I had thought that, during my long residence in the island and in my countless flights over it, I had come to know every public institution existing on it. But I was mistaken again. In our course we chose a direction that for a space was one I had several times taken. But soon we bent out of the usual track up Lilaroma, and turning one of its western spurs, made for a deep valley which was concealed from view, except to voyagers towards the sunset. Here we found the air filled with wings and airships streaming onwards. It was a beautiful sight, this navy of the sky fleeting across the snows of Lilaroma, or winnowing the depths of the azure. We had been on the adjoining coast of the island, and had not to strike far upwards in order to reach our destination. So the air-fleet moved far above us, most of it having to round the heights of the gleaming mountain. Nothing could surpass the grace with which they took their way through the heaven, now to this point, now to that; and after a time I could hear the movement of their wings, like the rustle of silken sails. In gazing dreamily upwards, I had allowed myself to drop too near the earth, and in order to reach the goal of our flight exactly I had to take another long rise. Thereafter my gaze was bent earthwards on a still more beautiful sight beneath me. A broad valley narrowed coastwards to a deep gorge and mountainwards into a rift in the rocks. The river which had sculptured this singular amphitheatre had been deflected by an artificial channel into the centre of force, but was allowed at times to sweep its old bed free of the débris of rocks and vegetation. Up each side vibrated in the air tier upon tier of their automatic rests, enough to accommodate a nation. All lay open to the sky; yet there was a subdued light down in the hollow of the vale, that soothed the eyes tired with the gleam of the blue and snow above; and this twilight deepened into gloom towards the head and the exit of the valley. Only in the afternoon, as the sun westered, it shot its level rays through the chasm at the entrance, and mellowed the gloom even of the ravine at the upper end with its golden light. And at sunset the concentration of the many-coloured rays through the gorge had a striking effect upon the whole amphiteatre; it was as if a theatrical artist were lighting it up for some supernatural scene.