CHAPTER VIII.
THE CRATER LAND.
A man of dignified and venerable mien stepped from the crowd, andfollowed by a train of youths and maidens, each bearing a vase or a trayof fruit and flowers, came towards the car. While yet some ten or twelvepaces distant he stopped, and saluted Gazen and myself by lifting hishands gracefully in the air, and bowing his head. After we hadacknowledged his greeting with due respect, he addressed us, speakingfluently, and in a reverent, not to say a humble tone; but his words,being entirely strange to our ears, we could only shake our heads with abaffled smile, and reply in English that we did not understand. On thisa look of doubt and wonder passed over his face, and pointing, first tothe car, then to the sky, he seemed to enquire whether we had notdropped from the clouds. We nodded our assent, and the astronomer,indicating the Earth, which was now shining in the east as a beautifulgreen star, endeavoured to let him know by signs that we had come fromthere.
The countenance of our host seemed to brighten again, and, saluting uswith a profound obeisance, he said a few words to the attendants, whoadvanced to the car, and sinking upon their knees proffered us theircharming tribute.
"Good!" exclaimed Gazen, testifying his delight and manifesting hisgratitude by an elaborate pantomime.
I am afraid his performance must have appeared slightly ludicrous to theVenusians, for one or two of the younger girls had some difficulty inkeeping their gravity. On a hint from the Elder the young people retiredto their places, leaving their offerings upon the ground.
"They don't intend to starve us at all events," muttered Gazen to me, inan undertone. "The very fragrance of these fruits entices a man to eatthem; but will they agree with our stomachs? Notwithstanding myscientific curiosity, and my natural appetite, I am quite willing to letyou and Carmichael try them first."
Having found the value of gestures in our intercourse, the Elder leanedhis head on one hand, and pointed with the other to a large house atthe upper end of the square. His meaning was plain; but as we hadalready made up our minds to stay in the car, at all events until we hadlooked about us, Gazen signified as much by energetic but indescribableactions, and further contrived to intimate that we were all thoroughlytired and worn out with our voyage.
The Senior politely took the hint, and repeating his courteous salute,withdrew from our presence, accompanied by his followers.
"I told you so!" cried Miss Carmichael, when Gazen and I re-entered thecar. "They are treating us like superior beings."
"It shows their good sense," replied Gazen, and even as he spoke astrain of heavenly music rose from the assembled multitude, andgradually died away as they departed to their homes.
We could not sufficiently admire the beauty and fragrance of the flowersand fruit, or the exquisite workmanship of the vases they had brought.What struck us most was the lovely iridescence which they all displayedin different lights. The vases in particular seemed to be carved out ofliving opals, yet each was large enough to contain several pints ofliquor. Miss Carmichael decorated the dinner-table with a selection fromthe trays, but although we found the fruits and beverages delicious tothe taste, we prudently partook very sparingly of them.
After dinner we all went outside to enjoy the cool evening breeze, butwithout actually leaving the car. It was hardly dusk, only a kind oftwilight or gloaming, and it did not seem to grow any darker. Yetinnumerable fire-flies, bright as glow-lamps, and of every hue, wereflashing like diamonds against the whispering foliage of the trees.
With the exception of an occasional group or a solitary who stoppedawhile to look at the car and then passed on, the square was deserted;but the dwellings around it were lighted up, and being of a very openconstruction, we could see into them, and hear the voices of the inmatesfeasting and making merry. Needless to say that everything we observedwas interesting to us, for it was all strange; but we were so muchexhausted with excitement that we were fain to go to bed.
