There is no preference as to the mode and method of journeying. Each of
them seems absolutely perfect. There is no physical sense of motion in
either, as we realize it.
They glide over the broad, smooth and perfectly kept roadways,
through the depths of the ether, or along the waters, with the same
imperceptible motion, and can be put to a rate of speed that makes our
limited railway trains seem like lumbering farm wagons. All resistance
of the elements seems absolutely overcome.
The power of propulsion was wholly incomprehensible at first, and
later I was only able to learn as to its principle, and left wholly to
conjecture as to its application.
Roadways, or, perhaps more properly, boulevards, interlace the
whole country. They are the perfection of road-building--smooth,
even-crowned, and free from dust, water or other offensive substance.
The surface is like a newly asphalted street, but hard and impervious,
with no depressions, cracks or flaws. The engineering could hardly be
improved on. Accepting the statements made to me that the most of these
highways have been in use for centuries, with few if any repairs, they
may be looked on as not only permanent but indestructible.
The purpose of each of them is self-evident. Every rod of it is for use
and to meet some requirement that presents itself. They are bordered,
wherever they extend, with beautiful homes, monuments and temples,
commemorative of some great achievement in civilization and progress.
The residential grounds, farms and gardens are marvels of exquisite
taste without an exception, so far as I was able to note, modeled after
countless designs, which give the earth's surface a versatility of
beauty that is enchanting.
There are farms and gardens everywhere except in a limited number of
the compact squares of cities, small and perfectly kept, and productive
in a sense and to a degree absolutely incredible to the dwellers of any
other land.
As to these roadways: They are of the uniform width of two hundred
feet wherever you find them, whether skirting sea, lake or river,
penetrating valleys or clambering around and around the ascent of the
mountains from base to apex, where some monument or temple, or both,
are perched, overlooking hundreds of square miles.
As already stated, they are everywhere as smooth and kept as clean as
a tiled floor, with a sense or quality of elasticity, and seemingly
indestructible. I would have regarded them as natural phenomena had
I not seen a mountain being terraced and a roadway being graded and
finished without any of the paraphernalia of our own methods of
engineering and construction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account