stal doors (or windows) in the front,
and in the centre one somewhat larger than the others, which, as we
came immediately in front of it, opened, not turning on hinges, but,
like every other door I had seen, dividing and sliding rapidly into
the walls to the right and left. We entered, and it immediately closed
behind us in the same way. Turning my head for a moment, I was
surprised to observe that, whereas I could see nothing through the
door from the outside, the scene without was as visible from within as
through the most perfectly transparent glass. The chamber in which I
found myself had walls of bright emerald green, with all the brilliant
transparency of the jewel; their surface broken by bas-reliefs of
minutely perfect execution, and divided into panels--each of which
seemed to contain a series of distinct scenes, one above the other--by
living creepers with foliage of bright gold, and flowers sometimes
pink, sometimes cream-white of great size, both double and single; the
former mostly hemispherical and the latter commonly shaped as hollow
cones or Avide shallow champagne glasses. In these walls two or three
doors appeared, reaching, from the floor to the roof, which was
coloured like the walls, and seemingly of the same material. Through
one of these my guide led me into a passage which appeared to run
parallel with the front of the house, and turning down this, a door
again parted on the right hand, through which he led me into a similar
but smaller apartment, some twenty feet in width and twenty-five in
length. The window--if I should so call that which was simply another
door--of this apartment looked into one corner of a flower-garden of
great extent, beyond and at each end of which were other portions of
the dwelling. The walls of this chamber were pink, the surface
appearing as before of jewel-like lustre; the roof and floor of a
green lighter than that of the emerald. In two corners were piles of
innumerable cushions and pillows covered with a most delicate
satin-like fabric, embroidered with gold, silver, and feathers, all
soft as eider-down and of all shapes and sizes. There were three or
four light tables, apparently of metal, silver, or azure, or golden in
colour, in various parts of the chamber, with one or two of different
form, more like small office-tables or desks. In one of the walls was
sunk a series of shelves closed by a transparent sheet of crystal of
pale yellow tinge. There were three or