Next day the professor and I, obeying a common impulse of travellers,got up early and went forth to survey our new quarters. It was asplendid morning, the whole atmosphere steeped in sunshine, and musicalwith the songs of birds. The big sun was peeping over the distant wallof the crater, but we did not feel his rays uncomfortably hot. A sky ofthe loveliest azure was streaked with thin white clouds, drawn across itlike muslin curtains, and a cooling breeze played gently upon the skin.The dewy air, so spring-like, fresh and sweet, was a positive pleasureto breathe, and we both felt the intoxication, the rapture of life, aswe had never felt it since our boyhood. The grass underfoot was green asemerald, and soft as velvet; fountains were flashing in the sunshine,statues gleaming amongst the flowering trees, and birds of brilliantplumage glancing everywhere.
The square opened on the lake, and afforded us a magnificent view of theisland. It was conical in shape, and the peak, no doubt, of an oldvolcanic vent. I should say it was at least a thousand feet in height;the sides were a veritable "hanging garden," wild and luxuriant; and thesummit was crowned by a glittering mass of domes, minarets, and spires.Numbers of people, old and young, were bathing along the beach, andswimming, diving, and splashing each other in the water with innocentglee. Large birds, resembling swans, double the size of ours, and ofpale blue, rose, yellow, and green, as well as white plumage, werefloating in and out, and some of the children were riding on theirbacks. Fantastic boats, with carved and painted prows, might be seencrossing the lake in all directions, some under sail, and others withrowers, keeping stroke to the rhythm of their songs. The shores of thelake, sloping quietly to the waterside, were covered more or lessthickly with the houses and gardens of the city, and far in thedistance, perhaps fifty, perhaps a hundred miles away, the view wasbounded by the dim and ruddy precipice of the crater wall.
Regaling our eyes on the beautiful prospect, and our lungs on the pureatmosphere, we wandered along the beach, ever and anon pausing to admirethe strange forms and beautiful colouring of the shells and seaweeds, orto pick up a rare pebble, then shie it away again, little thinking thatit might have been a ruby, sapphire, or topaz, worth a king's ransom onthe earth. At length the way was barred by the mouth of a broad river,and after a refreshing plunge in the lake, we returned home tobreakfast.
During our absence Carmichael had been visited by our venerable host ofthe evening, whose name was Dinus, and a young man called Otare, whoturned out to be his son. They had brought a fresh supply of dainties,and what was still more important, some pictorial dictionaries anddrawings which would enable us to learn their language. As the structureof it was simple, and the vocabulary not very copious, and as we alsoenjoyed the tuition of the young man, who was devoted to our service,and conducted us in most of our walks abroad, at the end of a fortnightwe could maintain a conversation with tolerable fluency.
In the meanwhile, and afterwards, we learned a good deal about thecountry, and the manners and customs of its inhabitants. Womla, orWoom-la, which means the "bowl" or hollow-land, is evidently the craterof an extinct volcano of enormous dimensions, such as are believed toexist upon the moon. It belongs to an archipelago of similar islands,which are widely scattered over a vast ocean in this part of Venus, butis, we were told, far distant from the nearest of them. The climate maybe described as a perpetual spring and summer, with a sky nearly alwaysserene, and of a beautiful azure blue, veiled with soft and fleecyclouds.
Thanks to the lofty walls of the crater, which penetrate the clouds andcondense their moisture, the land is watered with many streams. Theseflow into the central lake, which discharges into the surrounding oceanby a rift or chasm in the mountain side. Moreover, there are frequentshowers, and heavy dews by night, to refresh the surface of the ground.Thunderstorms occur on the tops of the mountain and in the open sea;but very seldom within the enchanted girdle of the crater. The air isremarkably pure, sweet, and exhilarating, owing doubtless to the highpercentage of oxygen it contains, and the absence of foreign matter,such as microbes, dust, and obnoxious fumes. In fact, we all felt adistinct improv
ement in our health and spirits, a kind of mentalintoxication which was really more than a rejuvenescence. Nor was theheat very trying, even in the middle of the day, because although thesun was twice as large as on the earth, he did not rise far above thehorizon, and cooling breezes blew from the chilled summit of the cliffs.The vegetation seems to go on budding, flowering, and fruitingperpetually, as in the Elysian Fields of Homer, where
"Joys ever young, unmixed with pain or fear, Fill the wide circle of the eternal year: Stern winter smiles on that auspicious clime The fields are florid with unfading prime; From the bleak Pole no winds inclement blow, Mould the round hail, or flake the fleecy snow; But from the breezy deep the blessed inhale, The fragrant murmurs of the western gale."
