Chapter V.
A voice accosted me- a very quiet and very musical key of
voice- in a language of which I could not understand a word,
but it served to dispel my fear. I uncovered my face and
looked up. The stranger (I could scarcely bring myself to call
him man) surveyed me with an eye that seemed to read to the
very depths of my heart. He then placed his left hand on my
forehead, and with the staff in his right, gently touched my
shoulder. The effect of this double contact was magical. In
place of my former terror there passed into me a sense of
contentment, of joy, of confidence in myself and in the being
before me. I rose and spoke in my own language. He listened
to me with apparent attention, but with a slight surprise in
his looks; and shook his head, as if to signify that I was not
understood. He then took me by the hand and led me in silence
to the building. The entrance was open- indeed there was no
door to it. We entered an immense hall, lighted by the same
kind of lustre as in the scene without, but diffusing a
fragrant odour. The floor was in large tesselated blocks of
precious metals, and partly covered with a sort of matlike
14carpeting. A strain of low music, above and around, undulated
as if from invisible instruments, seeming to belong naturally
to the place, just as the sound of murmuring waters belongs to
a rocky landscape, or the warble of birds to vernal groves.
A figure in a simpler garb than that of my guide, but of
similar fashion, was standing motionless near the threshold.
My guide touched it twice with his staff, and it put itself
into a rapid and gliding movement, skimming noiselessly over
the floor. Gazing on it, I then saw that it was no living
form, but a mechanical automaton. It might be two minutes
after it vanished through a doorless opening, half screened by
curtains at the other end of the hall, when through the same
opening advanced a boy of about twelve years old, with features
closely resembling those of my guide, so that they seemed to me
evidently son and father. On seeing me the child uttered a
cry, and lifted a staff like that borne by my guide, as if in
menace. At a word from the elder he dropped it. The two then
conversed for some moments, examining me while they spoke. The
child touched my garments, and stroked my face with evident
curiosity, uttering a sound like a laugh, but with an hilarity
more subdued that the mirth of our laughter. Presently the
roof of the hall opened, and a platform descended, seemingly
constructed on the same principle as the 'lifts' used in hotels
and warehouses for mounting from one story to another.
The stranger placed himself and the child on the platform, and
motioned to me to do the same, which I did. We ascended
quickly and safely, and alighted in the midst of a corridor
with doorways on either side.
Through one of these doorways I was conducted into a chamber
fitted up with an oriental splendour; the walls were tesselated
with spars, and metals, and uncut jewels; cushions and divans
abounded; apertures as for windows but unglazed, were made in
the chamber opening to the floor; and as I passed along I
15observed that these openings led into spacious balconies, and
commanded views of the illumined landscape without. In cages
suspended from the ceiling there were birds of strange form and
bright plumage, which at our entrance set up a chorus of song,
modulated into tune as is that of our piping bullfinches. A
delicious fragrance, from censers of gold elaborately sculptured,
filled the air. Several automata, like the one I had seen,
stood dumb and motionless by the walls. The stranger placed me
beside him on a divan and again spoke to me, and again I spoke,
but without the least advance towards understanding each other.
But now I began to feel the effects of the blow I had received
from the splinters of the falling rock more acutely that I had
done at first.
There came over me a sense of sickly faintness, accompanied
with acute, lancinating pains in the head and neck. I sank
back on the seat and strove in vain to stifle a groan. On this
the child, who had hitherto seemed to eye me with distrust or
dislike, knelt by my side to support me; taking one of my hands
in both his own, he approached his lips to my forehead,
breathing on it softly. In a few moments my pain ceased; a
drowsy, heavy calm crept over me; I fell asleep.
