THE PLANET MARS : IS IT INHABITED ? 121 



lines in the light regions converge to a remarkable extent to the 

 obtruding peninsular points in the dark regions, from whence, 

 after repeated crossings, they are continued in new dark lines, 

 each measuring from about one thousand to two thousand two 

 hundred miles, up towards the South Pole. Owing to the bending 

 of the South Pole towards our Earth at the last opposition (Octo- 

 ber, 1894, a position which will not again occur for fifteen years), 

 and the consequent bending away of the North Pole, it could not 

 be ascertained whether similar lines converged towards the latter. 

 The width of the lines Mr. Lowell estimates at fifteen miles for 

 the finest, up to forty-five or more for the broadest. In length 

 they vary from two hundred and fifty miles to one thousand five 

 hundred miles ; and in one instance, involving ten oases in a 

 straight line, to three thousand five hundred and forty miles ; that 

 is, longer by one thousand miles than a straight line from Leeds 

 to our North Pole. The spots, or oases, in the deserts of Mars 

 vary in diameter from seventy to one hundred and fifty miles, the 

 larger* forming the majority. The largest of all, Solis Lacus (Lake 

 of the Sun), is five hundred and forty miles long and three hun- 

 dred broad. Remembering the width of these lines (fifteen to 

 forty-five miles), it is obvious that a city like London, say fifteen 

 miles in diameter, upon Mars, would be quite invisible to us in our 

 largest telescopes. Why these marvellous spots and intricate lines 

 should have remained undiscovered from Herschel's forty feet 

 Reflector in 1789, and Rosse's gigantic fifty-four feet in 1845, till 

 Schiaparelli, in the Italian sky, with an eight and a half inch 

 aperture, detected them in 1877, we have already explained. 

 That they may have been seen, and yet not recorded, is of course 

 possible, remembering their seasonal character and fitful appear- 

 ances, and to that extent their difficult identification. 



To a correct understanding of the enormous areas covered by 

 the supposed deserts, ancient sea-bottoms, spots, and lines visible 

 on Mars, let us make a comparison. Our Earth is seven thousand 

 nine hundred and eighteen miles in diameter, twenty-four thousand 

 eight hundred and seventy-five miles in circumference, and in 

 superficial area one hundred and ninety-seven millions of square 

 miles, of which one hundred and forty-six millions are water, 

 leaving fifty-one millions land, including North and South Polar 



