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It also passed rather high above the summits of Blancanus, and about 7.30 p.m. it reached the amphitheatre of Clavius. This circle, one of the most remarkable on the disc, is situated in south lat. 58° and east long. 15°. Its height is estimated at 7,091 metres. The travellers at a distance of 200 miles, reduced to two by the telescopes, could admire the arrangement of this vast crater.

It skirted at some distance the summits of Blancanus, and at about half-past seven in the evening reached the circle of Clavius. This circle, one of the most remarkable of the disc, is situated in 58@ south latitude, and 15@ east longitude. Its height is estimated at 22,950 feet. "Terrestrial volcanoes," said Barbicane, "are but mole-hills compared with those of the moon.

Thus, then, to proceed by comparison, the chain of the Himalayas counts three peaks higher than the lunar ones, Mount Everest, Kunchinjuga, and Dwalagiri. Mounts Doerfel and Leibnitz, on the moon, are as high as Jewahir in the same chain. Newton, Casatus, Curtius, Short, Tycho, Clavius, Blancanus, Endymion, the principal summits of Caucasus and the Apennines, are higher than Mont Blanc.

CASATUS. A large walled-plain, about 50 miles in diameter, S.E. of Blancanus, near the limb, remarkable for having one of the loftiest ramparts of all known lunar objects; it rises at one peak on the S.W. to the great height of 22,285 feet above the floor, while there are other peaks nearly as high on the N. and S. The wall is broken on the E. by a fine crater.

A little to the west the travellers could easily distinguish the summits of Blancanus, 7,000 feet high, and, towards seven o'clock in the evening, they were approaching the neighborhood of Clavius. This walled-plain, one of the most remarkable on the Moon, lies 55° S. by 15° E. Its height is estimated at 16,000 feet, but it is considered to be about a hundred and fifty miles in diameter.

SCHEINER. A still larger object, being nearly 70 miles in diameter, with a prominently terraced wall, fully as lofty as that of Blancanus. There is a large crater, nearly central, two others on the N.E. side of the floor, and a fourth at the inner foot of the E. wall. There is also a shallow ring on the N.E. slope.

The monstrous shadow-filled cavity above Clavius toward the right is Blancanus, whose aspect here gives a good idea of the appearance of these chasms when only their rims are in the sunlight. But observe the indescribable savagery of the entire scene. It looks as though the spirit of destruction had gone mad in this spot.

BLANCANUS. A formation, 50 miles in diameter, on the S.E. side of Clavius, whose surpassing beauties tend to render the less remarkable features of this magnificent ring-plain and those of its neighbour Scheiner less attractive than they otherwise would be. The crest of its finely terraced wall, which at one peak on the E. rises to 18,000 feet, is at least 12,000 feet above the interior.