The mysterious behaviour of the sun was a great puzzle to ourastronomer. I have said that he rose very little above the horizon, orin other words the lip of the crater, as might be expected from our highsouthern latitude; but we soon found that he always rose and sank at thesame place. In the morning he peeped above the cliffs, and in theevening he dipped again behind them, leaving a twilight or gloaming (Ican scarcely call it dusk), which continued throughout the night. Fromhis fixity in azimuth, Gazen concluded that Schiaparelli, the famousItalian observer, was right in supposing that Venus takes as long toturn about her own axis as she does to go round the sun, and that as aconsequence she always presents the same side to her luminary. All thatwe heard from the natives tended to confirm this view. They told us thatfar away to the east and west of Womla there was a desert land, coveredwith snow and ice, on which the sun never shone. We also gathered thatthe sun rises to a greater and lesser height above the cliffsalternately, thus producing a succession of warmer and cooler seasons; afact which agrees with Schiaparelli's observation that the axis of theplanet sways to and from the sun. Gazen was intensely delighted at thisdiscovery, partly for its own sake, but mainly, I think, because itwould afford him an opportunity of crushing the celebrated PettiferPossil, his professional antagonist, who, it seems, is bitterly opposedto the doctrines of Schiaparelli. But why did the sun rise and set everyfifteen hours or thereabout, and so make what I have called a "day" and"night"? Why did he not continue in the same spot, except for the slowchange caused by the nutation or nodding of Venus? Gazen was muchperplexed over this anomaly, and sought an explanation of it in therefraction of the atmosphere above the cliffs producing an apparent butnot a real motion of the orb.
The territory of Womla may be divided into three zones, namely, acentral plain under cultivation, a belt of undulating hills, kept as apark or pleasaunce, and a magnificent, nay, a sublime wilderness, nextto the crater wall.
The natural wealth of the country is very great. Some of its productionsresemble and others are different from those of the earth. We saw gold,silver, copper, tin, and iron, as well as metals which were quite new tous. Some of these had a purple, blue, or green colour, and emitted amost agreeable fragrance. There are granites and porphyries, marbles andpetrifactions of the most exquisite grain or tints. Precious stones likethe diamond, ruby, sapphire, topaz, emerald, garnet, opal, turquoise,and others familiar or unfamiliar to us, fairly abound, and can bepicked up on the shores of the lake. I presume that many of them havebeen formed on a large scale in chasms of the rock by the volcanic fumesof the crater.
What struck us most of all, however, was the prevalence ofphosphorescent minerals which absorbed the sunlight by day, andglimmered feebly in the dusk. Professor Gazen seems to think that thepresence of snow and clouds, together with these phosphorescent bodies,may help to account for the mysterious luminosity on the dark side ofVenus.
The vegetation is wonderfully rich, varied, and luxuriant. As a rule,the foliage is thick and glossy; but while it is green to blackness insome of the trees, it is parti-coloured or iridescent in others. Many ofthe flowers, too, are iridescent, or change their hues from hour tohour. The beauty and profusion of the flowers is beyond conception, andsome of the loveliest grow on what I should take for palms, ferns,canes, and grasses. A distant forest or woodland rivals the splendidplumage of some tropical bird. We heard of "singing flowers," includinga water-lily which bursts open with a musical note, and of many plantswhich are sensitive to heat as well as touch, and if Gazen be correct,to electricity and magnetism. We saw one in a house which was said torequire a change of scene from time to time else it would languish anddie.
