Here, at regular intervals apart, stand very finely made copper lamp-pillars. They have all been treated to what is called “oxidation”; with the result that they have an elusive sheen or polish about them that is very attractive to the eye. To further enrich them, and make them still more beautiful to behold, they are inlaid with burnished silver in pretty trailing designs borrowed from some of Australia’s best known plants of a creeping or climbing habit. Among the number may be seen the purple Sarsaparilla; the white Forest Queen, and Sturt’s Desert Pea. On the head of each pillar is placed an exact model or copy of the Southern Cross, from whose five stars there pours a flood of light from night till morning. When all the lamps in all the streets are thus sending forth their rays, the combined effect is positively glorious. The City seems, as it were, clothed in light; soft and delicate; and yet so clear as to bring to richer beauty everything it touches. Houses and gardens, clearly seen, are yet dream-like in their loveliness. Trees and Fountains; Lily ponds and Lavender beds; Water-falls, grottos, gorges, valleys; all are magically and mysteriously still, and wondrously beautiful! Viewed in this way, it is indeed a Fairy City, and a fit and proper setting for the crowning jewel of all its architectural and other wonders: The Prince’s Palace! But of that Palace, and of all its marvels, time does not permit to tell. That is a story which must be reserved for another occasion. Suffice it to say, that when it was at last finished and furnished, many there were who thought that it was time the Prince renewed his search for a wife; for here indeed was a Palace fit for any Princess on earth! THE PRINCE’S PALACE Where once the earth was brown and bare, A Prince’s Palace, wondrous rare, Now fronts the Fountain clear; A monument to those whose skill, Have made the bleak and barren hill An Eden to appear! And that fair Palace of the Prince, The like of which, nor fore nor since Has ever been achieved; Was by such master craftsmen planned, That nought, or in or out the land Like it, has been conceived! To it the rarest gifts were brought From out the realms of purest thought; And all the Beauty and the Art That far too often stand apart— Were into one great glory wrought To grace the Fairy Isle! Now the building of the Prince’s Palace was the greatest piece of work performed in Fairy Land.