“Professor,” said I, “a moment ago you mentioned the canals. Our astronomers have seen these and puzzled themselves greatly in regard to them, now you can tell me all about them I am sure.” “Yes, I intended to tell you about them, I understand their history well. That’s where we sunk our money, or at least a great part of it.” “What, in the canals?” “Yes—that is, in their construction.” “Do you mean that the Lunarians went and dug those canals on Mars?” “I will explain. As I said awhile ago when our folks first visited Mars the people were in a very barbarous state, but still seemed to have some idea of bettering their condition. They were much impressed by the superiority of the Lunarians and were anxious to get their advice as to the best way of improving their own situation. The inhabitants then all lived along the shores of the seas while the interior of the continents were uninhabited and for the most part unexplored. The Lunarians by the help of their wings and their repulsio-gravitation cars were in a position to make the exploration and in a short time gained a general knowledge of the topography of the planet. They found high land over both the poles, but all the middle parts are low. There were numerous ponds and lakes of fresh water, with marshy outlets to the seas, which are very salty. There were no rivers except a few small ones in the high lands. As the Martians were amphibious and had always been accustomed to salt water, the Lunarians doubted whether they could live in the interior where the water was fresh. But they saw that it would be necessary to scatter the people away from the sea shore, divert their thoughts from war by finding peaceful occupations for them, and to create artificial wants for them since their very few natural wants were all bountifully supplied with little or no effort on their part. The climate of Mars is much like that of the temperate parts of the earth, but its polar regions are never so cold nor its equatorial regions so hot.