noon
Others were more like the cane-plant , but taller , bearing large clusters of flowers . Others , again , had the form of enormous fungi , with short thick stems supporting a wide dome-like roof , from which either rose or drooped long slender branches . The whole scene behind , before , and beside me far as the eye could reach , was brilliant with innumerable lamps . The world without a sun was bright and warm as an Italian landscape at noon , 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 .