tal. In another factory a mass
of dry vegetable fibre was similarly transformed by machinery alone
into a bale of wonderfully light woven drapery resembling satin in
lustre, muslin or gauze in texture.

The streets were what, even in the finest and latest-built American
cities, would be thought magnificent in size and admirable in
construction. The roadway was formed of that concrete, harder than
granite, which is the sole material employed in Martial building, and
which, as I have shown, can take every form and texture, from that of
jewels or of the finest marble to that of plain polished slate. Along
each side ran avenues of magnificent trees, whose branches met at a
height of thirty feet over the centre. Between these and the houses
was a space reserved for the passage of light carriages exclusively.
The houses, unlike those in the country, were from two to four stories
in height.

All private dwellings, however, were built, as in the country, around
a square interior garden, and the windows, except those of the front
rooms employed for business purposes, looked out upon this. The space
occupied, however, was of course much smaller than where ground was
less precious, few dwellings having four chambers on the same floor
and front. The footway ran on the level of what we call the first
story, over a part of the roof of the ground floor; and the business
apartments were always the front chambers of the former, while the
stores of the merchants were collected in a single warehouse occupying
the whole of the ground front. No attempt was made to exhibit them as
on Earth. I entered with my host a number of what we should call
shops. In every case he named exactly the article he wanted, and it
was either produced at once or he was told that it was not to be had
there, a thing which, however, seldom happened. The traders are few in
number. One or two firms engaged in a single branch of commerce do the
whole business of an extensive province. For instance, all the textile
fabrics on sale in the province were to be seen in one or other of two
warehouses; all metals in sheets, blocks, and wires in another; in a
third all finished metal-work, except writing materials; all writing,
phonographic, and telegraphic conveniences in a fourth; all furs,
feathers, and fabrics made from these in a fifth. The tradesman sells
on commission, as we say, receiving the goods from the manufacturer,
the farmer, or the State, and paying only for