"
"You may be right," said Ardan by way of reply; "as for me, I'm looking
out for another city. But I'm sorry to say that our Projectile is
increasing its distance so fast that, even if one lay at my feet at this
moment, I doubt very much if I could see it a bit better than either you
or the Captain."
_Newton_ was soon passed, and the Projectile followed a course that took
it directly over the ring mountain _Moretus_. 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 deg. S.
by 15 deg. E. Its height is estimated at 16,000 feet, but it is considered
to be about a hundred and fifty miles in diameter. Of this vast crater,
the travellers now at a distance of 250 miles, reduced to 2-1/2 by their
telescopes, had a magnificent bird's-eye view.
"Our terrestrial volcanoes," said Barbican, "as you can now readily
judge for yourselves, are no more than molehills when compared with
those of the Moon. Measure the old craters formed by the early eruptions
of Vesuvius and AEtna, and you will find them little more than three
miles in diameter.
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