At some distance was shown another crescent, belonging to a sphere whose diameter was a little more than one-fourth that of the former.

The light reflected from their surfaces was of silver radiance, rather than the golden hue of the Moon or of Venus as seen through a small telescope.

The smaller crescent I could recognise at once as belonging to our own satellite; the larger was, of course, the world I had quitted.

So exactly is the clockwork or its substitute adapted to counteract both the rotation and revolution of Mars, that the two images underwent no other change of place than that caused by their own proper motion in space; a movement which, notwithstanding the immense magnifying power employed, was of course scarcely perceptible.

But the rotation of the larger sphere was visible as we watched it.