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These were principally: Mare Serenitatis, the Sea of Serenity, 25° north and 20° west, comprising a surface of about 130 thousand square miles; Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises, a round, well defined, dark depression towards the northwestern edge, 17° north 55° west, embracing a surface of 60 thousand square miles, a regular Caspian Sea in fact, only that the plateau in which it lies buried is surrounded by a girdle of much higher mountains.
Mount Argæus, at the southwest corner of the Mare Serenitatis, is a very wonderful object when the sun has just risen upon it. This occurs five days after the new moon. Returning to the eastern extremity of the Mare, we glance, in passing, at the precipitous Mount Hadley, which rises more than 15,000 feet above the level of the Mare and forms the northern point of the Apennine range.
T. G. Elger, the celebrated English selenographer, says of Plinius that, at sunrise, "it reminds one of a great fortress or redoubt erected to command the passage between the Mare Tranquilitatis and the Mare Serenitatis." But, of course, the resemblance is purely fanciful. Men, even though they dwelt in the moon, would not build a rampart 6,000 feet high!
These crossed each other; those entered craters and came out at the other side. Here, they furrowed annular plateaus, such as Posidonius or Petavius. There, they wrinkled whole seas, for instance, Mare Serenitatis.
The Caucasus Mountains are not so lofty nor so precipitous as the Alps, and consequently have less attraction for the observer. They border the dark, oval plain of the Mare Serenitatis on its northeastern side. The great bay running out from the Mare toward the northwest, between the Caucasus and the huge mountain ring of Posidonius, bears the fanciful name of Lacus Somniorum.
This is the ray that figures so prominently in rude woodcuts of the moon, in which the Mare Serenitatis traversed by it is made to resemble the Greek letter PHI. The Kepler, Aristarchus, and Copernicus systems, though of much smaller extent, are very noteworthy from the crossing and apparent interference of the rays; while those near Byrgius, round Aristarchus, and the rays from Proclus, are equally remarkable.
Of course all he wanted to do was to get the upper hand on Rodan and Dutch, take over the camp, get the missing parts of his radio and Archer, borrow the solar tractor, and get out of here. To Serenitatis Base Serene. His only preparation was to sharpen the edges of a diamond-shaped trowel used at the diggings, with a piece of pumice. Then he waited. Opportunity came near sundown, after a shift.
But roasting water out of lunar gypsum rock is an easy trick. And oxygen can be derived from water by simple electrolysis." "Hell, we know all that, Harv," Ramos laughed. So Harv Diamond gave them the lowdown on the shortage of girls yet in Serenitatis Base, on the Moon. Just the same, it was growing like corn in July, and was already a pretty good leave-spot, if you liked to look around.
They were at that moment ten degrees north of the equator, almost directly over the ridge lying between the Mare Serenitatis and the Mare Tranquillitatis. From this latitude all the way up to the north pole the travellers enjoyed a most satisfactory view of the Moon in all directions and under the most favorable conditions.
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