228 Shadowings 



accompanied by remembrance of like dreams 

 in the past, as well as by the conviction that 1 

 have really found out a secret, really acquired a 

 new faculty. " This time, at all events," I say 

 to myself, "it is impossible that I can be mis 

 taken ; I know that I shall be able to fly after 

 I awake. Many times before, in other dreams, I 

 learned the secret only to forget it on awakening ; 

 but this time I am absolutely sure that I shall not 

 forget." And the conviction actually stays with 

 me until I rise from bed, when the physical effort 

 at once reminds me of the formidable reality of 

 gravitation. 



The oddest part of this experience is the feel 

 ing of buoyancy. It is much like the feeling of 

 floating, of rising or sinking through tepid 

 water, for example ; and there is no sense of 

 real effort. It is a delight ; yet it usually leaves 

 something to be desired. I am a low flyer ; I can 

 proceed only like a pteromys or a flying-fish 

 and far less quickly: moreover, I must tread 

 earth occasionally in order to obtain a fresh 

 impulsion. I seldom rise to a height of more 

 than twenty-five or thirty feet; the greater 

 part of the time 1 am merely skimming sur- 



