we passed forth into the crowded square, and flew up to the spire where the ether-car was suspended. A sublime spectacle (such as I have never seen in all my wanderings excelled) opened to our vision. At our feet for a hundred miles or more stretched the vast Saldonian territory, the lines of mountain chains and rings, and forest-clad hills, and milky lakes. The shadows of evening were already gathering over the low country, for Saldonio was so lofty that it was in sunlight when the evening had wrapt the plains. The lights of a hundred cities were just glimmering in the grey evening. At our feet was the magnificent city—a city such as you cannot imagine (though Edinburgh might be mentioned as a feeble parody of it), with its thousands of graceful spires, and airy gardens and plazas and public buildings—now one living mass of intelligent beings, in their varied coloured robes. It was a scene not to be described in human words.
"We entered the ether-car. The chiefs of the city bade us farewell, and gave us their blessing. At a signal from the Prince of Saldonio, the great hymn of praise burst from two millions of voices, and just as the sun sank behind the serrated ridge of the Ulcorian mountains we
