In this connection it is interesting to quote from Schiaparelli who, until many years after he discovered the canals of Mars, had no doubt of their natural origin. As late as 1893, he still considered them natural. In speaking of the canals, he says: "It is not necessary to suppose here the work of intelligent beings; and in spite of the almost geometric appearance of their whole system, for the present we incline to believe that they are product of the evolution of a planet, much as on the Earth is the English Channel, or the Channel of Mozambique." This extract may be found in a memoir in "Natura ed Arte," 1893, page 22. On page 24 of the same memoir Schiaparelli illustrates the elasticity of his mind and a thoroughly unprejudiced attitude by saying: "Their singular aspect, and the fact that they are drawn with absolute geometric precision, as if they were the product of rule and compass, have induced some people to see in them the work of intelligent beings, inhabitants of the planet. _I should be very careful not to combat this supposition, which involves no impossibility._" (The italics are ours.) His comparison of the Martian lines with the English Channel and the Channel of Mozambique, if he means any resemblance in form and not in the manner of formation, is most unfortunate, for on the whole face of the Earth he could not have mentioned surface features more totally unlike any feature of the Martian surface, as drawn by him, than these two channels: the English Channel, 100 miles wide at its mouth and 200 miles long, tapering to the Straits of Dover; the Mozambique Channel, hour-glass shaped, 1,100 miles long, and, at its narrowest part, 260 miles wide, and at either end nearly 700 miles wide. Had he suggested the Red Sea, 1,200 miles long, or the Straits of Malacca, 350 miles long, a nearer resemblance to the canals of Mars might have been seen, though even here it would be impossible to find their counterparts in Mars. These channels are merging with the ocean, are nearly half the width of their length, and enlarge at both ends, while the _canali_ of Mars run for hundreds of miles as straight as ruled lines. How slight the resemblance is may be appreciated by comparing the following figure of the Earth (Fig. 1), upon which the Red Sea, the English and the Mozambique Channels and the Straits of Malacca are indicated. [Illustration: FIG. 1.]