"We were to descend, but before we did so the Superintendent led us to
the summit of the ridge. From here, with a superb hand telescope, we
gazed up a distant land beyond the volcanic area we had surmounted,
occupied by farms and villages. It was the North country where the
prehistorics dwelt. It seemed peaceful and attractive. Beyond this again
we just discerned the shimmering surface of the Great Glacier, the
superb train of ice, that comes southward in the winter, and encroaches
even upon some of the exposed margins of the land of the prehistorics.
Its retreat is rapid in the warm season, and its broad tract is broken
by emergent backs of rocks and land, that are seamed with wild flowers.
The Martians travel to these oases in the Ocean of Ice, and it is from
these flowers that an entrancing perfume is extracted, of which the
Martians are extremely fond.
"We lingered on this pinnacle of rock and surveyed a prospect on either
side of contrasted and great interest. The land of the Zinipi north of
us resembled the fertile hill and valley country of the Genesee River in
western New York, the great region south of us a combination of the
Snake River country in Idaho, and the fissured ranges of the Silverton
Quadrangle in Colorado.
"Between these rose this high partition of castellated rock.
"We descended again to the mouth of the quarry, and, led by the
Superintendent, were swung far out from its dizzy sides into the lake of
air between them upon a platform, used for an aerial elevator.
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