People appeared moving
through the scenes, as in a cinematograph exhibition, but with
infinitely more semblance of reality. In fact, the pictures, blending
one into another, seemed to be life itself. Yet it was not an
earth-like scene. The colors of the passing landscape were such as no
man in the room had ever beheld; and the people, tall, round-limbed,
with florid complexion, golden hair, and brilliant eyes and lips, were
indescribably beautiful and graceful in all their movements.
From the land the view passed out to sea, and bright blue waves, edged
with creaming foam, ran swiftly under the spectator's eyes, and
occasionally, driven before light winds, appeared fleets of daintily
shaped vessels, which reminded the beholder, by their flashing wings,
of the feigned "ship of pearl."
After the fairy ships and breezy sea views came a long, curving line
of coast, brilliant with coral sands, and indented by frequent bays,
along whose enchanting shores lay pleasant towns, the landscapes
behind them splendid with groves, meadows, and streams.
Presently the shifting photographic tape, or whatever the mechanism
may have been, appeared to have settled upon a chosen scene, and there
it rested.
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