Some of these
houseboats were very large and evidently housed large families.
The writer was informed that many Martians who have charge of the
waterways dwell in these habitations.
The banks above the canal were covered with green grass and many
flowers.
On subsequent occasions I was shown other canals and reservoirs,
and the manner in which some of the canals were cut through the
mountains. In some instances the walls of the canals were almost
perpendicular. Steep cuts, even in soft ground, seemed to be
characteristic of all the waterways observed by the writer.
On another occasion the writer was given a view of the North
Polar regions. At that time the deep snows that covered the
ground everywhere were melting. The country seemed to be very
hilly. As far as the eye could reach I observed low-lying hills
covered with a white mantle of snow. Patches of reddish earth
here and there indicated that the thaw was general and that the
snow had thinned out in spots. Between the hills I observed a
large body of water, and was informed that this was an artificial
reservoir which had been created by the damming of a large
valley. The sky on this occasion was hidden by a mist, a very
natural phenomenon in view of the fact that many thousands of
square miles of the country, covered with snow on this part of
Mars, was undergoing a rapid thaw.
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