e light seemingly from
a cloud-bank far away in front of us. It dispensed a greater light, I
should say, than two full moons on the clearest night.

In twelve hours this cloud of whiteness would pass out of sight as if
eclipsed, and the twelve hours following corresponded with our night.
We early learned that these strange people were worshipers of this great
cloud of night. It was "The Smoky God" of the "Inner World."

The ship was equipped with a mode of illumination which I now presume
was electricity, but neither my father nor myself were sufficiently
skilled in mechanics to understand whence came the power to operate the
ship, or to maintain the soft beautiful lights that answered the same
purpose of our present methods of lighting the streets of our cities,
our houses and places of business.

It must be remembered, the time of which I write was the autumn of 1829,
and we of the "outside" surface of the earth knew nothing then, so to
speak, of electricity.

The electrically surcharged condition of the air was a constant
vitalizer. I never felt better in my life than during the two years my
father and I sojourned on the inside of the earth.

To resume my narrative of events; The ship on which we were sailing came
to a stop two days after we had been taken on board. My father said as
nearly as he could judge, we were directly under Stockholm or London.
The city we had reached was called "Jehu," signifying a seaport town.
The houses were large and beautifully constructed, and quite uniform in
appearance, yet without sameness. The principal occupation of the people
appeared to be agriculture; the hillsides were covered with vineyards,
while the valleys were devoted to the growing of grain.

I never saw such a display of gold. It was everywhere. The door-casings
were inlaid and the tables were veneered with sheetings of gold. Domes
of the public buildings were of gold. It was used most generously in the
finishings of the great temples of music.

Vegetation grew in lavish exuberance, and fruit of all kinds possessed
the most delicate flavor. Clusters of grapes four and five feet in
length, each grape as large as an orange, and apples larger than a man's
head typified the wonderful growth of all things on the "inside" of the
earth.

The great redwood trees of California would be considered mere
underbrush compared with the giant forest trees extending for miles and
miles in all directions. In many directions alon