scraeus has no less than seventeen of these canals connecting with
it, and appears to be a kind of Martian Clapham Junction.

"The deserts on Mars serve the same purpose as our seas, as lines of
communication may be established anywhere across them. A map of Mars,
showing the canals converging towards some one part, bears a great
resemblance to our maps showing the courses taken by vessels from
different parts all converging upon one seaport.

"Much has also been said about the widths of the canals as rendering
them impossible of construction, so let us consider how wide they are.

"The lines seen vary from two or three miles up to nearly thirty miles
in width; but there are only one or two of the latter, and the majority
are five to ten miles wide. Notwithstanding Professor Lowell's repeated
statements that they represent bands of vegetation, these widths are
often referred to as the widths of his canals. I have frequently seen
them described as 'fifty miles,' a 'hundred miles,' and even as
'hundreds of miles' wide. These exaggerations usually appear in
newspapers and journals, and evidently arise from insufficient knowledge
on the part of the writers.

"Owing to the small gravitation upon Mars, the work of digging canals
would be extremely easy upon that planet (even assuming the Martians to
be without machinery) as compared with the same work on our earth; but
there is neither necessity nor reason for the construction of such
enormously wide canals as those mentioned. Moreover, it seems to me that
very wide canals would defeat the object for which they were
constructed; and Professor Lowell does not regard the widest lines as
being canals. They may be remains of natural channels or arms of the
seas, as they do not run so straight as the canal lines proper.

"Our people," I remarked, "have argued both against the possibility of
constructing such canals and of forcing water along them, because, as
they say, none of our engineers would be able to accomplish such work. I
certainly have more confidence in the skill and capabilities of our
engineers, and doubt not that if they were required to solve a similar
problem they would overcome all difficulties and carry out the work
successfully."

"I'm with you there, mon!" exclaimed M'Allister.

"I may remind you," I proceeded, "that when steam navigation was first
mooted, it was confidently asserted that no steamship would ever succeed
in crossing the Atlantic Ocean, an