> unearthed the famous Temple of Bel, together with its great library,

consisting of over 23,000 tablets, containing the chronicles of Bel.



When a number of these tablets had been deciphered, they were found to

contain a complete system of philosophy, science, and religion, and

proved that those ancient people knew many things about astronomy, and

in some of the fundamental matters would not have much to learn from

astronomers of the present day. These tablets contained, amongst other

things, records of observations of Mars! It is claimed that Chinese

records go back to a still more remote date.



Since the discovery of the telescope our knowledge of Mars has gradually

extended, and its general surface configuration is now well known to all

students of the planet.






MARS. MAP VI



"Syrtis Major" is seen on the extreme left just below the Equator.

"Sabaeus Sinus" is again in view just to the right of the centre, thus

this map completes the circuit of the Globe of Mars.]



The polar snow-caps were early depicted on drawings, also some of the

dark areas; especially the striking one which has been known as the

Kaiser Sea and the Hour Glass Sea, but is now usually termed Syrtis

Major. It has an outline somewhat resembling that of India; and, if we

include the southern portion, it is nearly as large in area.



Our maps of Mars are now practically uniform as regards the naming of

the places marked upon them. Formerly this was not so, as each country

had its own map and the places marked thereon were named after different

astronomers, and usually after those belonging to the country in which

the map was prepared. Much confusion arose from this practice, because

the same spot on Mars might have a different name on each map; thus it

was difficult to identify any particular spot when only the name was

known.



Some international jealousy also arose owing to the patriotic desire of

observers to identify particular spots upon Mars with the names of the

great men of their own country.



To remove this cause of friction and misunderstanding a system has now

been almost generally adopted of giving classical names to Martian

markings. Some of these are of portentous length and strange spelling,

but still the adoption of a uniform nomenclature has been a great

convenience to observers and others who have occasion to use or refer to

the maps.



On looking at a complete chart of the planet it will be seen that the

largest area of dark patches (which are believed to be areas capable of

supporting life) is situated in the southern hemisphere, and that

several of these are wedge-shaped, with the points trending northward.

On the earth it is just the opposite, the largest area of land being in

the northern hemisphere, and the wedge-shaped masses trend southward.



Our earth's surface comprises an area of about 193,000,000 square miles,

of which some 143,000,000 square miles are water, and the remaining

50,000,000 square miles land.



Mars has a surface area of about 56,000,000 square miles, about

35,000,000 square miles being desert, and the remaining 21,000,000

square miles land which may be habitable, as most of it is covered with

vegetation. There are no large areas of water anywhere upon Mars. This

calculation, however, makes no allowance for the lines of vegetation

which cross the desert, and contain canals, and, with the oases, may

have a very large population.



From the 50,000,000 square miles of land upon the earth must be deducted

the very large areas which are frozen during the greater part of the

year, and also the large areas which are deserts or bare rocks. This

would probably bring down the really habitable area to about 30,000,000

square miles.



Making a similar deduction in the case of Mars, but remembering that

more of the regions near the poles would be habitable during part of the

year than is the case on the earth (as there is practically no permanent

glaciation and the temperate zones extend nearly to the poles) the

habitable area would be reduced to, say, 15,000,000 square miles.



It will thus be seen that although the total surface area of Mars is

only rather more than one-quarter of that of the earth, the area of its

habitable land, even under its present unfavourable circumstances,

amounts to about half of the habitable area of the earth.



Looking at Mars from this point of view, it does not contrast so

unfavourably with the earth as is usually thought, especially when it is

remembered how small a proportion of the earth's area is really

populated.



Were it not for the great eccentricity of the planet's orbit, the

seasons upon Mars would be very much the same in the different zones as

they are on our world, as the inclination of the planet's equator is

only very slightly less than that of the earth. According to the latest

determination, the inclination in the case of Mars is 23 deg. and 13'.



As the Martian year is nearly twice as long as ours (being 668 Martian

days, which are equal to 687 of our days) the seasons are of course

proportionately longer in duration. The eccentricity of the orbit,

however, causes a much greater difference between the lengths of summer

and winter in the two hemispheres.



* * * * *



In the northern hemisphere of Mars, spring lasts 191 Martian days;

summer, 181 days; autumn, 149 days; and winter, 147 days.



In the southern hemisphere spring lasts 149 days; summer, 147 days;

autumn, 191 days; and winter, 181 days.



Thus, in the northern hemisphere spring and summer together amount to

372 days, and autumn and winter to 296 days.



In the southern hemisphere, however, spring and summer have 296 days,

whilst autumn and winter last 372 days; so that the winter period of

the year is 76 days longer than in the northern hemisphere.



