Having passed through one of the Entrance Gates, the first thing to strike the eye is a long path covered with golden coloured gravel. On either side of the path there is a green grass border. One of the reasons for having these borders is, that gold and green are Australia’s National colours, and as the Fairies are very patriotic, it is easy to understand the significance or meaning of this delightful arrangement. [[49]]
“To see the city at its best, it must be viewed at night.”
[[51]]
At each of the Gates an exactly similar path may be seen. They run in straight lines to the Fountain and Gardens at the top of the Hill; and they are laid directly over the tunnels that carry the water from the Magic Well to the Lake. As a consequence, they serve more than one purpose. Firstly, they divide the city into four great triangles of exactly equal dimensions. Next, they give access from the four cardinal points of the Compass to the Prince’s Palace and to the Fountain Gardens. Lastly, whilst completely hiding the tunnels from view, they make them easy to get at in case of accident. To have had any buildings above or across the water tunnels would have been a very great mistake; for quite apart from the difficulty of making repairs, if such were necessary, the weight of the erections might have brought about the very trouble it was desirable to avoid.
All the other paths run in circles. There are very many of them; but their number has never been told. Facing all the paths or streets, Fairy Houses have been built—dainty little dwellings of the quaintest patterns imaginable; but all of them having a piece of garden ground to add to the effect. The houses of the Prince’s officers and the Fairy Leaders are on the four main straight streets; those of the other Fairies are on what may be termed the circular streets. The Prince has had reserved for his own use a very fine piece of land facing the Fountain on the flat top of the Hill. Here his wonderful Palace is erected, the foundations for which were laid even before the Lake was made.
But to see the City at its best, it must be viewed at night, when the artistic lighting arrangements show it up in all its glory.
Before attempting to describe the lights, or the perfectly entrancing effects they produce, it has to be stated that the streets are, by the Fairies themselves, called the “streets of the stars.” Hence it is quite common to hear such names as the “Street of the Southern Cross”; the “Street of Orion”; the “Street of Canopus”; or the “Street of Mars.” This arises from the fact that Stars and constellations have been used as lighting models. The constellations, or groups of stars, are in use for the broader streets, and at all crossing centres; whilst the stars have been copied for the narrower streets and for the watch-towers on the wall. [[52]]
As an example of many others, the Street of the Southern Cross will do to illustrate the way in which the City is lighted.
Here, at regular intervals apart, stand very finely made copper lamp-pillars. They have all been treated to what is called “oxidation”; with the result that they have an elusive sheen or polish about them that is very attractive to the eye. To further enrich them, and make them still more beautiful to behold, they are inlaid with burnished silver in pretty trailing designs borrowed from some of Australia’s best known plants of a creeping or climbing habit. Among the number may be seen the purple Sarsaparilla; the white Forest Queen, and Sturt’s Desert Pea. On the head of each pillar is placed an exact model or copy of the Southern Cross, from whose five stars there pours a flood of light from night till morning. When all the lamps in all the streets are thus sending forth their rays, the combined effect is positively glorious. The City seems, as it were, clothed in light; soft and delicate; and yet so clear as to bring to richer beauty everything it touches. Houses and gardens, clearly seen, are yet dream-like in their loveliness. Trees and Fountains; Lily ponds and Lavender beds; Water-falls, grottos, gorges, valleys; all are magically and mysteriously still, and wondrously beautiful! Viewed in this way, it is indeed a Fairy City, and a fit and proper setting for the crowning jewel of all its architectural and other wonders: The Prince’s Palace!