Azimah, a superb-looking Eastern in picturesque white garments, put his hands to his head in submission and retired to give the order. In another few moments the dahabeah had stopped. A great silence was around us,--the moonlight fell like yellow wine on the deck,--in the far distance across the stretches of dark sand, a solitary column towered so clear-cut against the sky that it was almost possible to discern upon it the outline of a monstrous face. Lucio stood still, confronting me,--saying nothing, but looking me steadily through and through, with those wonderful mystic, melancholy eyes that seemed to penetrate and burn my very flesh. I was attracted as a bird might be by the basilisk eyes of a snake,--yet I tried to smile and say something indifferent. My efforts were useless,--personal consciousness was slipping from me fast,--the sky, the water and the moon whirled round each other in a giddy chase for precedence;--I could not move, for my limbs seemed fastened to my chair with weights of iron, and I was for a few minutes absolutely powerless. Then suddenly my vision cleared (as I thought)--my senses grew vigorous and alert, ... I heard the sound of solemn marching music, and there,--there in the full radiance of the moon, with a thousand lights gleaming forth from high cupolas, shone the 'City Beautiful'! [4] Said in the author's hearing by one of the 'lady leaders' of 'smart' society. XXXIX A vision of majestic buildings, vast, stately and gigantic!----of streets crowded with men and women in white and coloured garments adorned with jewels,--of flowers that grew on the roofs of palaces and swung from terrace to terrace in loops and garlands of fantastic bloom,--of trees, broad-branched and fully leafed,--of marble embankments overlooking the river,--of lotus-lilies growing thickly below, by the water's edge,--of music that echoed in silver and brazen twangings from the shelter of shady gardens and covered balconies,--every beautiful detail rose before me more distinctly than an ivory carving mounted on an ebony shield. Just opposite where I stood or seemed to stand, on the deck of a vessel in the busy harbour, a wide avenue extended, opening up into huge squares embellished with strange figures of granite gods and animals,--I saw the sparkling spray of many fountains in the moonlight, and heard the low persistent hum of the restless human multitudes that thronged the place as thickly as bees clustered in a hive. To the left of the scene I could discern a huge bronze gate guarded by sphinxes; there was a garden beyond it, and from that depth of shade a girl's voice, singing a strange wild melody, came floating towards me on the breeze. Meanwhile the marching music I had first of all caught the echo of, sounded nearer and nearer,--and presently I perceived a great crowd approaching with lighted torches and garlands of flowers. Soon I saw a band of priests in brilliant robes