The sea! gloom once more! I can see nothing but darkness, yet penetrated by faint gleams of light.... The wash of many waves break on my ears.... Overhead a sky veiled in clouds, beneath the black breast of ocean, heaving restlessly in white lines of foam.... I smell the salt brine of the ocean.... The keen wind lashes my face as with a whip.... Ho! yeo, ho!... the sailors are at work.... Hark! the throb of a heart. Beat! beat! beat! beat! It is the beating of the propeller blades now striking the water ... I am in the engine-room ... the pistons slide silently in and out of the cylinders.... Now the giant cranks rise and fall with monotonous motion ... and yon gleaming steel shaft, revolving rapidly, turns the screw in the dark waters without ... the hiss of escaping steam ... the whirling of wheels ... the sudden burst of red flame from the furnace ... I am carried across the ocean ... whither? Earth! at last the land.... Mother of all things, I salute thee ... this bleak beach on which dash the waves ... the soft odour of the wind sways the trees on yonder promontory.... I hear the measured dip of oars ... the grating of the boat's keel on the stones.... Ha! I am in the hands of demons ... their eyes glare as they lift me from boat to litter.... The curtains are dropped, and I feel the swing and sway of the litter being carried up steep heights.... This is a primeval forest ... green as the sea ... scarcely so restless ... the warm wind stirs the giant branches ... what crowded hues ... and lo! the flash of brilliant flowers ... the odour of spices.... Brilliant birds flit from branch to branch like flying gems.... I hear the singing of choirs invisible ... the birds!... Yes, birds only.... Garlands of flowers trail from the trees ... beneath their shadow the grass is crowded with blossoms ... wherever I step a flower springs to being ... those pools of still water blue as turquoise ... the Indian conjurer!... I see him hiding amid the frondage ... look!... the saurian!... Oh, the frightful monster.... Preadamite!... begotten in chaos slime.... Trees! trees! trees without end.... The earth is one vast forest, and I alone wander therein.... Snow!... a vast expanse of snow ... for miles and leagues.... No! it is salt lying in thin flakes on the brown earth ... the surface glitters in the moonlight as if it were ice.... Far and wide whirl thin white pillars of salt in the grip of the wind.... Lot's wife! Ha! Ha! Nay, no woman do I see, but salt on all hands ... like snow ... and moon freezing crystals.... The forest again ... more trees ... birds ... odours.... Hark! a song ... 'tis the dancing-girls who sing ... I heard them call ... I see them shake their anklets of gold ... the cymbals crash ... the trinkets shine. Can you not hear the roll of the serpent-skin drums?...