The Minneapolis journal., 1906-11-04

off one fakes this. view in in, winter
unbroken shade of color, blends
with the lightablue of the distant Plo-
mas and Castle Dome mountains on the
southwest horizon. In the early spring,
when the water is first let into the
irrigating channels, with their innumer-
able divergents bitches, a, shade of green
may be seen emerging from the monot-
onous, yellow-gray Of the hot and ster-'
lie lie, up plain. first: conspicuous near the
following g along Ion 'f;l to Phoenix, ' Temple @ and
other regions, till in full efforescence
these cities stand out like great green
carpets spread upon the earth. -.
From this mountaintop not trace
of an irrigating ditch, large or small,
would be discerned, except here and
there a CLINT. of reflected sunlight, but
the effects Of the Efe-giving waters can
be traced in broad bands to the re
motest limits of the water channels,
they had begun ......
Professor Morse makes this exp1ana-
tion to illustrate how wide areas Of
vegetation may be seen at a great dis
tance, so great, indeed, that canals
themselves would be invisible. The
canals of Mars are believed to be gi-.
gantic irrigating bitches. very. similar
to those now in operation in the west
and those being constructed by. the egov..
ernment. =. a ,~,.!x.,
AS life on Mars appears to be 81 sus $:
tanned solely by irrigation, it would
seem that it's inhabitants are great az
riculturists. We are only beginning to
learn how to produce vegetation and
sustain. life on deserts. But the Mar
tians have covered their whole globe
with irrigation works. Professor
Morse thinks they must understand the
principles of hydraulics far better than
our best civil engineers. ~.--.. -..
Their sole source of water supply
seems to be the snow caps that form
1T the. poles during the winter. When
these snowcaps begin to melt, the wa
ter is conducted by the canals clear
down to the equator, and probably
every drop of it conserved and used
over and over again for irrigating the
land. -
Inhabitants of the Planet. -
What manner of beings these are
that have created such a prodigious,
universal tdn,. pa waterworks system is a mys-
think they may be like, men or gigan-
serves. exist at the greatest extremes
OF elevation, where the air is heaviest
and rarest, as well as in places where
the climate is hottest and coldest
On Mars the air is exceedingly rare,
about half the density of the atmos.
phere on the highest mountain tops of
the earth: A man from the earth sud
denly transported there, Professor
Morse thinks, would give a few gasps
and die, But the rarefaction Of the
air has taken place by very slow de-
grees, and for this reason Professor
Morse conjectures that man might sur
vlve the change. He says on this point:
Zone has only to make himself ia.
miliar with the wide range Of condiI
tions under which life in various forms
exists on the earth to realize that the
introduction Of Marian conditions here
would not be such an overwhelming
calamity. If these conditions could be
introduced by minute increments cover.
ing thousands Of centuries, 7it is not
unreasonable to believe that myriads
of forms would survive the change.
and among those that survive would be
precisely the kinds that thrive under.
the most diverse conditions here, name