e place in remote kingdoms
after the lapse of many ages."

"Almirvan," said the Caliph--"for such is, I am told, your name--if
your magical tube can disclose the distant scenes you speak of, it will
interest me much, and you may expect with full confidence an adequate
reward. But if your tube be in truth but a mystification for the
vulgar, under cover of which you palm off the monstrous and incredible
fictions of your imagination, why, you had better confess to me the
truth at once, and depart, because, should I discover later that it is
so, I will cause your tube to be broken and your head to be removed
from your shoulders."

"Sire," replied Almirvan, "of the truth of that which my magic tube
discloses to me I am fully persuaded, and am very willing to relate to
your Majesty plainly, and without addition or concealment, whatever I
may observe when I look through the tube. And first I must ask your
Majesty to say whether the scene I am to witness is to be distant in
space only, or also in time."

"Almirvan," said the Caliph, "I have already heard so much from the
lips of so many travellers concerning the manners and customs of other,
and even distant, countries, that your magic tube will probably have
little that is new to inform me about them. Therefore, look far into
the future, and tell me what you see; but once more I warn you to be
careful that you add nothing for the purpose of astonishing. I am
tired of hearing of men who walk with their heads under their arms--of
men as tall as trees, or short as pigmies, or other such like
travellers' monstrous stories."

The traveller, after muttering certain words of prayer or incantation,
gazed for some time steadfastly through the tube, and then, as though
describing slowly and with difficulty a scene upon which he was
looking, he said--

"I see distant, far distant, by reason of the countless leagues and
many centuries that intervene, a strange and populous country. The
land is bright and pleasant, and verdant everywhere, for water is
abundant; the white cliffs upon the frontier glisten in the water, the
land is an island of the sea. The inhabitants are unbelievers
evidently, and rude and barbarous, for their women go about with naked
faces, and every man that passes may gaze upon the best of them. The
dress of all, both men and women, is strange and hideous, and one looks
in vain for the well-folded turban, or the decent modest yashmak.

"This odd people ha