How long I remained in this state I know not, but when I woke I
felt perfectly restored. My eyes opened upon a group of silent
forms, seated around me in the gravity and quietude of
Orientals- all more or less like the first stranger; the same
mantling wings, the same fashion of garment, the same
sphinx-like faces, with the deep dark eyes and red man's
colour; above all, the same type of race- race akin to man's,
but infinitely stronger of form and grandeur of aspect- and
inspiring the same unutterable feeling of dread. Yet each
countenance was mild and tranquil, and even kindly in
expression. And, strangely enough, it seemed to me that in
this very calm and benignity consisted the secret of the dread
which the countenances inspired. They seemed as void of the
lines and shadows which care and sorrow, and passion and sin,
16leave upon the faces of men, as are the faces of sculptured
gods, or as, in the eyes of Christian mourners, seem the
peaceful brows of the dead.
I felt a warm hand on my shoulder; it was the child's. In his
eyes there was a sort of lofty pity and tenderness, such as
that with which we may gaze on some suffering bird or
butterfly. I shrank from that touch- I shrank from that eye.
I was vaguely impressed with a belief that, had he so pleased,
that child could have killed me as easily as a man can kill a
bird or a butterfly. The child seemed pained at my repugnance,
quitted me, and placed himself beside one of the windows. The
others continued to converse with each other in a low tone, and
by their glances towards me I could perceive that I was the
object of their conversation. One in especial seemed to be
urging some proposal affecting me on the being whom I had first
met, and this last by his gesture seemed about to assent to it,
when the child suddenly quitted his post by the window, placed
himself between me and the other forms, as if in protection,
and spoke quickly and eagerly. By some intuition or instinct I
felt that the child I had before so dreaded was pleading in my
behalf. Ere he had ceased another stranger entered the room.
He appeared older than the rest, though not old; his
countenance less smoothly serene than theirs, though equally
regular in its features, seemed to me to have more the touch of
a humanity akin to my own. He listened quietly to the words
addressed to him, first by my guide, next by two others of the
group, and lastly by the child; then turned towards myself, and
addressed me, not by words, but by signs and gestures. These I
fancied that I perfectly understood, and I was not mistaken. I
comprehended that he inquired whence I came. I extended my
arm, and pointed towards the road which had led me from the
chasm in the rock; then an idea seized me. I drew forth my
pocket-book, and sketched on one of its blank leaves a rough
design of the ledge of the rock, the rope, myself clinging to
it; then of the cavernous rock below, the head of the reptile,
17the lifeless form of my friend. I gave this primitive kind of
hieroglyph to my interrogator, who, after inspecting it
gravely, handed it to his next neighbour, and it thus passed
round the group. The being I had at first encountered then
said a few words, and the child, who approached and looked at
my drawing, nodded as if he comprehended its purport, and,
returning to the window, expanded the wings attached to his
form, shook them once or twice, and then launched himself into
space without. I started up in amaze and hastened to the
window. The child was already in the air, buoyed on his wings,
which he did not flap to and fro as a bird does, but which were
elevated over his head, and seemed to bear him steadily aloft
without effort of his own. His flight seemed as swift as an
eagle's; and I observed that it was towards the rock whence I
had descended, of which the outline loomed visible in the
brilliant atmosphere. In a very few minutes he returned,
skimming through the opening from which he had gone, and
dropping on the floor the rope and grappling-hooks I had left
at the descent from the chasm. Some words in a low tone passed
between the being present; one of the group touched an
automaton, which started forward and glided from the room; then
the last comer, who had addressed me by gestures, rose, took me
by the hand, and led me into the corridor. There the platform
by which I had mounted awaited us; we placed ourselves on it
and were lowered into the hall below. My new companion, still
holding me by the hand, conducted me from the building into a
street (so to speak) that stretched beyond it, with buildings
on either side, separated from each other by gardens bright
with rich-coloured vegetation and strange flowers.
