Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“ When I recovered I was in a strange room, my host and all his family were gathered round me, and to my utter amaze my host's daughter accosted me in my own language with but a slightly foreign accent.
"How do you feel?" she asked It was some moments before I could overcome my surprise enough to falter out, "You know my language? How? Who and what are you?"
My host smiled and motioned to one of his sons, who then took from a table a number of thin metallic sheets on which were traced drawings of various figures—a house, a tree, a bird, a man, &c. ”