Note 4 — IV LOWELL'S BOOK ON MARS

The views so long held that the dark shaded regions were bodies of water, or seas, was disproved by the observations of Pickering and Douglass, who distinctly traced the course of the canals across these dark areas. The observations of Dr. E. Barnard certainly sustain the contention that they are land areas and probably depressions, representing ancient ocean beds. Dr. Barnard, using the telescope at the Lick Observatory, says: "Under the best conditions these dark regions which are always shown, with smaller telescopes, of nearly uniform shade, broke up into a vast amount of very fine details. I hardly know how to describe the appearance of these 'Seas' under these conditions. To those, however, who have looked down upon a mountainous country from a considerable elevation, perhaps some conception of the appearance presented by these dark regions may be had. From what I know of the appearance of the country about Mt. Hamilton, as seen from the Observatory, I can imagine that, as viewed from a very great elevation, this region, broken by cañon, and slope and ridge, would look like the surface of these Martian seas."