Still anxious for water, he proceeded as straight ahead as he could, and shortly became conscious of an indefinite cloud which kept pace with him on either side.  When he turned to look at either of the clouds, the one looked at disappeared.  It was not condensed enough to be visible to direct vision, yet he was aware of it from the corner of his eye.  Shapeless and threatening, the gloomy thickness of the air floated beside him like the vague monster of a dream.  Sometimes he fancied that he saw an arm or a limb among the folds of the cloud, or an approach to a face; the instant he looked it vanished.  Marching at each hand these vapours bore him horrible company.

His brain became unsteady, and flickering things moved about him; yet, though alarmed, he was not afraid; his senses were not acute enough for fear.  The heat increased; his hands were intolerably hot as if he had been in a fever, he panted; but did not perspire.  A dry heat like an oven burned his blood in his veins.  His head felt enlarged, and his eyes seemed alight; he could see these two globes of phosphoric light under his brows.  They seemed to stand out so that he could see them.  He thought his path straight, it was really curved; nor did he know that he staggered as he walked.

Presently a white object appeared ahead; and on coming to it, he found it was a wall, white as snow, with some kind of crystal.  He touched it, when the wall fell immediately, with a crushing sound as if pulverised, and disappeared in a vast cavern at his feet.  Beyond this chasm he came to more walls like those of houses, such as would be left if the roofs fell in.  He carefully avoided touching them, for they seemed as brittle as glass, and merely a white powder having no consistency at all.  As he advanced these remnants of buildings increased in number, so that he had to wind in and out round them.  In some places the crystallized wall had fallen of itself, and he could see down into the cavern; for the house had either been built partly underground, or, which was more probable, the ground had risen.  Whether the walls had been of bricks or stone or other material he could not tell; they were now like salt.

Soon wearying of winding round these walls, Felix returned and retraced his steps till he was outside the place, and then went on towards the left.  Not long after, as he still walked in a dream and without feeling his feet, he descended a slight slope and found the ground change in colour from black to a dull red.  In his dazed state he had taken several steps into this red before he noticed that it was liquid, unctuous and slimy, like a thick oil.  It deepened rapidly and was already over his shoes; he returned to the black shore and stood looking out over the water, if such it could be called.

The luminous yellow vapour had now risen a height of ten or fifteen feet, and formed a roof both over the land and over the red water, under which it was possible to see for a great distance.  The surface of the red oil or viscid liquid was perfectly smooth, and, indeed, it did not seem as if any wind could rouse a wave on it, much less that a swell should be left after the gale had gone down.  Disappointed in his search for water to drink, Felix mechanically turned to go back.