the table, the pleasures of books, a constant view outside, and other comforts; also conversation, but with the owners only, who alone, by means of the sehen-microphones, could make themselves acquainted with his every movement by sound and sight, although such a contingency was extremely unlikely to arise. The owners’ quarters and those portions of the saloon and observatory containing the controlling-switches were so protected as to render approach by any one except themselves impossible. Probably the greatest stock required would be water, which, up to a few centuries ago, had not been thought capable of more than slight compression, but about that time some explorers entered an underground city named the “City of Earth” and were shown by the governor, Antistes,[A] how to compress water into the form of a cord, when, like twine, it could be coiled into balls and stored for an indefinite length of time if in air-tight cases. When a small piece of this is cut off and subjected to the movement of friction, it rapidly becomes liquid, a piece a few inches long providing several gallons of distilled water. Thousands of these large balls were stocked so that each person could have an abundant supply during the whole of the voyage. This was not expected to be of longer duration than a year, or two at the outside, but sufficient provisions were taken for a seven years’ absence, so that if any unforeseen delay should occur there would be ample food for all. [Footnote A: “The Immortal Light.”] These arrangements were soon finished, and in making the alterations in the ship to accommodate so large a party and to provide the extra working space required, the present owners followed the lead of the original builders by employing each man on a portion only of one job, leaving another to complete, they themselves fixing the necessary secret connections and fittings after the men had prepared the way for they knew not what.