bare. I
should describe the garment as a sleeveless smock to the knees, or
perhaps, more justly, as a sack of silky gauze with a hole for the
head and two for the arms. That was the effect of it. It hung straight
and took the folds natural to it. It was so light that it clung
closely to the body where it met the air. What it was made of I have
no notion; but it was transparent or nearly so. I am pretty sure that
its own colour was grey.

They greeted each other; they flitted about from group to group
greeting; and they greeted by touching, sometimes with their hands,
sometimes with their cheeks. They neither kissed nor spoke. I never
saw them kiss even when they loved--which they rarely did. I saw one
greeting between two females. They ran together and stopped short
within touching distance. They looked brightly and intently at each
other, and leaning forward approached their cheeks till they
touched.[2] They touched by the right, they touched by the left. Then
they took hands and drew together. By a charming movement of
confidence one nestled to the side of the other and resting her head
looked up and laughed. The taller embraced her with her arm and held
her for a moment. The swiftness of the act and its grace were
beautiful to see. Then hand in hand they ran to others who were a
little further off. The elder and taller had a wild dark face with
stern lips, like a man's; the younger was a beautiful little creature
with quick, squirrel's motions. I remember her hair, which looked
white in that light, but was no doubt lint colour. It was extremely
long, and so fine that it clung to her shoulders and back like a web
of thin silk.

[Footnote 2: I argue from this peculiar manner of greeting, which I
have observed several times, that these beings converse by contact, as
dogs, cats, mice, and other creatures certainly do. I don't say that
they have no other means of converse; but I am sure I am exact in
saying that they have no articulate speech.]

They began to play very soon with a zest for mere irresponsible
movement which I have never seen in my own kind. I have seen young
foxes playing, and it was something like that, only incomparably more
graceful. Greyhounds give a better comparison where the rippling of
the body is more expressive of their speed than the flying of their
feet. These creatures must have touched the earth, but their bodies
also ran. And just as young dogs play for the sake of activity,
without met