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A Trip to Venus by John Munro
page 9 of 191 (04%)
surface was mottled with ruddy and greenish tints which faded into white
at the rim. Fascinated by the spectacle of that living world, seen at a
glance, and pursuing its appointed course through the illimitable ether,
I forgot my quest, and a religious awe came over me akin to that felt
under the dome of a vast cathedral.

"Well, what do you make of it?"

The voice recalled me to myself, and I began to scrutinise the dim and
shadowy border of the terminator for the feeblest ray of light, but all
in vain.

"I can't see any 'luminous projection'; but what a magnificent object in
the telescope!"

"It is indeed," rejoined the professor, "and though we have not many
opportunities of seeing it, we know it better than the other planets,
and almost as well as the moon. Its features have been carefully mapped
like those of the moon, and christened after celebrated astronomers."

"Yourself included, I hope."

"No, sir; I have not that honour. It is true that a man I know, an
enthusiastic amateur in astronomy, dubbed a lot of holes and corners in
the moon after his private friends and acquaintances, myself amongst
them: 'Snook's Crater,' 'Smith's Bottom,' 'Tiddler's Cove,' and so on;
but I regret to say the authorities declined to sanction his
nomenclature."

"I presume that bright spot on the Southern limb is one of the polar
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