Ardan laughed heartily at the fancies which they called up, and said the whole thing reminded him of one of those "maps of matrimony" that he had once seen or read of in the works of Scudery or Cyrano de Bergerac.
"However," he added, "I must say that this map has much more reality in it than could be found in the sentimental maps of the 17th century.

In fact, I have no difficulty whatever in calling it the _Map of Life!_ very neatly divided into two parts, the east and the west, the masculine and the feminine.

The women on the right, and the men on the left!" At such observations, Ardan's companions only shrugged their shoulders.
A map of the Moon in their eyes was a map of the Moon, no more, no less; their romantic friend might view it as he pleased.

Nevertheless, their romantic friend was not altogether wrong.

Judge a little for yourselves.
What is the first "sea" you find in the hemisphere on the left?
The _Mare Imbrium_ or the Rainy Sea, a fit emblem of our human life, beaten by many a pitiless storm.