AREOGRAPHY. 



3S9 



Schiaparelli opened a new era in 1877 (Map V.). Unsuspicious of 

 what he was to stumble on, he seized the then favorable opposition to 

 make, as he put it, a geodetic survey of the planet's surface. He hoped 

 to find this undertaking feasible to the accuracy of micrometric 

 measurement. His hopes did not belie him. He found that it was 



Map 0. Schiaparelli, 1877. 



possible to measure his positions with sufficient exactness to make a 

 skeleton map on which to embody the markings in detail — and thus 

 to give his map vertebrate support. But in the course of his work he 

 became aware of hitherto unrecognized traits of the so-called continents. 



.go.j.- 'ivi-- «rwi 







„.'•* *. - <w* 



:-. . 1, «... •>•' .! v'. ■-■ " 



- . \ . - - . • V -'""• - •.. .." v 







.' 



Map 5. Schiaparelli, 1879. 



Instead of displaying a broad unity of face the bright areas appeared 

 to be but groundwork for streaks. The streaks traversed them in all 

 directions, tessellating the continents into a tilework of islands. Such 

 mosaic was not only new, but the fashion of the thing was of a new 

 order or kind. The old markings were patches which might well 