The borders of the lakes and ponds teemed with corals, delicateseaweeds, and lovely shells. Innumerable fishes of gay and brillianthues darted and burned in the water like broken rainbows.
Reptiles are not very common, at least, in the cultivated zone; but wesaw a few snakes, tortoises, and lizards, all brightly and harmoniouslymarked. One of the snakes was phosphorescent, and one of the lizardscould sit up like a dog, or fly in the air like a swallow. The varietyand beauty of the birds, as well as the charm of their song, exceed alldescription. Most of them have iridescent feathers, several arewingless, and one at least has teeth. The insects are a match for thebirds in point of beauty, if not also in size and musical qualities.Many of them are luminescent, and omit steady or flashing lights ofevery tint all through the night.
There are few large quadrupeds in the country, and so far as we couldlearn none of these are predaceous. We saw an animal resembling a deeron one hand, and a tapir on the other, as well as a kind of toed horseor hipparion, and a number of domestic pets all strange to us.
The people, according to their tradition, came originally from atemperate land far across the ocean to the south-east, which is now adark and frozen desert. They are a remarkably fine race, probably ofmixed descent, for they found Womla inhabited, and their complexionsvary from a dazzling blonde to an olive-green brunette. They are nearlyall very handsome, both in face and figure, and I should say that manyof them more than realise our ideals of beauty. As a rule, thecountenances of the men are open, frank, and noble; those of the womenare sweet, smiling, and serene. Free of care and trouble, or unaffectedby it, mere existence is a pleasure to them, and not a few appear tolive in a kind of rapture, such as I have seen in the eyes of a youngartist on the earth while regarding a beautiful woman or a gloriouslandscape. Their attitudes and movements are full of dignity and grace.In fact, during my walks abroad, I frequently found myself admiringtheir natural groups, and fancying myself in ancient Greece, as depictedby our modern painters. Their style of beauty is not unlike that of theold Hellenes, but I doubt whether the delicacy and bloom of their skinshas ever been matched on our planet except, perhaps, in a few favouredpersons.
From some experiments made by Gazen, it would appear that while theirsenses of sight and touch are keener, their senses of hearing and alsoof heat are rather blunter than ours.
Partly owing to the genial climate, their love of beauty, and their easyexistence, their dress is of a simple and graceful order. Many of theirlight robes and shining veils are woven from silky fibres which grow onthe trees, and tinged with beautiful dyes. Bright, witty, and ingenious,as well as guileless, chaste, and happy, I can only compare them togrown-up children--but the children of a god-like race. Thanks to thepurity of their blood, and the gentleness of their dispositions,together with their favourable circumstances, they live almost exemptfrom disease, or pain, or crime, and finally die in peace at the goodold age of a hundred or a hundred and fifty years.
Their voices are so pleasing, and their language is so melodious that Ienjoyed hearing their talk before I understood a word of it. Moreover,their delightful manners evince a rare delicacy of sentiment andappreciation of the beautiful in life. We foreigners must have beenobjects of the liveliest curiosity to them, yet they never showed it intheir conduct; they never stared at us, or stopped to enquire about us,but courteously saluted us wherever we went, and left us to makeourselves at home. We never saw an ugly or unbecoming gesture, and wenever heard a rude, unmannerly word all the time we stayed in Womla.
Some of their public buildings are magnificent; but most of t
heirprivate houses are pretty one-storied cottages, each more or lessisolated in a big garden, and beyond earshot of the rest. They areelegant, not to say fanciful constructions of stone and timber,generally of an oval shape, or at least with rounded outlines; butsometimes rambling, and varying much in detail. Everyone seems to followhis particular bent and taste in the fashion of his home. Many of themhave balconies or verandahs, and also terraces on the roof, where theinmates can sit and enjoy the surrounding view. They are doorless, andthe outer walls are usually open so that one may see inside; but instormy weather they are closed by panels of wood, and a translucentmineral resembling glass. They are divided into rooms by mats andcurtains, or partitions and screens of wood, which are sometimesdecorated with paintings of inimitable beauty. The ceilings are usuallyof carved wood, and the floors inlaid with marbles, corals, and thericher stones. There are no stuffy carpets on the floors, or hangings onthe walls to collect the dust. The light easy furniture is for the mostpart made of precious or fragrant woods of divers colours--red, black,yellow, blue, white, and green. At night the rooms are softly andagreeably lighted by phosphorescent tablets, or lamps of glow-worms andfire-flies in crystal vases.
