thought he would go on until he came to some creek or valley, and
then turn up it. The sun's rays were cheering, and began to relieve
him of his oppressive night weight. After strolling along the beach
for about a mile, he was stopped by a broad stream that flowed into
the sea out of a kind of natural gateway in the line of cliffs. Its
water was of a beautiful, limpid green, all filled with bubbles. So
ice-cold, aerated, and enticing did it look that he flung himself
face downward on the ground and took a prolonged draught. When he
got up again his eyes started to play pranks--they became
alternately blurted and clear.... It may have been pure imagination,
but he fancied that Digrung was moving inside him.

He followed the bank of the stream through the gap in the cliffs, and
then for the first time saw the real Matterplay. A valley appeared,
like a jewel enveloped by naked rock. All the hill country was bare
and lifeless, but this valley lying in the heart of it was extremely
fertile; he had never seen such fertility. It wound up among the
hills, and all that he was looking at was its broad lower end. The
floor of the valley was about half a mile wide; the stream that ran
down its middle was nearly a hundred feet across, but was exceedingly
shallow--in most places not more than a few inches deep. The sides
of the valley were about seventy feet high, but very sloping; they
were clothed from top to bottom with little, bright-leaved trees--
not of varied tints of one colour, like Earth trees, but of widely
diverse colours, most of which were brilliant and positive.

The floor itself was like a magician's garden. Densely interwoven
trees, shrubs, and parasitical climbers fought everywhere for
possession of it. The forms were strange and grotesque, and each one
seemed different; the colours of leaf, flower, sexual organs, and