The children were light in color, even lighter than the women, and
all looked precisely alike to me, except that some were taller than
others; older, I presumed.

I saw no signs of extreme age among them, nor is there any
appreciable difference in their appearance from the age of maturity,
about forty, until, at about the age of one thousand years, they go
voluntarily upon their last strange pilgrimage down the river Iss,
which leads no living Martian knows whither and from whose bosom no
Martian has ever returned, or would be allowed to live did he return
after once embarking upon its cold, dark waters.

Only about one Martian in a thousand dies of sickness or disease,
and possibly about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage. The other
nine hundred and seventy-nine die violent deaths in duels, in
hunting, in aviation and in war; but perhaps by far the greatest
death loss comes during the age of childhood, when vast numbers of
the little Martians fall victims to the great white apes of Mars.

The average life expectancy of a Martian after the age of maturity
is about three hundred years, but would be nearer the one-thousand
mark were it not for the various means leading to violent death.
Owing to the waning resources of the planet it evidently became
necessary to counteract the increasing longevity which their
remarkable skill in therapeutics and surgery produced, and so human
life has come to be considered but lightly on Mars, as is evidenced
by their dangerous sports and the almost continual warfare between
the various communities.

There are other and natural causes tending toward a diminution of