OPENING OF THE WATERWAY INTO ETZOINA LOISA.
January 19th, 1895.
De L'Ester—Good-morning, madame. As we promised, so have we come in a body to escort you to Ento, and we have joined in your earnest invocation to Divine Influences to guard and guide you in the ways of truth, and to Inidora̤'s fervent response, "Evoiha̤a̤, ino ēvosta̤n, tsû felistan, ra̤û, ra̤û, ra̤û," we also have responded, for we, too, desire the guardianship and guidance of exalted spirits, whose angelic ministrations assist all aspiring souls. This morning we find you difficult of control. You appear timorous and disturbed. Cannot you trust yourself to our care, who never have failed you? Compose yourself, pray, and passively yield yourself to our protection, but first instruct your watchful Vena to not allow you to be disturbed for two or more hours. That is well arranged, and now close your eyes and be at rest.
George, we are ready for our journey, and you, comrades, will lead the way. You no longer are afraid, and is not this motion and the views grand, glorious and exhilarating? Truly, it is well that your experiences while with us are as half remembered dreams, otherwise they would unfit you for the routine of mortal existence. You now understand that this journey to Ento is the fulfillment of our promise to afford you the pleasure of witnessing the opening of the great Central Waterway into Etzoina̤ Loisa̤. Yes, the further wall of the Loisa̤ has been pierced, but the continuation of the System is not yet in readiness for either navigation or irrigation. Yes, we will proceed directly to Etzoina̤ Loisa̤, else we may miss some features of the pageant. Now that we are nearing the lake we will descend to such an altitude as will afford you a view of the entire spectacle. At times we lose sight of the fact that your vision is not so far reaching as our own. A little lower, George. Now is every object clear to your vision?
Gentola—Quite so.
De L'Ester—Then for the present we will remain where we are, and we have arrived none too early, for, coming from every direction are air Transports laden to repletion with eagerly curious Entoans, and from north, south and west small water craft laden with men, women and children are hastening along the canals leading to the lake, where already a multitude of people have assembled. Look westward, madame, and attempt a description of the scene presenting itself.
Gentola—As far as my vision reaches I see the sparkling water of the great Waterway, and of the intersecting canals. Scarcely four months have elapsed since we visited this region and at that time you informed me that only recently had the barren lands come under the influence of irrigation. In this brief interval nature has accomplished a miracle in so quickly converting what then was little more than waste lands into fertile fields, covered with luxuriant verdure and blooming plants, and it is quite as amazing to observe the many villages and structures of various kinds which have been erected since we were here. It seems incredible that such vast improvements should have been accomplished in such a brief time. Some of the peoples of our Planet are very enterprising, but I question their ability to successfully compete with the quiet, persistent, industrious Entoans, whose very superior mechanical appliances greatly facilitate their undertakings, but even then the results are surprising.
Dear me, what a wonderfully strange scene. Those air Transports hover over the lake like great birds, and the rising and falling tones of their whirring climbers are really musical. I wish I were clever enough to understand how they are constructed and controlled in their movements, and how—oh, De L'Ester, George, Bernard, see, see, yonder in the west is a fleet of large vessels and numerous smaller ones coming toward Etzoina̤. How swiftly the great vessels are advancing, leaving in their wake tumultuous billows of snowy foam. The foremost vessel is quite covered with rodels, and there are ropes of rodels, wreaths of rodels, banners of rodels, and around the entire deck is a fringe of rodels trailing their creamy beauty quite to the surface of the foaming water. Surely it has taken all the rodels on the planet to so bedeck the great vessel. All the large vessels are similarly decorated, each one with a single variety of flower, and how very beautiful they all appear. Now I hear strains of music, and on the decks of the vessels I perceive many people, and as the fleet draws nearer, nearer, I perceive on the rodel-decked vessel a group of persons whom I seem to remember. Yes, surely, one is the Supreme Ruler, Omanos Fûnha̤, and by his side is Basto Andûlēsa̤ and other stately looking officials, accompanied by a number of lovely women, one of whom is Madame Ontellena Andûlēsa̤, by whose side are the Most High Priest Ozynas Dûlsa̤, and Dano, in Priestly garb. Ah, how vividly the closing scene of our Mission returns to my memory, but I must not now think of that. On Dano's youthful, handsome face is an expression of exaltation and of peace passing the understanding of those who know not that the individual conscious existence of Spirit has neither beginning or ending, and it fills my heart with gladness to know that into the lives of the once despairing Entoans has entered the joy of the new Revelation. De L'Ester, really I cannot convey a correct idea of this marvellous scene, so I pray you to permit me to desist from attempting the impossible.