Looking down through the glittering atmosphere that surrounded me, I perceived what appeared to be the uplifting peak of a mountain. A halo of light rested upon its summit, and we seemed drawn toward it with a gentle force.
This mountain, I was informed, was one of a magnetic chain which belts the spirit world. In color and material it was like an opal.
I was told that a peculiar sympathy existed between it and the human spirit. When individuals on earth are in juxtaposition with this mountain they feel a strange yearning for the spirit home.
Now then the mysterious riddle is solved, thought I; and this must be the spiritual north pole!
We soon stood upon _terra-firma_, if these translucent rocks could be called _terra-firma_ which rose in glittering and polished peaks all around us. They were wonderfully iridescent, so that no bed of gorgeously-colored flowers could have filled the eye with a greater variety of tints.
A few steps around a projecting bluff brought us within sight of what appeared to me a magnificent palace of alabaster. This palace I soon learned was a hotel, or place of resort for travellers.
In ascending its polished steps I was met by some half dozen persons whom I had known. You may be sure a wonderful handshaking ensued. We remained here but a few moments, partook of refreshments, and then proceeded to the court-yard, where I was told a car awaited to carry us to our destination.
The car seemed to be a frame-work, apparently of silver wire. We now comfortably seated ourselves, when two large wings struck out from it like those of some great condor. We moved rapidly over the acclivity. This is a new way of crossing the mountains, thought I; I will have to introduce it in the Sierra Nevada and Colorados.
I inquired how the machine was propelled, and was informed, “Simply by a chemical arrangement similar to your galvanic battery.”
You may conceive my astonishment when we descended into a park of a vast city.