The dishes and utensils not only serve but adorn the home. Most of theimplements and fittings are made of coloured metals or alloys. Many ofthe cups and vessels are beautifully cut from shells and diamonds,rubies, or other precious stones. Statuary, manuscripts, and musicalinstruments, bespeak their taste and genius for the fine arts.
Their love of Nature is also shown in their gardens and pleasuregrounds, which are stocked with the rarest flowers, fruits, and petanimals; such as bright fishes, luminous frogs and moths, singing birds,and so forth, none of which are captives in the strict sense of theword.
Members of one family live under the same roof, or at all events withinthe same ground. The father is head of the household, and the highest inauthority. The mother is next, and the children follow in the order oftheir age. They hold that the proper place for the woman is between theman and the child, and that her nature, which partakes of both, fitsher for it. On the rare occasions when authority needs to be exercisedit is promptly obeyed. All the members of the family mix freely togetherin mutual confidence and love, with reverence, but not fear. They arevery clean and dainty in their habits. To every house, either in an opencourt or in the garden, there is a bathing pond of running water, with afountain playing in the middle, where they can bathe at any time withoutgoing to the lake.
They deem it not only gross to eat flesh or fish, but also barbarous,nay cruel, to enjoy and sustain their own lives through the sufferingand death of other creatures. This feeling, or prejudice as some wouldcall it, extends even to eggs. They live chiefly on fruits, nuts, edibleflowers, grain, herbs, gums, and roots, which are in great profusion. Idid not see any alcoholic, or at least intoxicating beverages amongstthem. Their drink is water, either pure or else from mineral springs,and the delectable juices of certain fruits and plants. They eattogether, chatting merrily the while, and afterwards recline on coucheslistening to some tale, or song, or piece of music, but taking care notto fall asleep, as they believe it is injurious.
They rejoice when a child is born, and cherish it as the most holygift. For the first eight or ten years of its life it is left as much aspossible to the teaching of Nature, care being taken to guard it fromserious harm. It is allowed to run wild about the gardens and fields,developing its bodily powers in play, and gaining a practical experienceof the most elementary facts. After that it goes to school, at first fora short time, then, as it becomes used to the confinement and study, fora longer and longer period each day. Their end in education is toproduce noble men and women; that is to say, physical, moral, andintellectual beauty by assisting the natural growth. They hold it a sinto falsify or distort the mind, as well as the soul or body of a child.They seem to be as careful to cultivate the genius and temperament asthe heart and conscience. Their object is to train and form the pupilaccording to the intention of Nature without forcing him beyond hisstrength, or into an artificial mould. Studious to preserve the harmonyand unity of mind, soul, and body, they never foster one to thedetriment of the others, but seek to develop the whole person.
It is not so much words as things, not so much facts, dates, andfigures, as principles, ideas, and sentiments, which they endeavour toteach. The scholar is made familiar with what he is told by observationand experience whenever it is possible, for that is how Nature teaches.Precept, they say, is good, and example is better; but an ideal ofperfection is best of all.
At first more attention is paid to the cultivation of the body than themind. Not only are the boys and girls trained in open-air gymnasia, orcontend in games, but they also work in the gardens, and during theholidays are sent into the wilderness under the guidance of theirelders, especially their elder brothers, to rough it there in primitivefreedom.
