d&ats tbe flPggtertcmg 33 



with Orion's Belt, and with Procyon, the Lesser Dog, 

 and Gemini hanging over Jrim. In the deepening dusk 

 but why describe Sirius' position in detail ? As 

 superfluous must it surely be to tell of the Great 

 Bear's place. One can no more mistake the Dog Star 

 than can our kinsfolk in Cape Colony, or in Natal, or 

 in Australia mistake their much-prized Southern 

 Cross. Such blinding flashes of Sirian fire ! So peer- 

 less an aspect ! Why, with every coruscation, be it 

 redt or green, or white, he autocratically announces : 

 " I am the King of Suns, the brightest and most 

 glorious orb in all this spacious firmament ; even the 

 mighty Canopus do I outshine." And did not his light 

 resemble the approach of sunrise when he was about to 

 appear in Herschel's great telescope ? 



MARS THE MYSTERIOUS 



What a grip on the imagination has the mystery of 

 Mars ! Especially is that true when the planet glows 

 in the sky o' nights like some huge beacon on the top 

 of a tall, distant mountain. 



The more we learn about Mars the more mysterious 

 does it become. Indeed, the entire universe is full of 

 mysteries ; it is itself one stupendous mystery. What, 

 for instance, of the Milky Way ? that " broad and 

 ample road, whose dust is gold, and pavement stars," 

 the Galaxy, 



Which nightly as a circling zone thou seest 

 Powder'd with stars. 



What of the wandering comets ? Of the asteroids, 

 Eros-famed ? Of the Zodiacal Light ? Of the 



