different times, commencing early in 1920, and continuing until
the book was finished.

As has been explained by the controls who have been instrumental
in giving the information about Mars, the purpose of these
clairvoyant pictures was to give the compiler of this book real
visual evidence as to life on Mars; and in particular, real
pictures setting forth its topography, which could be elucidated
in no other way.

Written descriptions of scenery and of human activities
necessarily fall short of the reality, especially when an attempt
is made to record a series of events or a point of view outside
the realm of our experience.

The first picture realized by the writer, and for that matter the
most important one, was the view given him of Urid the Beautiful,
one of the most Important centers of population on the planet
Mars.

It was while lying in bed one morning the writer was
contemplating the many messages being received from the Martian,
who is the dictator of the subject matter of this book, that he
found himself at a strange place, suspended as it were in the air
over a beautiful lake of blue water, whose surface was broken by
gentle ripples, due to the soft, balmy breeze blowing over the
surface of the water. The writer was facing what seemed to be a
westerly direction; and at a distance of about five miles there
arose a series of small mountains about 2,500 feet in altitude.
These mountains skirted the shores of the lake. The sky was a