The first lessons of the pupil are very short and simple, but as hismind ripens they become longer and more difficult. The education of thesoul precedes that of the mind. They wish to make their children goodbefore they make them clever; and good by the feelings of the heartrather than the instruction of the head. Every care is taken to refineand strengthen the sentiments and instincts, the conscience, good senseand taste, as well as the affections, filial piety, friendship, and thelove of Nature. Spiritual and moral ideals are inculcated by means ofinnocent and simple tales or narratives. Children are taught to obey theauthority placed over them, or in their own breast, and to sacrifice allto their duty. The conduct of the teacher must be irreproachable,because he is a model to them; but while they look upon him as theirfriend and guide, he leaves them free to choose their own companions andamuse themselves in their own way.
In the cultivation of the mind they give the first and foremost place tothe imagination. The reason, they say, is mechanical, and cannot riseabove the known; that is to say, the real; whereas the imagination iscreative and attains to the unknown, the ideal. Its highest work is thecreation of beauty. Because it is unruly, and precarious in its action,however, the imagination requires the most careful guidance, and theassistance of the reason. Students are taught to idealise and invent, aswell as to analyse and reason, but without disturbing the equilibrium ofthe faculties by acquiring a pronounced habit of one or the other. It isbetter, they say, to be reasonable than a reasoner; to be imaginativethan a dreamer; and to have discernment or insight than mere knowledge.
The most important study of all is the art of living, or in other wordsthe art of leading a simple, noble, and beautiful life. It finishestheir education, and consists in the reduction of their highest preceptsand ideals to practice. The reasons for every lesson are given so faras they are known, and they are always founded in the nature of things.A pupil is taught to act in a particular way, not in the hope of areward or in the fear of punishment, but because it would be contrary tothe laws of matter and spirit to act otherwise; in short, because it isright. They hold that life is its own end as well as its own reward.According as it is good or bad, so it achieves or fails of its purpose,and is happy or miserable. We are happy by our emotions or feelings, andthrough these by our actions. Happiness comes from goodness, but is notperfect without health, beauty, and fitness: hence the pupils are taughtself-regulation, practical hygiene, and a graceful manner. Indeed, theirpassion for beauty is such that they regard nothing as perfect until itis beautiful.
As beauty of mind, soul, and body, is their aim, a beautiful person isheld in the highest honour. Prizes are offered for beauty, and statuesare erected to the winners. Many are called after some particular trait;for example, "Timare of the lovely toes," and a pretty eyelash is atitle to public fame. Beauty they say is twice blessed, since it pleasesthe possessor as well as others.
The sense of existence, apart from what they do or gain, is their chiefhappiness. Their "ealo," or the height of felicity, is a passive ratherthan an active state. It is (if I am not mistaken) a kind of serenerapture or tranquil ecsta
sy of the soul, which is born doubtless from aperfect harmony between the person and his environment. In it, they say,the illusion of the world is complete, and life is another name formusic and love.
As far as I could learn, this condition, though independent of sexuallove, is enhanced by it. On the one hand it is spoiled by too muchthought, and on the other by too much passion. They cherish it as theycherish all the natural illusions (which are sacred in their eyes), butbeing a state of repose it is transient, and only to be enjoyed fromtime to time.
Since an unfit employment is a mistake, and a source of unhappiness,everyone is free to choose the work that suits his nature. Parents andteachers only help him to discover himself. One is called to his work bya love for it, and the pleasure he takes in doing it easily and well. Ifhis bent is vague or tardy, he is allowed to change, and feel his way toit by trial. Since the work or vocation is not a means of living, thereis no compulsion in it. Their aim is to do right in carrying out thetrue intentions of Nature.
For the same reason everyone is free to choose the partner of his life.They are monogamists, and believe that nothing can justify marriage butlove on both sides. The rite is very simple, and consists in the electedpair sipping from the same dish of sacred water. It is called "drinkingof the cup."
