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[The Blog of Phileas Fogg: 1883 onwards] September 27th 1884

From: Harry Hayfield <harryhayfield~at~googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Jul 2009 14:46:22 -0700 (PDT)
To: jvf~at~gilead.org.il

Well, it's been a very long time in coming but today we finally made it
and arrived in Stones Hill, Florida. We rolled into Tampa's main
station this morning and by mid afternoon (after travelling in a
stagecoach) we arrived at something rather uninspiring namely a large
bank of earth. Mr. Barbicane told us that Stones Hill was just over the
bank and so we started to climb up it. After about ten minutes
Passepartout and William started to complain but Mr. Barbicane
convinced us all to carry on and what a good thing we did, because what
we saw amazed us and I am only sad that I couldn't take a picture (for
fear of what Mr. Barbicane would say about this box of tricks) but let
me try and describe it.

A sprawling metropolis is the closest I can think. At the edge of the
city (for want of a better word) were loads of small cottages and then
as you got nearer to the centre you saw all the various parts of the
city. Places where the residents could shop, then industrial centres,
and then right in the middle what appeared to be a great big hole. When
I asked Mr. Barbicane what it was he laughed and hit me so hard on the
back I nearly stumbled.

We were invited to join Mr. Barbicane that evening for dinner and were
also granted the chance to sleep in his house (which is where I am
now). I am told that tomorrow will be a special day for the residents
of Stones Hill and to celebrate a game of baseball will be played where
the fathers and sons can join in. I personally have never played
baseball but William tells me it's rather like rounders (and as William
is a bit of a whizz at the game, there's a good chance that we Limeys
might be able to show the Yanks a thing or two)

--
Posted By Harry Hayfield to The Blog of Phileas Fogg: 1883 onwards on
7/09/2009 10:45:00 PM

Received on Fri 10 Jul 2009 - 00:46:30 IDT

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