The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1901-12-26

electric light darting across the curtain
of night and evidently serving to illu-
inmate towns and cities that lay be-
MEATH
We pushed on into the night for 200
or 800 miles over that part of the con-
tinent of Chryse 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 1t to turn be-
meath us 80 that, as we looked down,
we should see in succession the entire
circuit Of the globe Of Mars while it
rolled under our eyes,
The rotation of Mars on ito axis is
performed in period very little longer
than that of the earth rotation, so 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 be
peculiarly safe from detection by the
eyes of the inhabitants. Even astrono-
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. and those who were awake
would not be likely to watch for unex-
pected appearances in the sky.
Besides our height was SO great that
notwithstanding the numbers Of the
squadron we could not easily be seen
from the surface of the planet. and if
seen at all we might be mistaken for
high flying birds.
Here we remained then through the
entire course of "a hours and saw in
succession as they passed from night in
to day beneath our feet the land of
Chryse, the great continent Of Tharsis
the curious region of interesting canals
which puzzled astronomers on the earth
had named the Gordian Knot, the con-
tinental lands Of Memnonia, Amazonia
and Eolia, the mysterious center where
hundreds of vast canals came together
from every direction, called the Triviun
Charontis; the vast circle of Elysium,
1000 miles across and completely sur
rounded by broad green canal; the
continent of Libya, which, as l remem
bered, had been half covered by ire
mendous inundation, whose effects were
visible from the earth in the year 1889,
and finally the long, dark sea of the
Syrtis Major, lying directly south of
the land of Hellas.
The excitement and interest which
we all experienced were SO great that
not one of us took wink of sleep dur
ing the entire "a hours of our marvellous
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 the important events
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 JuventB Fons, and this Fountain
of Youth, as our astronomers, by sort
of prophetic inspiration, had named it,
proved later to be one of the 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 it's center the
celebrated Lake of the Sun, circula,
body of water not less than 500 miles il
diameter, with dozens of great canals
running away from it like the spokes O.
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 adventures
1t was evident to us from the beginning
that it was the chief center of popula
ton on the planet. 1t lies in latitude q
degrees south and longitude about 81
degrees west.
Having completed the circuit of tn
Marian globe we were moved by tn
same feeling which every discoverer 0
new lands experiences and immediate
ly returned to our original place aboy
the land of Hellas, because since tina
was the first part of Mars that we ha'
seen we felt greater degree of famil
iarity with it than with any other por
ton of the planet, and there. i'll Ger
tain sense, we felt sat home. y.
But, as it proved, our enemies wer
on the watch for us there. We had al
most forgotten them, so absorbed wer
we by the great spectacles that had beel
unrolling themselves beneath our feet.
We ought, of course, to have been
little more cautious in approaching tn
place where they first caught sight O
us, since we might have known tina
they would remain on the watch nea
that spot.
But at any rate they had seen us, am