“There were many trees, methodically arranged, and some of them were of enormous height; there were animals in some of the enclosures, and they announced their presence by terrified squealings and snortings as they scented our queer, wild beasts and wilder human beings.” (PM XVI)
“The concrete buildings I had been hammering at in the
early morning were occupied only by stock and farm produce, the house proper
standing among a grove of enormous trees, and, like all red-Martian homes, had
been raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the ground on a large round
metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in the ground, and was
operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrance hall of the building. Instead
of bothering with bolts and bars for their dwellings, the red Martians simply
run them up out of harm's way during the night. They also have private means
for lowering or raising them from the ground without if they wish to go away
and leave them . . .
“The water which supplies the farms of Mars is
collected in immense underground reservoirs at either pole from the melting ice
caps, and pumped through long conduits to the various populated centers. Along
either side of these conduits, and extending their entire length, lie the
cultivated districts. These are divided into tracts of about the same size,
each tract being under the supervision of one or more government officers. Instead of flooding the surface of the
fields, and thus wasting immense quantities of water by evaporation, the
precious liquid is carried underground through a vast network of small pipes
directly to the roots of the vegetation. The crops upon Mars are always
uniform, for there are no droughts, no rains, no high winds, and no insects, or
destroying birds.” (PM
XXI)
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