is unfortunately different from any known to any chemist of my acquaintance, and utterly undecipherable.] [Footnote 3: Last figures illegible: the year is probably 183.] [Footnote 4: These distances are given in Roman measures and round numbers not easy of exact rendering.] [Footnote 5: In 1830 or thereabouts .-- ED.] [Footnote 6: The Martial year is 687 of our days, and eight Martial years are nearly equivalent to fifteen Terrestrial.

Roughly, and in round numbers, the time figures given may be multiplied by two to reduce them to Terrestrial periods .-- ED.] [Footnote 7: Say fifty-sixth; in effect, fiftieth .-- Narrator.] [Footnote 8: Equivalent in time to ninety-three and forty-seven with us; in effect corresponding to eighty and forty.] [Footnote 9: About ninety; in time, one hundred and six.] [Footnote 10: Seventy; in time, eighty-three .-- _Narrator_.] [Footnote 11: The centuries, hundreds, thousands, etc., appear to represent multiples of twelve, not ten .-- ED.] [Footnote 12: Aluminium ?--ED.] [Footnote 13: Here, and here only, the name is written in full; but the first part is blurred.

It may be Alius (Ali), Julius (Jules), Elias, or may represent any one of a dozen English surnames.

The single cipher, employed elsewhere throws no light on it .-- ED.] [Transcriber's Notes: A page was torn in our print copy, causing a few lines in Chapter I to be illegible.

The missing words have been indicated with [***].