and began caressing and tickling me. I, too, laughed their deformed little faces were so absurdly comical that I could not help myself. One fellow had a face like that of one of Reynolds's children—a plump, spiritual, dimpled, rosy face that would have been the joy of any mother, only that, unfortunately, instead of a chubby nose, it had a large red, curiously forked, carrot-like proboscis, which it moved at will, just as the octopus moves its tentacles. This fellow particularly attracted my attention. Flying before me, and carrying in his hand a huge eye that gave forth a phosphorescent light, he beckoned me onwards and onwards, until at last we had left his companions far behind in the increasing darkness. By this time I had mounted to a great height in the air, and found myself hovering over an immense and silent sea, in the glassy bosom of which all the stars were brilliantly reflected. No living being save my quaint conductor was visible. I was enjoying the novelty of the situation and the freedom of my position when I noticed
