“Ay!” agreed Gilbert, and turning to Werran, said, “Will you tell those folks down there, Werran, please, that we are much obliged—we did not want to look at their stock for ourselves, but for a friend, and we’ll call again!” and he stepped towards the switch-board as unconcernedly as if he had been walking out of a shop. Werran gave the message, though it is to be hoped he wrapped it up rather more daintily, and a few minutes later they were wandering over the surface of Jupiter in search of the forgotten locality. The landscape that unfolded itself below them was as unlike Earth as it was possible to be. There was a great deal of water, both salt and fresh, but the strangest feature lay in the vegetation, for all the grass was long, broad, and thick in the blade, and the trees had heavy, leathery leaves covered with stiff, bristly hairs and as strong as the giant cactus of Earth. The explorers were constantly stopping to collect samples of this strange vegetation and specimens of the geology and mineralogy of the planet, and to hold converse with various inhabitants. Terrestrial history shows that in times past Earth had been given over to engines, carriages, and cars, and trains running on rails which lay upon the ground and bridges and entered tunnels in the hills, and many of the beauty spots on Earth had been covered with these unsightly lines and wires for transmitting electric current and sending messages from place to place. All these things had long ago disappeared and the Earth had been much improved thereby; but here, in certain districts, were lines on which goods were sent, but what was the motive power could not be seen, except that it was of enormous strength, for when the force of the _Regina_ was directed to resist one of these loads in order to test it, the dial registered a force of over one thousand horse-power. There was an entire absence of pneumatic tubes for transmitting luggage, but perhaps this unseen force and single guide-line would be as effective as Earth-methods, or more so. The Jovians spoke of Earth as “Gorok,” which to them signifies ‘small’; Mars they call “Lazak,” or ‘ruby,’ because, as seen from the surface of Jupiter through his atmosphere, Mars appears blood-red, which recalls the fact that Jovian blood is colourless, and contains few red corpuscles though rich in hæmoglobin and, consequently, possesses great power of absorbing oxygen, the people, therefore, being healthy and strong. Their own planet is named “Milak,” which signifies ‘beautiful garden’; the sun they call “Kulik,” or ‘learned’; and it was noticed that most of the proper names terminated with the explosive sound of k. Suddenly, as they were flying over a village, Gilbert shouted, “Now I remember! the Bonian told us we should get what we wanted beside a mountain with a crater like a flat cross.” “So he did!” agreed Ross, “he said the people would meet us there.” “I remember it, too, now!” also assented Dennis.