns and cities that lay be-
Eeath.
We pushed on into the night for 200
or 500 miles ever that part of the con-
tinent of Chrysc whose inhabitants were
doubtless enjoying the deep sleep that
accompanies the dark hours immediate
ly preceding the dawn. Still every
where splendid clusters of light lay like
fallen consultations upon the ground,
indicating the sites of great towns,
which, like those of the earth, never
sleep.
But this scene, although weird and
beautiful, could give us little of the
kind Of information we were in search
of.
Accordingly it was resolved to turn
back eastward until we had arrived in
the twilight space separating day and
night, and then hover over the planet
at that point. allowing it to turn be-
meath Us SO that, as we locked down,
we should see in succession the entire
circuit of the globe of Mars while it
rolled under our eyes.
Tho rotation Of Mars on its axis is
performed in period very little longer
than that of the earth's rotation, 50 that
the length of the day and night in the
world of Mars is only some 40 minutes
longer than their length upon the earth
In thus remaining suspended over the
planet, on the line of daybreak, so to
speak we believed that we should b.
peculiarly safe from detection by thu
eyes of the inhabitants. Even astr?no.
mers are not likely to be wide awake
just at the peep of dawn. Almost all OF
the inhabitants, we confidently believed
would still be sound asleep upon that
part Of the planet passing directly be
meath us, aid those who were awah,
would not be likely to watch for unex
pected appearances in the sky
Besides our height was so great thai
Notwithstanding the numbers of til,
squadron we could not easily be seen
from the surface of the planet, and il
seen at all we might be mistaken for
high flying birds
Here we remained then through the
entire course of 81 hours and saw in
succession as they passed from night III
to day beneath our feet the land OF
| Chrysc, the great continent of Tharsis
the curious region Of intersccting canal
which puzzled astronomers on the eartl
| had named he Gordian Knot, the con
tinental lands Of McmnoLia, Amazoniu
and -folia, the mysterious center where
| hundreds Of vast canals came tOGethei
| from every direction, called the Trivim
| Charontis; the vast circle of Elysium.
200 miles across, and completely sur.
rounded by broad green canal; the
continent of Libya, which, as | remem.
bcred, had been half covered by ire.
mendous inundation, whose effects were
visible from the earth in the year 1883,
and finally the long, dark sea of thu
Syrtis Major, lying directly south OF
the land of Hellas.
The excitement and interest which
we all experienced were so great tina,
not one of us took wink of sleep dur.
ing the entire "a hours of our marvelou.
watch.
There are one or two things of special
interest amid the multitude of wonder
full observations that we made which
must mention here on account Of theil
connection with tho important event,
that followed soon after.
just west Of the land of Chryse We
saw the smaller land of Ophir, in the
midst of which is singular spot called
the Juvenile Fons, and this Fountain
OF Youth, as our astronomers, by so.t
of prophetic inspiration, had named it,
proved later to be one Of tho most in
credible marvels on the planet Mars,
Farther to the west, and north from
the great continent of Tharsis, we be
held the immense oval shaped land Of
Thaumasia, containing in its center tbs
celebrated Lake of the sun, a circular
body of water not less than 500 miles il
diameter, with dozens of great canals
running away from it like the spokes OF
a wheel in every direction, thus con
Meeting it with the ocean which sur
rounds it ON the south and east and Will
the still larger canals that encircle i
toward the north and west.
This Lake of the Sun came to play
great part in our subsequent adventure
1t was evident to us from the beginnin.
that IL was the chief center of popula
tion on the planet. 1t lies in latitude
degrees west.
Having completed the circuit Of th'
Marian globe we were moved by IT,
Same feeling which every discoverer
new lands experiences and immediat
ly returned to our original place aboy
the land Of Hellas, because since thu
was the first part of Mars that we h.,
seen we felt greater degree Of fami'
iarity with it than with any other POI
ton of the planet, and there, in CT,
tain sense, we felt Eat home.
But, as it proved, our enemies, we
on the watch for us there. We had al
most forgotten them, so absorbed wer
we by the great spectacles that had beer
unrolling themselves beneath our feet
We ought, of course, to have been
little more cautious in approaching tI
L i Al. - =.