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 can 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