Page:Meda - a tale of the future.djvu/100

96 not injure a single petal. There were no roads in this country, no railways, nothing but land and water, river, lake, gardens and mountains. I noticed that I had not seen a single animal except the little beasts like rabbits and hares that I saw among the ruins. No horses, no cows, no dogs. Of birds, there were a number of the smaller singing varieties, and many that were beautiful in plumage, but the Recorder told me there still existed many beasts and reptiles.

We came now to a country of hill and lake. The hillsides were laid out in the same way as the undulating country. Houses and gardens—no fields of corn, no utilitarian tillage—all appeared to be laid out for pleasure and intellectual enjoyment. Over the surface of the lakes there moved hundreds of little fairy-like boats that sped along at great speed without any apparent means of propulsion; in these were sitting, happy, laughing people, some alone, some with children, some playing musical instruments, some talking with their friends in