Great lakes were made
convenient feeders, and rivers were also tapped to keep the water levels
constant in the canals. The weather was that of a semi-tropical
paradise, and the late flowers of the Ribi filled the air with
fragrance.
"Quickly we approached Scandor. It was a clear, calm day when we emerged
from the Ribi country, and the pilot pointed out to me the distant
hills, almost purple in a twilight haze, which encircled the Valley of
the City of Scandor. The country we had entered was a fertile farm
country, where great plantations of the Rint, and vineyards of the Oma
grapes were established, and where great flocks of the Imilta dove,
almost the only meat eaten by the Martians, are raised. The enormous
flocks of this snow-white bird were strangely beautiful. They made
clouds in the air, and their purring notes when they settled in white
blankets over the fields, were heard pulsating over long distances.
"Finally we came to the last tier of locks at the summit of which my
curiosity was to be satisfied by a view of the great City of Scandor,
the City of Glass.
"It was night when our china boat floated upon the waters of the last
lock that completed the ascent, and immediately below the observatory
Station or Settlement of Scandor. I was standing on the deck of the
boat, watching impatiently the slowly rising tide upon which we were
borne upward. I could at first see as we ascended the towers of the
observatory station.
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