One of the most striking sights to them now was the constellation of the Cross, commonly known by mariners as the Southern Cross, and which is composed of four brilliant stars.  Sirius, Canopus, and Centaur also filled a part of the heavens with their splendid light.  Mars, Venus, Saturn, and Jupiter were old friends in new surroundings, and were all dazzlingly dressed.  The part of the Milky Way between the stars Sirius and Centaur was so rich in stars and crowded nebula: that it seemed a perfect blaze of illumination.  And there were the Magellanic clouds, white-looking patches made up of countless stars individually unseen to the naked eye, and nebulae--mists of radiating light--all shining brilliantly and revolving around the starless South Pole.  To the northward was the constellation of the Great Bear, which reaches its meridian altitude about the same time as the constellations of the Cross and the Centaur.  As the boys looked, stars appeared and disappeared.  They were like a succession of guests, coming and going.