"Why so?" asked Ardan. "In the Moon, where gravity is six times less than on the Earth, the labor of the Selenites can't be compared with that of men like us." "But suppose a Selenite to be six times smaller than a man like us!" urged M'Nicholl. "And suppose a Selenite never had an existence at all!" interposed Barbican with his usual success in putting an end to the argument. "But never mind the Selenites now. Observe _Eratosthenes_ as long as you have the opportunity." "Which will not be very long," said M'Nicholl. "He is already sinking out of view too far to the right to be carefully observed." "What are those peaks beyond him?" asked Ardan. "The _Apennines_," answered Barbican; "and those on the left are the _Carpathians_." "I have seen very few mountain chains or ranges in the Moon," remarked Ardan, after some minutes' observation. "Mountains chains are not numerous in the Moon," replied Barbican, "and in that respect her oreographic system presents a decided contrast with that of the Earth. With us the ranges are many, the craters few; in the Moon the ranges are few and the craters innumerable." Barbican might have spoken of another curious feature regarding the mountain ranges: namely, that they are chiefly confined to the northern hemisphere, where the craters are fewest and the "seas" the most extensive. For the benefit of those interested, and to be done at once with this part of the subject, we give in the following little table a list of the chief lunar mountain chains, with their latitude, and respective heights in English feet. _Name._ _Degrees of Latitude._ _Height._ { _Altai Mountains_ 17 deg. to 28 13,000ft. Southern { _Cordilleras_ 10 to 20 12,000 Hemisphere. { _Pyrenees_ 8 to 18 12,000 { _Riphean_ 5 to 10 2,600 { _Haemus_ 10 to 20 6,300 { _Carpathian_ 15 to 19 6,000 { _Apennines_ 14 to 27 18,000 Northern { _Taurus_ 25 to 34 8,500 Hemisphere. { _Hercynian_ 17 to 29 3,400 { _Caucasus_ 33 to 40 17,000 { _Alps_ 42 to 30 10,000