> periods as the present can plainly be discerned without the aid of a

glass. To the Martians this is more readily seen than by us, as their

eyes, being larger than ours, have a much greater light grasp.



For the same reason all the stars shine much brighter than they do in

our skies, and many of the smaller ones which can be seen from Mars with

the unaided eye, would here require a low power-glass to render them

visible to us. The fact that Saturn has a ring is quite apparent to the

Martian eye.



Day by day after this we saw the lighted area extending upon the earth,

just the same as on the earth Venus can be seen with a telescope

gradually to pass from the crescent phase to the gibbous form, and

ultimately become full. Our earth is a morning and evening star to Mars

the same as Venus is to the earth, according to its position with regard

to the sun.



Whilst we were looking at the earth, I asked Merna "Whether he had ever

seen the earth transit the sun as we occasionally see Venus or Mercury

do so?"



He answered that "He carefully observed the last transit, which occurred

on a date equivalent to our 8th May 1905, and was very interested in

watching the earth pass, as a small black spot, across the sun's disc.

The moon did not commence to cross until 6 hours and 7 minutes later, by

which time the earth had passed over three-quarters of the sun's

diameter. The earth was 8 hours and 42 minutes in transit, and the moon,

which crossed a little lower down, was 8 hours and 31 minutes in

crossing."



"That must have been an interesting sight," said John, "and I should

like to have the opportunity of watching a similar transit."



"I am afraid you never will," said Merna, "for the transits only occur

at long intervals. The previous transits occurred in November 1879,

November 1800, May 1700, and May 1621. There will not be another until

May 1984, and the next after that will not occur until November 2084."



"I am sorry to hear that," remarked John, "for even if I stayed here, I

should not be likely to live long enough to see the next transit.

Possibly you may do so, Merna; you are so much younger than I am."



"Yes," Merna replied, "it is not unlikely that I may see another such

transit, for the average length of our lives on Mars is about equal to

one hundred and thirty of your years, so that leaves me an ample margin

of time."



I then went on to remark that as another result of the thinness of the

Martian atmosphere twilight is much shorter than on the earth, the

light being less diffused when the sun is below the horizon, and

refraction also considerably less than we experience.



In this connection, I mentioned to M'Allister that we can often see the

sun and the moon apparently above the earth's horizon when they are, in

fact, below it. This is caused by the refractive power of our dense

atmosphere, which has the effect of making both the sun and the moon

appear a little higher up than they really are.



"That is something new to me, Professor," exclaimed M'Allister; "and I

cannot say I quite understand how refraction, as you term it, has the

effect you mention."



"It may help you, then," I answered, "if I tell you that water acts very

much in the same way; and there is a simple and fairly well-known

experiment you might try for yourself, which would make the matter

perfectly clear to you. It is as follows:-



"Take a teacup and place a shilling at the bottom of it, then move back

until you quite lose sight of the coin. Ask some one to pour some clean

cold water gently into the cup, and, as it fills, the refraction of the

water will apparently reduce the depth of the cup, and thus bring the

coin fully into view. In much the same way the refraction of the

atmosphere enables us to see the sun or the moon when those bodies are

actually below the horizon."



"Thank you, Professor," said M'Allister; "I will try that little

experiment at the first opportunity."



I then told him that at the time when the moon is just full it may rise

towards the east just as the sun sets towards the west. Both orbs cannot

be wholly above the horizon at the same time on such occasions, but,

owing to refraction, we are able to see them both.



The sun and moon both appear flattened or oval-shaped just as they are

rising or setting, in consequence of the effects of atmospheric

refraction. These effects are usually most noticeable near the horizon,

because the object is seen through the densest layers of air. But we

never see a star in its true place in the sky, because the rays of light

which come to us from the star are bent or refracted as they pass

through our atmosphere, just as a stick appears to be bent when thrust

down into a deep pool of clear water.



All these effects, however, add to the work of astronomers, because they

must be taken into account in connection with their calculations.



* * * * *



As the time passed on, I day by day became more interested in Merna's

relations with Eleeta.



"All the world loves a lover," and we elderly people are always pleased

to note the progress of young folks' love affairs, especially if either

of them is a relative of ours. In them we seem to renew our youth, for

their entrancements seem to carry us back to the halcyon days when we

ourselves were young. When "Love took up the glass of time and turned it

in his glowing hands" everything seemed of a roseate hue, and we dwelt

in the seventh heaven of delight, at peace with all the world and

envying no one-for were we not the most happy and fortunate of mortals!



And then, to look upon a Martian courtship! To see the rich flushes

mount to the cheeks of the lovers-their softly glowing luminous eyes,

their absorbed attention in each other, and their mutual deference and

response to the most slightly indicated wish! Ah, it was indeed a scene

to gladden the heart of the father of one of them!



Eleeta's beauty, the sweetness of her disposition, and most charming and

lovable ways endeared her so to me that I did not wonder Merna found

them so attractive and satisfying; and my most fervent aspirations

ascended for their happiness, both now and in the future.



With the Martians there is no false modesty about their courtships; all

is natural, proper, and dignified; every one may see and every one

enters into the true spirit of the thing. Mere flirtations, such as we

are so familiar with, are quite unknown, as they would be contrary to

all the natural instincts of the people. Everything upon Mars is honest,

true, and straightforward-open and above-board. This must necessarily

be so, in consequence of the Martians' powers of intuition, for any

attempt at imposition or deceit would at once be detected.



I had an illustration of this when I asked Merna, "How they dealt with

their criminals?"



"We have none to deal with," he replied, "and you will understand why,

when I tell you, that if any one committed a crime, however small, and

it was desired to find out the offender, it would be impossible to

escape detection. He might fly to the other side of our world, but the

intuitions of our experts would at once make them aware of his

hiding-place; besides, he could not conceal what was on his mind from

any one with whom he associated.



"In the earlier times when only a small proportion of the Martians were

endowed with these powers to any large extent, there were occasional

crimes; but as they were always detected, crime soon ceased to exist.



"Thus you will see that, quite apart from their high standard of

morality, the Martians soon found that crime was a folly."



* * * * *



There was another love affair apparently developing which did not afford

me so much satisfaction as that to which I have just alluded.



I noticed that John and Siloni were very frequently together; and,

whatever might be the case with the latter, I had very little doubt that

John was smitten with his companion's charms. It was, perhaps, nothing

to be wondered at, for Siloni was indeed a very nice girl, with

beautiful features, dark hair, and dark eyes; whilst John was

well-built, fully six feet in height, with black hair and moustache, and

very good-looking; altogether a fine and attractive man, and it had

often been a matter of surprise to me that he had never married.



Still, such a complication as this had never entered my mind when I came

to Mars, and I was rather perplexed to know how best to deal with the

situation. However, I thought it would be well to wait a little while

and see how the matter shaped itself before taking any action.