d sent his spirit back at once to London as
a man runs into his house when the thunder comes.

"And therefore," he continued, "in the desiderate city, in London, all
their camels are pure white. Remarkable is the swiftness of their
horses, that draw their chariots that are of ivory along those sandy
ways and that are of surpassing lightness, they have little bells of
silver upon their horses' heads. O Friend of God, if you perceived
their merchants! The glory of their dresses in the noonday! They are
no less gorgeous than those butterflies that float about their
streets. They have overcloaks of green and vestments of azure, huge
purple flowers blaze on their overcloaks, the work of cunning needles,
the centres of the flowers are of gold and the petals of purple. All
their hats are black--" ("No, no," said the Sultan)--"but irises are
set about the brims, and green plumes float above the crowns of them.

"They have a river that is named the Thames, on it their ships go up
with violet sails bringing incense for the braziers that perfume the
streets, new songs exchanged for gold with alien tribes, raw silver
for the statues of their heroes, gold to make balconies where the
women sit, great sapphires to reward their poets with, the secrets of
old cities and strange lands, the earning of the dwellers in far
isles, emeralds, diamonds, and the hoards of the sea. And whenever a
ship comes into port and furls its violet sails and the news spreads
through London that she has come, then all the merchants go down to
the river to barter, and all day long the chariots whirl through the
streets, and the sound of their going is a mighty roar all day until
evening, their roar is even like--"

"Not so," said the Sultan.

"Truth is not hidden from the Friend of God," replied the
hasheesh-eater, "I have erred being drunken with the hasheesh, for in
the desiderate city, even in London, so thick upon the ways is the
white sea-sand with which the city glimmers that no sound comes from
the path of the charioteers, but they go softly like a light
sea-wind." ("It is well," said the Sultan.) "They go softly down to
the port where the vessels are, and the merchandise in from the sea,
amongst the wonders that the sailors show, on land by the high ships,
and softly they go though swiftly at evening back to their homes.

"O would that the Munificent, the Illustrious, the Friend of God, had
even seen these things, had seen the jewellers with thei