Produced by Chris Curnow, Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net Transcriber's Note The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Plate XVI is missing from the scanned image files. The reference within the Maps and Plates list has been preserved. TO MARS _via_ THE MOON [Illustration: _Drawn by M. Wicks_ VIEW FROM THE AIR-SHIP, OVER THE CANALS AND THE CITY OF SIRAPION "What a splendid view we then had over the country all around us!... Across the country, in line after line, were the canals which we had been so anxious to see, extending as far as the eye could reach!"] To Mars _via_ The Moon _AN ASTRONOMICAL STORY_ BY MARK WICKS "_It is astronomy which will eventually be the chief educator and emancipator of the human race._"--SIR EDWIN ARNOLD. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS LONDON SEELEY AND CO. LIMITED 38 GREAT RUSSELL STREET 1911 Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO. At the Ballantyne Press, Edinburgh TO PROFESSOR PERCIVAL LOWELL A.B., LL.D. _Director of the Observatory at Flagstaff, Arizona_ TO WHOSE CAREFUL AND PAINSTAKING RESEARCHES, EXTENDING OVER MANY YEARS, THE WORLD OWES SO MUCH OF ITS KNOWLEDGE OF THE PLANET MARS, THIS LITTLE BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY ONE WHO HAS DERIVED INFINITE PLEASURE FROM THE PERUSAL OF HIS WORKS ON THE SUBJECT PREFACE In the course of my experience as an occasional lecturer during the past twelve years, I have been much impressed by the keen interest evinced, even by the most unlettered persons, when astronomical subjects are dealt with in plain untechnical language which they can really grasp and understand. The pertinent questions which have been addressed to me privately by members of my audiences have clearly indicated that there is ample scope for writers in satisfying a widespread desire for fuller and clearer information upon such subjects. I have observed that particular interest is taken in the planet Mars and also in the moon, but ordinary persons usually find astronomical text-books too technical and too difficult to master; whilst, as regards Mars, the information they contain is generally meagre and sometimes not up-to-date. Scientific readers are already provided for: and it occurred to me that it would be much more useful and appeal to a more numerous class if, instead of writing a book on the usual lines, I wrote a narrative of events which might be supposed to occur in the course of an actual voyage to Mars; and describing what might be seen on the planet during a short visit.