noon
Around this circle was a narrow band divided into strips of different length of various colours , each representing one of the peculiar divisions of the Martial day ; that point which came under the golden indicator showing the _ zyda _ and the exact moment of the _ zyda _ , while the movement of the inner circle fixed with equal accuracy the period of day or night . Below were other circles from which the observer could learn the amount of moisture in the atmosphere , the intensity of the sunlight , and the electric tension at the moment . Each of the six smaller circles registered on a moving ribbon the indications of every successive moment , these ribbons when unrolled forming a perfect record of temperature , atmospheric pressure , wind , and so forth , in the form of a curve -- a register kept for more than 8000 Martial years . Four times during the revolution of the great circle each large clock emits for a couple of minutes a species of chime , the nature of which my ignorance of music renders me unable to describe : -- viz. , when the line dividing the green and black semicircles is horizontal at noon and midnight , and an hour before , at average sunrise and sunset , it becomes perpendicular . The individual character of the several chimes , tunes , or peals , whatever they should be called , is so distinct that even I appreciated it . Further , as the first point of the coloured strip distinguishing each several _ zyda _ reaches the golden indicator , a single slightly prolonged sound -- I fancy what is known on Earth as a single chord -- is emitted . Of these again each is peculiar , so that no one with an ear for music can doubt what is the period of the day announced .