(or 68 degrees Fahr.), and sometimes descended as low as 15 degrees.
That this diminution was to be attributed to the change in
the earth's orbit was a question that admitted of little doubt.
After approaching so near to the sun as to cross the orbit of Venus,
the earth must now have receded so far from the sun that its normal
distance of ninety-one millions of miles was greatly increased,
and the probability was great that it was approximating to the orbit of Mars,
that planet which in its physical constitution most nearly resembles
our own. Nor was this supposition suggested merely by the lowering
of the temperature; it was strongly corroborated by the reduction
of the apparent diameter of the sun's disc to the precise dimensions
which it would assume to an observer actually stationed on the surface
of Mars. The necessary inference that seemed to follow from these
phenomena was that the earth had been projected into a new orbit,
which had the form of a very elongated ellipse.

Very slight, however, in comparison was the regard which these astronomical
wonders attracted on board the _Dobryna_. All interest there was too much
absorbed in terrestrial matters, and in ascertaining what changes had taken
place in the configuration of the earth itself, to permit much attention
to be paid to its erratic movements through space.

The schooner kept bravely on her way, but well out to sea,
at a distance of two miles from land. There was good need
of this precaution, for so precipitous was the shore that a
vessel driven upon it must inevitably have gone to pieces;
it did not offer a single harbor of refuge, but, smooth and
perpendicular as the walls of a fortress, it rose to a height
of two hundred, and occasionally of three hundred feet.
The waves dashed violently against its base. Upon the general