BUT by what magic had this wondrous jewel group of domes and spires and minarets grown upon the platform within these few alternations of sun and dark? From my own experience of bastioning the shore I was able to understand the rapidity with which the foundations had been laid. My wonder grew all the more at the marvellous piece of art that now stood upon them; every detail was so complete and so beautiful. The giant forest aisle of Cologne Cathedral, the mosaic splendour that had overawed me within St. Peter’s, the statued frost-work of Milan, seemed to me tawdry beside the colossal domes with their jewelled magnificence and the infinite variety in simplicity of the labyrinth of arcades and galleries and arches. Yet those were the fruits of a thousand years’ faith and work; this was the product of a few days. The more I thought of it, the more bewildered I was. Thyriel divined my thoughts and saved me from my perplexity. “You have never seen the Ooloran,” she exclaimed. I asked her what it was. I could see that the word might be translated sonarchitect. Her description of it, though lucid as usual, did not convey to my slow thoughts a full idea of the instrument; and we got permission to visit Oolorefa, or the hall of architecture, the following day. In the multiplicity of wonders throughout Limanora I had failed to notice this great edifice, although it stood on a level, symmetrically cut plateau, commanding all the region in which were gathered most of the exceptionally great and magnificent structures of the island, and was but one of a series of gleaming palaces which crowned the points of the rocky spurs of Lilaroma. In each palace was concentrated some one of the services that the new civilisation had to offer to the progress of the race. I had visited a few of them, and it was part of the programme of my education to make me spend such space and time in each as the desire or the necessity arose in my life; but it had never struck me to inquire how the marvellous buildings had arisen. Nor, though I had noticed the frequent change of outward shape and ornamentation of parts of the mansion of my proparents, had I ever had leisure or curiosity to find out the reason or source of the transformations. It was delightful to see the growth of the building and to remove into the new parts; and as silently and invisibly the sections we had left vanished. I had never time to grow tired of one chamber or set of chambers before another was ready for me. It was like the growth of a palace of dreams; but I soon accepted it as one of the magic habits of the island, a natural feature of my life, never rousing query and seldom awakening even thought. So much of new and striking was crowded into the days and months and years that large portions of the civilisation had to pass uncommented on and ultimately unnoticed.