s
smoothness and modulation, and I was greatly surprised to hear Wauna
speak of its unmusical tone as really annoying. But then in Mizora there
are no voices but what are sweet enough to charm the birds.

In the journeys that Wauna and I took during the college vacation, we
were constantly meeting strangers, but they never appeared the least
surprised at my dark hair and eyes, which were such a contrast to all
the other hair and eyes to be met with in Mizora, that I greatly
wondered at it until I learned of the power of the reflector. I
requested permission to examine one of the large ones used in a theater,
and it was granted me. Wauna accompanied me and signaled to a friend of
hers. As if by magic a form appeared and moved across the stage. It
bowed to me, smiled and motioned with its hand, to all appearances a
material body. I asked Wauna to approach it, which she did, and passed
her hand through it. There was nothing that resisted her touch, yet I
plainly saw the figure, and recognized it as the perfect representation
of a friend of Wauna's, an actress residing in a distant city. When I
ascended the stage, the figure vanished, and I understood that it could
be visible only at a certain distance from the reflector.

In traveling great distances, or even short ones where great speed was
desired, the Mizoraens used air ships; but only for the transportation
of passengers and the very lightest of freight. Heavy articles could not
be as conveniently carried by them as by railroads. Their railroads were
constructed and conducted on a system so perfect that accidents were
never known. Every engineer had an electric signal attached to the
engine, that could signal a train three miles distant.

The motive power for nearly all engines was compressed air. Electricity,
which was recognized by Mizora scientists as a force of great
intensity, was rarely used as a propelling power on railroads. Its use
was attended by possible danger, but compressed air was not. Electricity
produced the heat that supplied the air ships and railroads with that
very necessary comfort. In case there should be an accident, as a
collision, or thrown from the track, heat could not be a source of
danger when furnished by electricity. But I never heard of a railroad
accident during the whole fifteen years that I spent in Mizora.

Air-ships, however, were not exempt from danger, although the
precautions against it were ingenious and carefully observed.