Tortoise shell gleamed from couches and divans, and the wall, inlaid with gems, shimmered with brocades of the most painstaking design. Huge palms grew placidly in bronze vessels framing a fountain of alabaster nymphs while flower boxes, encrusted with gems, competed with their contents for attention. No visitor to Hafid's palace could doubt that he was, indeed, a person of great wealth.

• Giant trees hemmed in the small pool.
• The trunks of trees crowded the cliff.
• Dead leaves carpeted the rocky shelf.
• The rolling green ocean stretched away.
• The forest thinned out and ceased abruptly, giving way to a dotted plain.
• The walls of a city rose skyward.
• Trees spread their leaves overhead.