ess. It was sculptured out of a
hill of white marble, as were also its walls, enclosing a garden a
square mile in extent.

In conformity with the programme prepared by his majesty, King
Aldemegry Bhoolmakar, we were to be received by her holiness Lyone in
her palace at Tanje. The thought of meeting the adorable figure that
crowned the throne of the gods filled me with keenest delight.

I seemed about to visit, not a human being like myself, but a
veritable deity. What honor, what pleasure, it would be to speak to
her face to face, heart to heart. Disguise it as I might, a feeling
for the goddess was being awakened in my soul. Was it the adoration of
the worshipper, or was it the dawn of a sacrilegious passion?

It seemed a monstrous idea for any one to love in the ordinary meaning
of the term a being so high and holy. I could only worship her afar
off, like any adoring citizen of Atvatabar.

His majesty the king, together with Chief Minister Koshnili,
Commander-in-Chief Coltonobory, Admiral Jolar and other dignitaries of
the kingdom, did us the honor to escort us to Tanje.

The method of travel between Calnogor and Tanje was by means of the
pneumatic tube, also a deity of invention. This consisted of a smooth
tube six feet in diameter that curved over the country in a sinuous
line, being supported on pillars at a height of twenty feet above the
ground. A decorative car of gold ornamented in enamelled colors rode
the crest of the tube, being connected with the piston inside. The car
was steadied between rails on either side and swept over the earth
with inconceivable rapidity. The distance from Calnogor to Tanje was
traversed in thirty minutes.

A feeling of awe overcame the sailors as we approached the abode of
the living symbol of the Holy Soul.

The palace was a noble pile of masonry as it glittered in the
perpendicular sunlight. It stood two stories in height and was
surmounted by a flattened central dome of colored glass, the ribs of
the dome being of solid gold. The lower story was surrounded by a
colonnade of pillars carved in the most grotesque shapes imaginable.
The grand entrance on the north side was constructed of alternating
pillars of platinum and gold, all three feet in thickness. From the
towers brilliant banners, emblazoned with the figure of the throne of
the gods, floated on the wind.

The apartments of the grand chamberlain were on the north side of the
palace, where the pneumatic car was pr