On the earth the winter portion of the year is seven days longer in the

southern hemisphere than it is in the northern hemisphere.



For this reason, our south polar snow-cap is larger than the north polar

cap; and we should naturally expect to find a similar condition upon

Mars, only greatly accentuated. Astronomical observation shows that this

is the case, for while the northern snow-cap on Mars attains a maximum

diameter of slightly under 80 deg., the southern snow-cap attains a

maximum diameter of over 96 deg. The snow-caps are not perfect circles,

but irregular in shape, and are, moreover, not exactly opposite to each

other.



Notwithstanding its much greater area the southern snow-cap melts to a

greater extent than the northern snow-cap does, owing to the intensity

of the heat at the melting period. The northern snow-cap usually melts

until the diameter is reduced to about 6 deg., whilst the much larger

southern cap may be reduced to about 5 deg. In the year 1894 it

disappeared entirely! The summer must have been unusually hot.



So far as can be gathered from the records of our whaling and polar

expeditions, it would appear that our north polar snow-cap is from 20

deg. to 30 deg. in diameter when at the minimum; whilst the southern

snow-cap is nearly 40 deg. in diameter when smallest.



* * * * *



We had arrived upon Mars on the 24th of September 1909, according to

terrestrial reckoning; but according to the Martian date it was then the

26th of June in the southern hemisphere, where Sirapion, our

landing-place, is situated. The season was, therefore, midsummer, and

as Sirapion is in latitude 25 deg. south and in the sub-tropical zone,

the temperature was fairly high. The mornings were much more clear and

brilliant than those on our earth; the warmth and general "feel" of the

air at that time reminding me very much of what it is like in the south

of England between seven and eight o'clock on a hot sunny day. Those who

enjoy an early morning walk know how delightful and exhilarating it

becomes towards that time. There is neither chilliness nor uncomfortable

heat; one feels a delightful sense of freedom and that it is good to be

alive. This is really the best and most enjoyable time on a summer's

day. On Mars there was rather more warmth but a greater sense of

exhilaration. Of course, from near noon to about 3 P.M. it was much

warmer.



Usually a lovely rosy effulgence is seen in the atmosphere in the

mornings and evenings. As a rule, sunrise and sunset effects are much

more ethereal and more beautiful than those on the earth, the tints

being more delicate and the whole appearance of the sky less broadly

marked. It is as the difference between the crude broad effects of a

coloured poster and the delicate effects of a highly-finished painting.



What, in our sunsets, would appear a deep golden colour appears on Mars

as a delicate pale gold, merging into bright silver. What with us is a

carmine or deep rose, in Martian skies becomes a beautiful rose-pink;

whilst the darker, or Indian, red seen for some time at the latter

period of our sunsets is carmine in the Martian sky, and Indian red only

appears just at the last.



These tints are seen when the skies are of their normal clearness, but

after the occurrence of a great sand-storm in the desert and the upper

air has become filled with fine sand particles, the Martian sunsets are

equal in variety and depth of colour to anything seen on our earth

during the months immediately succeeding the Krakatoa eruption. Those

strange and intensely coloured sunsets will doubtless be remembered by

my readers who had the good fortune to see them during the many months

when they were visible after that great volcanic outburst in the year

1883.



Sand-storms have been unusually prevalent on Mars during the present

summer, passing over large areas of country and obscuring the sun for

considerable periods; so we have had several phenomenal sunsets

afterwards.



As the time passed on the days became cooler-the evenings being

considerably more so than on our earth in August, and twilight was very

much shorter. Towards the end of the Martian August evening dews began

to be succeeded by slight hoar frosts.



The heat in the tropics is not nearly so intense as on the earth. On the

other hand, in the high latitudes near the poles, the summer temperature

is higher than in similar latitudes on the earth, because upon Mars

there is no permanent glaciation except right at the poles.



We have, of course, seen the Martian polar stars. The axial tilt of the

planet being less than that of ours, and in a different direction, and

its orbit being inclined 1 deg. and 51' in regard to the earth's orbit,

it follows that the poles of Mars must point to a different part of the

sky, and a considerable distance from our polar stars.



In the northern hemisphere of Mars the polar star is a small one marked

on our maps in the constellation of Cepheus, and it is almost on the

boundary between that constellation and Cygnus. The pole star lies

nearly in a line joining the brighter stars [alpha] Cephei and

[alpha] Cygni.



The south polar star is a small one marked [symbol] in that part of

the large constellation of Argo Navis which is termed Carnia.



Although the polar stars are very small, they shine more brightly in the

Martian skies than the north polar star does to us, and are therefore

more easily seen.