Interspersed amidst these gardens, which were divided from each
other by low walls, or walking slowly along the road, were many
forms similar to those I had already seen. Some of the
passers-by, on observing me, approached my guide, evidently by
their tones, looks, and gestures addressing to him inquiries
18about myself. In a few moments a crowd collected around us,
examining me with great interest, as if I were some rare wild
animal. Yet even in gratifying their curiosity they preserved
a grave and courteous demeanour; and after a few words from my
guide, who seemed to me to deprecate obstruction in our road,
they fell back with a stately inclination of head, and resumed
their own way with tranquil indifference. Midway in this
thoroughfare we stopped at a building that differed from those
we had hitherto passed, inasmuch as it formed three sides of a
vast court, at the angles of which were lofty pyramidal towers;
in the open space between the sides was a circular fountain of
colossal dimensions, and throwing up a dazzling spray of what
seemed to me fire. We entered the building through an open
doorway and came into an enormous hall, in which were several
groups of children, all apparently employed in work as at some
great factory. There was a huge engine in the wall which was
in full play, with wheels and cylinders resembling our own
steam-engines, except that it was richly ornamented with
precious stones and metals, and appeared to emanate a pale
phosphorescent atmosphere of shifting light. Many of the
children were at some mysterious work on this machinery, others
were seated before tables. I was not allowed to linger long
enough to examine into the nature of their employment. Not one
young voice was heard- not one young face turned to gaze on us.
They were all still and indifferent as may be ghosts, through
the midst of which pass unnoticed the forms of the living.
Quitting this hall, my guide led me through a gallery richly
painted in compartments, with a barbaric mixture of gold in the
colours, like pictures by Louis Cranach. The subjects
described on these walls appeared to my glance as intended to
illustrate events in the history of the race amidst which I was
admitted. In all there were figures, most of them like the
manlike creatures I had seen, but not all in the same fashion
of garb, nor all with wings. There were also the effigies of
19various animals and birds, wholly strange to me, with
backgrounds depicting landscapes or buildings. So far as my
imperfect knowledge of the pictorial art would allow me to form
an opinion, these paintings seemed very accurate in design and
very rich in colouring, showing a perfect knowledge of
perspective, but their details not arranged according to the
rules of composition acknowledged by our artists- wanting, as
it were, a centre; so that the effect was vague, scattered,
confused, bewildering- they were like heterogeneous fragments
of a dream of art.
We now came into a room of moderate size, in which was
assembled what I afterwards knew to be the family of my guide,
seated at a table spread as for repast. The forms thus grouped
were those of my guide's wife, his daughter, and two sons. I
recognised at once the difference between the two sexes, though
the two females were of taller stature and ampler proportions
than the males; and their countenances, if still more
symmetrical in outline and contour, were devoid of the softness
and timidity of expression which give charm to the face of
woman as seen on the earth above. The wife wore no wings, the
daughter wore wings longer than those of the males.
My guide uttered a few words, on which all the persons seated
rose, and with that peculiar mildness of look and manner which
I have before noticed, and which is, in truth, the common
attribute of this formidable race, they saluted me according to
their fashion, which consists in laying the right hand very
gently on the head and uttering a soft sibilant monosyllable-
S.Si, equivalent to "Welcome."
The mistress of the house then seated me beside her, and heaped
a golden platter before me from one of the dishes.
While I ate (and though the viands were new to me, I marvelled
more at the delicacy than the strangeness of their flavour), my
companions conversed quietly, and, so far as I could detect,
with polite avoidance of any direct reference to myself, or any
20obtrusive scrutiny of my appearance. Yet I was the first
creature of that variety of the human race to which I belong
that they had ever beheld, and was consequently regarded by
them as a most curious and abnormal phenomenon. But all
rudeness is unknown to this people, and the youngest child is
taught to despise any vehement emotional demonstration. when
the meal was ended, my guide again took me by the hand, and,
re-entering the gallery, touched a metallic plate inscribed
with strange figures, and which I rightly conjectured to be of
the nature of our telegraphs. A platform descended, but this
time we mounted to a much greater height than in the former
building, and found ourselves in a room of moderate dimensions,
and which in its general character had much that might be
familiar to the associations of a visitor from the upper world.
