The Coming Race | Page 6

but the air less oppressive, the heat softer. Nor was
the scene before me void of signs of habitation. I could distinguish at a
distance, whether on the banks of the lake or rivulet, or half-way upon
eminences, embedded amidst the vegetation, buildings that must surely
be the homes of men. I could even discover, though far off, forms that
appeared to me human moving amidst the landscape. As I paused to
gaze, I saw to the right, gliding quickly through the air, what appeared
a small boat, impelled by sails shaped like wings. It soon passed out of
sight, descending amidst the shades of a forest. Right above me there
was no sky, but only a cavernous roof. This roof grew higher and
higher at the distance of the landscapes beyond, till it became
imperceptible, as an atmosphere of haze formed itself beneath.
Continuing my walk, I started,- from a bush that resembled a great
tangle of sea-weeds, interspersed with fern-like shrubs and plants of
large leafage shaped like that of the aloe or prickly-pear,- a curious
animal about the size and shape of a deer. But as, after bounding away
a few paces, it turned round and gazed at me inquisitively, I perceived
that it was not like any species of deer now extant above the earth, but
it brought instantly to my recollection a plaster cast I had seen in some

museum of a variety of the elk stag, said to have existed before the
Deluge. The creature seemed tame enough, and, after inspecting me a
moment or two, began to graze on the singular herbiage around
undismayed and careless.
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Chapter IV.
I now came in full sight of the building. Yes, it had been made by
hands, and hollowed partly out of a great rock. I should have supposed
it at the first glance to have been of the earliest form of Egyptian
architecture. It was fronted by huge columns, tapering upward from
massive plinths, and with capitals that, as I came nearer, I perceived to
be more ornamental and more fantastically graceful that Egyptian
architecture allows. As the Corinthian capital mimics the leaf of the
acanthus, so the capitals of these columns imitated the foliage of the
vegetation neighbouring them, some aloe-like, some fern-like. And
now there came out of this building a form- human;- was it human? It
stood on the broad way and looked around, beheld me and approached.
It came within a few yards of me, and at the sight and presence of it an
indescribable awe and tremor seized me, rooting my feet to the ground.
It reminded me of symbolical images of Genius or Demon that are seen
on Etruscan vases or limned on the walls of Eastern sepulchres- images
that borrow the outlines of man, and are yet of another race. It was tall,
not gigantic, but tall as the tallest man below the height of giants.
Its chief covering seemed to me to be composed of large wings folded
over its breast and reaching to its knees; the rest of its attire was
composed of an under tunic and leggings of some thin fibrous material.
It wore on its head a kind of tiara that shone with jewels, and carried in
its right hand a slender staff of bright metal like polished steel. But the
face! it was that which inspired my awe and my terror. It was the face
of man, but yet of a type of man distinct from our known extant races.
The nearest approach to it in outline and expression is the face of the
sculptured sphinx- so regular in its calm, intellectual, mysterious
beauty. Its colour was peculiar, more 13like that of the red man than

any other variety of our species, and yet different from it- a richer and a
softer hue, with large black eyes, deep and brilliant, and brows arched
as a semicircle. The face was beardless; but a nameless something in
the aspect, tranquil though the expression, and beauteous though the
features, roused that instinct of danger which the sight of a tiger or
serpent arouses. I felt that this manlike image was endowed with forces
inimical to man. As it drew near, a cold shudder came over me. I fell on
my knees and covered my face with my hands.
Chapter V.
A voice accosted me- a very quiet and very musical key of voice- in a
language of which I could not understand a word, but it served to dispel
my fear. I uncovered my face and looked up. The stranger (I could
scarcely bring myself to call him man) surveyed me with an eye that
seemed to read to the very depths of my heart. He then placed his left
hand on my forehead, and with the