This automobile car in shape seemed a compound of the back of a turtle and a Siamese temple, and was of extraordinary magnificence. Both front and rear tapered down to the solid platinum framework of the wheels, that extended beyond the car at both ends, the projections simulating the heads of monsters that held each between their jaws one hundred cells of triple metal, which developed a tremendous force.
The priests chanted the following ode to the sacred locomotive:
"Glorious annihilator of time and space, lord of distance, imperial courier.
"Hail, swift and sublime man-created god, hail colossal and bright wheel!
"Thy wheels adamant, thy frame platinum, thy cells terrelium, aquelium!
"Thou art lightning shivering on the metals, thy breathless flights affright Atvatabar!
"The affluence of life animates thy form, that flashes through valleys and on mountains high!
"The forests roar as thou goest past, the gorge echoes thy thunder!
