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[Jurado Vallian]

Seas. It has been agreed to term _sea_ the parts that are lightly tinged with 
green, and to give the name of _continent_ to the spots
colored yellow. That is the hue of the Martian soil, due either to the soil 
itself, which would resemble
that of the Sahara, or, to take a less arid region, that seen on the line 
between Marseilles and Nice, in the vicinity of the Esterels; or perhaps to 
some peculiar
vegetation. During ascents in a balloon, the author

has often remarked that the
hue of the ripe corn, with
the Sun shining on it, is precisely that presented to
us by the continents of Mars in the best hours for observation. [Illustration: 
FIG. 41.--Telescopic aspect of
the planet Mars (Feb., 1901).] As to the "seas," it is pretty certain that 
there must be water, or some kind of liquid, deriving above all from the melting
of the polar snows in spring and
summer; but it may possibly be in conjunction with some vegetation,
aquatic plants, or perhaps vast meadows, which appear to us from here to be the 
more considerable in proportion as the water that nourishes them has been more 
abundant. [Illustration: FIG. 42.--Telescopic aspect of the planet
Mars (Feb., 1901).] Mars, like our globe, is surrounded with a protective 
atmosphere,
which retains the rays of the Sun, and must preserve a medium temperature 
favorable to the conservation of life upon the surface of the planet.