There were shelves on the wall containing what appeared to be
books, and indeed were so; mostly very small, like our diamond
duodecimos, shaped in the fashion of our volumes, and bound in
sheets of fine metal. There were several curious-looking
pieces of mechanism scattered about, apparently models, such as
might be seen in the study of any professional mechanician.
Four automata (mechanical contrivances which, with these
people, answer the ordinary purposes of domestic service) stood
phantom-like at each angle in the wall. In a recess was a low
couch, or bed with pillows. A window, with curtains of some
fibrous material drawn aside, opened upon a large balcony. My
host stepped out into the balcony; I followed him. We were on
the uppermost story of one of the angular pyramids; the view
beyond was of a wild and solemn beauty impossible to describe:-
the vast ranges of precipitous rock which formed the distant
background, the intermediate valleys of mystic many-coloured
herbiage, the flash of waters, many of them like streams of
roseate flame, the serene lustre diffused over all by myriads
of lamps, combined to form a whole of which no words of mine
21can convey adequate description; so splendid was it, yet so
sombre; so lovely, yet so awful.
But my attention was soon diverted from these nether landscapes.
Suddenly there arose, as from the streets below, a burst of
joyous music; then a winged form soared into the space; another
as if in chase of the first, another and another; others after
others, till the crowd grew thick and the number countless.
But how describe the fantastic grace of these forms in their
undulating movements! They appeared engaged in some sport or
amusement; now forming into opposite squadrons; now scattering;
now each group threading the other, soaring, descending,
interweaving, severing; all in measured time to the music
below, as if in the dance of the fabled Peri.
I turned my gaze on my host in a feverish wonder. I ventured
to place my hand on the large wings that lay folded on his
breast, and in doing so a slight shock as of electricity passed
through me. I recoiled in fear; my host smiled, and as if
courteously to gratify my curiosity, slowly expanded his
pinions. I observed that his garment beneath them became
dilated as a bladder that fills with air. The arms seemed to
slide into the wings, and in another moment he had launched
himself into the luminous atmosphere, and hovered there, still,
and with outspread wings, as an eagle that basks in the sun.
Then, rapidly as an eagle swoops, he rushed downwards into the
midst of one of the groups, skimming through the midst, and as
suddenly again soaring aloft. Thereon, three forms, in one of
which I thought to recognise my host's daughter, detached
themselves from the rest, and followed him as a bird sportively
follows a bird. My eyes, dazzled with the lights and
bewildered by the throngs, ceased to distinguish the gyrations
and evolutions of these winged playmates, till presently my
host re-emerged from the crowd and alighted at my side.
The strangeness of all I had seen began now to operate fast on
my senses; my mind itself began to wander. Though not inclined
22to be superstitious, nor hitherto believing that man could be
brought into bodily communication with demons, I felt the
terror and the wild excitement with which, in the Gothic ages,
a traveller might have persuaded himself that he witnessed a
'sabbat' of fiends and witches. I have a vague recollection of
having attempted with vehement gesticulation, and forms of
exorcism, and loud incoherent words, to repel my courteous and
indulgent host; of his mild endeavors to calm and soothe me; of
his intelligent conjecture that my fright and bewilderment were
occasioned by the difference of form and movement between us
which the wings that had excited my marvelling curiosity had,
in exercise, made still more strongly perceptible; of the
gentle smile with which he had sought to dispel my alarm by
dropping the wings to the ground and endeavouring to show me
that they were but a mechanical contrivance. That sudden
transformation did but increase my horror, and as extreme
fright often shows itself by extreme daring, I sprang at his
throat like a wild beast. On an instant I was felled to the
ground as by an electric shock, and the last confused images
floating before my sight ere I became wholly insensible, were
the form of my host kneeling beside me with one hand on my
forehead, and the beautiful calm face of his daughter, with
large, deep, inscrutable eyes intently fixed upon my own.
