"The City of delights. The beloved of the Angels."
The power of the sun in my world is great, and the heat and light are
excessive. The great heat being, however, tempered by cooling,
refreshing winds, and gushing waters, is to our constitutions generally
agreeable, except at the period called the extreme season.
The colours in the sky are in great variety, and of exceeding
transparency and brightness, some parts presenting masses of gorgeous
reds, golden colours, rich greens, and pinks of many shades.
The skies present also the appearance of a most irregular and uneven
surface--as though there were high hills, some with their peaks, some
with their bases, towards the earth, and with large spaces between, so
that whilst in one part these hill-peaks and bases appear only a few
miles off, other parts of the sky seem very distant.
In vast mountainous and rocky regions is built our great city called
Montalluyah, that is, "God's own City."
What are called the _External World Cities_ are built on the base sides
and summits of many peaked mountains, rocks, hills, and promontories,
girded, intersected, and undermined by the sea.
The City is divided into 200 districts each known by a name indicative of
the situation:--
The Upper Mountain City,
Summit City,
Topmost Point City,
The Lower City,
Down City,
Side City,
Lower Under City,
Sea City,
Vale City,
Ravine City,
Side Country,
The Internal City,
and similar designations.
Before my reign each of these districts formed a separate city. Great or
rather petty jealousies existed between them, and much evil was the
result; for they treated each other as rivals, and often as enemies. I
decreed that all the districts should be called by one name, that the
inhabitants of all should enjoy the same system of laws and government,
the same customs and polity, and form as it were one family. I did many
things to cement the union. I executed, too, numerous great works which
assisted in promoting the growth of universal brotherhood. Many cities
which formerly lay at immense distances from each other, separated by
intervening mountains of immense height, I united by perforating the
rocks, and building spacious galleries through the hearts and bases of
the mountains, and by throwing "aerial" bridges from one mountain peak
to another. Henceforth I shall speak of all these cities as
"Montalluyah."
Palaces and edifices of various forms, their gilded spires and minarets
inlaid with many coloured transparent stones which sparkle in our
brilliant sun, stand on undulating sinuous ridges, peaks, and terraces,
rising one above the other in endless and irregular succession.
The houses are mostly curved, oval, or round. In Montalluyah straight
lines are avoided. The houses are built principally with a white stone,
mingled with a peculiar stone of a bright sky-blue colour, both stones
repellent of heat.
Gardens and verdure separate the houses one from the other. Most of the
gardens are arranged in curvilinear lines, the houses being placed at
the central point of the inner and outer curve alternately, so that each
alternate house is on the outer centre of the garden curve, and each
alternate house is on the inner centre of the adjoining curve. The
undulating lines of terraces are broken by gigantic masses of rock of
various colours, red, green, golden, white, blue, silver, brown, and
variegated--rocks of carbuncle, lapis lazuli, malachite, gold-stone, and
many-coloured marbles.
These rocks and undulations are intersected by ravines, rivers, inlets
of the sea, lakes, and cataracts, reflecting the many tints of the
gorgeously coloured sky and the rays of our vividly bright sun, filling
our city as it were with aureoles of glory.
In many parts the sea has made itself a hidden way, and runs its course
for miles under the rocks, appearing again at great distances in one of
the interior inland cities, perhaps at the bottom of a deep ravine or
open space; and the waters are often raised and collected for use and
ornament in fountains and artificial cascades called water-lifts: whilst
springs of fresh water gush out of the rocks, affording refreshment to
the sun-parched and many-coloured grasses, flowers, and vegetation.
Great cataracts and artificial cascades often form the background to a
great building or colossal statue. The effect of these large masses of
water viewed from all parts is extremely grand and beautiful.
Sometimes the ravines, rivers, cataracts, and sea-arms are passed by
huge bridges of the natural rocks, perforated by the sea, or opened by
man to render navigation possible. Sometimes bridges miles in length are
thrown across a great cataract or immense chasm where the rocks have
been relentlessly torn asunder by the lightning and other electrical
disturbances.
All the large bridges are covered with houses and gardens, which at a
distance seem air-suspended cities, hanging without support over rivers,
cataracts, large cities, and aggregations of houses.
Everything conducive to health is attended to: the supply of water to
every part of the city is unlimited, and in each house, whether of rich
or poor, is a bath, for sea and for fresh water.
We have "violet streams," which run for miles over beds of violets white
and blue. The water of these is preserved in tanks erected at the end of
the streams, trenches being cut to assist the flow. It has a delicious
flavour, and is used for various beverages, but not for culinary
purposes, since, when mixed with certain things, it turns black and
loses its fragrance.
Trees, plants, and flowers perfume the air with their fragrance; whilst
birds of endless variety and richest plumage have their nests in the
tall and wide-spreading trees of varied-coloured foliage and fill the
air with their music. In the trees are placed artificial nests to entice
the birds; these invite others, which build their nests spontaneously.
The trees are large, their branches and rich foliage spread themselves
in graceful lines to a long distance on every side and afford pleasing
shade, their gauzy leaves subduing the light and producing the effect of
soft rainbow tints. The trees also emit perfume.
The music of the birds harmonizes with the refreshing sounds of the
running waters, cascades, and fountains; and that the effect on the mind
of these beautiful harmonies may not be disturbed, the wheels of our
chariots as well as the horses' hoofs are bound with a peculiar hide
which, besides possessing great toughness and durability, has the
property of deadening sound. Thus none but the most agreeable sounds
reach the ear, whilst the senses are charmed with aromatic odours and
the eye is pleased with beauty of every kind.
Arched galleries and passages through the hills and mountains, partly
perforated by the sea or electric fire, and enlarged by the industry of
man, have a subdued light and make an impression of another kind, the
red light in these perforated roads answering to the red shade of the
outer world. These galleries and openings in the rocks are used to
shorten distances from one side of a mountain to another.
The whole city is full of animation. The illuminated sky, the variegated
plumage of the birds, the moving myriads of human beings, clad in rich
costumes of divers colours; horses, elephants, camels, and camelopards,
richly caparisoned; carriages gorgeously decorated, the golden domes of
the houses, the many-coloured rocks reflecting themselves in the waters
and in the brilliant skies, with their own aerial peaks and mountains
brilliant and bright with our powerful sunlight--all these combine to
produce a gorgeous spectacle. Moreover, the constantly recurring
undulations and tortuousness of the ground are so great that it is
difficult to proceed for a few minutes without meeting an entire change
of scenery, as though one had reached a new city.
At one moment are seen mountain peaks rising almost perpendicularly to
the skies in varying height, then a little turn brings the spectator on
forests of houses, with ornamental gilded domes and hives of human
beings.
Overhanging rock and mountain-forms of varied colours, the skies now
scarcely seen, now reflecting their gorgeous tints in the sparkling
rivers, cascades, and upheaving masses of water, these and much more
form a picture of which words of fire would fail to convey a sufficient
idea to those accustomed to the sober, though beautifully subdued tints
of your skies.