Without doubt it was nightmare, and I would say nothing to them about it for fear of mockery.
Yet two nights later Oro came again and after the usual preliminaries, said: "Humphrey, this night we will visit that mighty American nation, of which you have told me so much, and the other Neutral Countries." [At this point there is a gap in Mr.Arbuthnot's M.S., so Oro's reflections on the Neutral Nations, if any, remain unrecorded.

It continues:] On our homeward way we passed over Australia, making a detour to do so.
Of the cities Oro took no account.

He said that they were too large and too many, but the country interested him so much that I gathered he must have given great attention to agriculture at some time in the past.

He pointed out to me that the climate was fine, and the land so fertile that with a proper system of irrigation and water-storage it could support tens of millions and feed not only itself but a great part of the outlying world.
"But where are the people ?" he asked.

"Outside of those huge hives," and he indicated the great cities, "I see few of them, though doubtless some of the men are fighting in this war.