He looked round at me and flushed up. Then, after a little hesitation, said, "No, Professor; why do you ask such a question as that?"

"Because, John," I answered, "it seems to me a very necessary question to ask. If you are going away from here very shortly, what is the meaning of your attentions to our handsome young friend Siloni? You must excuse my speaking of this, but I do not like to see you placing yourself in a false position. Don't you think it would be wise to see a little less of the lady in question during the remainder of your stay here?"

"Well, perhaps so, Professor," he replied rather reluctantly. "I never thought it would come to this with me, considering that I am now on the wrong side of forty. It has been said that a man does not know what love really is until he has pa.s.sed that age, and certainly I never did.

Candidly, Professor, I must confess that I am very hard hit; and I know pretty well now what it means to be over head and ears in love with the most charming girl I ever met in my life!

"Do not imagine I have not seen the difficulty of the situation; but, really, I am puzzled to know what to do for the best. I am sure that dear girl would have me, and if I take her to England----"

"John," I interrupted, "my dear boy, what can you be thinking of? How is it possible that you can take to England as your wife a Martian girl, who stands considerably over seven feet in height!

"Even supposing it were possible that she could live in the atmosphere and climate of our country, she would be entirely isolated from every one, and, moreover, would be an object of public curiosity wherever she went.

"It would really be most unjust, humiliating, and cruel to Siloni; and you would be made very unhappy owing to the way she would be treated."

John looked down and fidgeted his feet about on the floor as he pondered in deep thought for some minutes, then looking up at me, he said, "I suppose you are right, Professor; you generally are; and that I have been rather foolish; but really I was thoroughly caught in the toils before I realised it. Now, what would you advise me to do in the matter?"

"I should advise you now as I did at first," I replied--"see less of Siloni. I suppose you have not actually spoken to her on the subject yet?"

"Oh no," he answered quickly, "I have not gone so far as that; but Siloni must be aware of my regard for her."

"Well, that being the case," I said, "you cannot very well say anything now, for it would place her in a most awkward and unpleasant position.

You cannot tell her you were going to propose, but have thought better of it. Your only course, John, is to keep away from her as much as possible without appearing to do so intentionally."

"But won't she think it very strange behaviour on my part if I avoid her now, after being so much in her company?" he asked desperately, as if in hopes that I might not press him to give up the idea of continuing as before.

"No, John, I do not think so," I replied. "You know she is a Martian, and if she has not already some intuition of the situation, the very next time you see her this trouble will be on your mind, and she will become aware of the exact position of affairs; and I have no doubt she will accept the situation, though it will probably cause her considerable pain. You should have thought of all this sooner, my boy.

It is a great pity this has happened, but there is no help for it now, and no other honourable way out of it that I can see. I am, however, extremely sorry for you both."

"Thank you, Professor," he exclaimed, grasping me fervently by the hand; "but it is very hard luck indeed."

He was very quiet and self-absorbed for several days after that, but things turned out just as I antic.i.p.ated. The next time he and Siloni met and conversed together, she became aware of the change in him, and divined the reason of it. She said nothing, but he knew she understood; and, except that she was quieter, she never made any difference in her behaviour towards him when they met occasionally afterwards.

So, though I was sorry in some respects, I was very glad that this awkward matter was settled.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MARTIAN SEASONS

Our earliest records of Mars date back to a very remote period, viz.

2300 years before the birth of Christ! Professor Hilprecht, in the course of his investigations on the site of the ancient city of Nippur, made extensive excavations, and dug down and down through the ruins until he had penetrated through those of no less than sixteen different cities, which, at various times, had been built one over the other. He 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _From a Globe made by M. Wicks_ Plate XIII

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 Gla.s.s 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 cla.s.sical 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 ma.s.ses 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 ca.n.a.ls, 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 circ.u.mstances, 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...o...b..t, 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 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, the southern snow-cap attains a maximum diameter of over 96. 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, whilst the much larger southern cap may be reduced to about 5. In the year 1894 it disappeared entirely! The summer must have been unusually hot.