As we approached, I directed my eyes eagerly upon Thalos, which even at a distance appeared strikingly different from Archeon. Indeed, it appeared strikingly different from any city I had ever seen, for no streets or thoroughfares of any kind were visible, and, as we drew near, the various buildings seemed to merge in a long unbroken line dominated by turrets, domes and spires spaced at geometrical intervals; and all those domes and spires flashed and sparkled with a multi-colored light, which changed in hue and intensity with every step we took and was elusive and yet vivid as the glittering of innumerable gems. So awe-stricken was I that I scarcely thought of questioning my companions, but hastened toward this alluring city. And the nearer I approached the more dazzled I was. By degrees I came to realize that a high wall surrounded the town; but this wall brought no reminders of the fortified bulwarks of ancient cities, for its outlines were graceful and pleasing, its color an agreeable dark blue, and its evident purpose ornamental. And when I had come within a few hundred yards of the city, I observed that its blueness was translucent, indicating that the building material was glass!--and, judging from the peculiar glistening and glinting of the towers projecting above the wall, I wondered whether stained glass were not the substance of the entire town! This, in fact, I discovered was so. Having passed through the wall by means of a little arched gateway invisible at a distance, I found myself in what might have been a city out of the Arabian Nights. I cannot say with certainty whether I beheld a single building or a hundred, or whether I stood in an open court or in a street; for before me spread a wide expanse of glass masonry, of arches and covered galleries, of steeples and cupolas and winding balconies; and all this masonry seemed to be joined in a more or less unified whole. There may have been individual edifices, but there was no edifice not connected with its neighbors by arching walls or overhead passageways; there may have been streets winding through this wilderness of glass, but it struck me that there were only open spaces alternating with twining glass-roofed corridors. Yet, however bizarre the total impression (and bizarre it was beyond all imagining), there was also a certain unity that prevented the city from appearing grotesque; and its various segments, in their garments of lavender or pale blue or turquoise or vivid ruby, fitted together as perfectly as the parts of an intricate and beautiful mosaic.