Page 64 - THE TIME MACHINE

The Time Machine

progress I could in the language, and in addition I pushed
my explorations here and there. Either I missed some
subtle point or their language was excessively simple—
almost exclusively composed of concrete substantives and

verbs. There seemed to be few, if any, abstract terms, or
little use of figurative language. Their sentences were
usually simple and of two words, and I failed to convey or
understand any but the simplest propositions. I determined
to put the thought of my Time Machine and the mystery
of the bronze doors under the sphinx as much as possible
in a corner of memory, until my growing knowledge
would lead me back to them in a natural way. Yet a
certain feeling, you may understand, tethered me in a
circle of a few miles round the point of my arrival.
‘So far as I could see, all the world displayed the same
exuberant richness as the Thames valley. From every hill I
climbed I saw the same abundance of splendid buildings,
endlessly varied in material and style, the same clustering
thickets of evergreens, the same blossom-laden trees and
tree-ferns. Here and there water shone like silver, and
beyond, the land rose into blue undulating hills, and so
faded into the serenity of the sky. A peculiar feature,
which presently attracted my attention, was the presence
of certain circular wells, several, as it seemed to me, of a

63 of 148