Most of them die gradually of old age, and they do not seem to share ourfear and horror of death, but to regard it with a sad and pleasingmelancholy. The body is reduced to ashes on a pyre of fragrant wood, andthe songs they sing around it only breathe a tender regret for theirloss, mingled with a joyful hope of meeting again. They neither preservethe dust as a memento, nor wear any kind of mourning; but they cherishthe memory of the absent in their hearts.
They believe that labour like virtue is a necessity, and its own reward;but it is moderate labour of the right sort, which is a blessing and nota curse. They all seem happy at their work, which is often cheered bymusic, songs, or tales. Everyone enjoys his task, and tries to attainthe perfection of skill and grace. Those who excel are honoured, andsometimes commemorated with statues.
They seem artists in all, and above all. They hold that every beautifulthing has a use, and they never make a useful thing without beauty.Apart from portraits, their pictures and statuary are mostly historical,or else ideal representations. Many of these are typical of life; forexample, a boy at play, a pair of lovers, a mother weaning her child,and the parting of friends. The ideal of art is to them not merely ashow to please the eye for a while, but a model to be realised in theirown lives; and I daresay it has helped to make them such a fine people.They are clever architects and gardeners. Indeed, the whole country maybe described as a vast ornamental garden. In the middle zone, whichborders on the wilderness, their wonderful art of beautifying naturalscenery is at its best. They have a good many simple machines andimplements, but I should not call them a scientific people. Gazen, whoenquired into the matter, was told by Otare, himself an artist, by theway, that science in their opinion had a tendency to destroy theillusion of Nature and impair the finer sentiments and spontaneity ofthe soul; hence they left the systematic study of it to the few whopossess a decided bias for it. As a rule they are content to admire.
They have many books of various kinds, either printed or finely writtenand illustrated by hand. I should say their favourite reading washistory and travels, or else poetry and fiction; anything having ahuman interest, more especially of a pathetic order. Everyone is taughtto read aloud, and if he possess the voice and talent, to recite. Poetsare highly esteemed, and not only read their poems to the people, butalso teach elocution. They have dramatic performances on certain days,and seem to prefer tragedies or affecting plays, perhaps because theseawaken feelings which their happy lot in general permits to sleep. Theyare very fond of music, and can all sing or play on some musicalinstrument. Their favourite melodies are mostly in a minor key, and theydislike noisy music; indeed, noise of any sort. Gesture and the danceare fine arts, and they can imitate almost any action without words. Afavourite amusement is to gather in the dusk of the evening, crownedwith flowers, or wearing fanciful dresses, and sing or dance together bythe light of the fire-flies.
The inhabitants of the whole island live as one happy family.Recognising their kinship by intermarriage, and their isolation in theworld, they never forget that the good or ill of a part is the good orill of the whole, and their object is to secure the happiness of one andall. It is considered right to help another in trouble before thinkingof oneself.
When Gazen explained the doctrine of "the struggle for existence endingin the survival of the fittest" to Otare, he replied that it was anexcellent principle for snakes; but he considered it beneath the dignityand wisdom of men to struggle for a life which could be maintained bythe labour of love, and ought to be devoted to rational or spiritualenjoyment.
Thanks to the helpful spirit which animates them, and the bounty ofNature, nobody is ever in want. As a rule, the garden around each homeprovides for the family, and any surplus goes to the public stores, orrather free tables, where anyone takes what he may require.
As I have already hinted, personal merit of every kind is honouredamongst them.
Dinus, the gentleman who received us on the night of our arrival, is thechief man or head of the community, and was appointed to the post forhis wisdom, character, and age. He is assisted in the government by acouncil of a hundred men, and there are district officers in variousparts of the country.
They have no laws, or at all events their old laws have become a deadletter. Custom and public opinion take their place. Crime is practicallyunknown amongst them, and when a misdemeanour is committed the culpritis in general sufficiently punished by his own shame and remorse.However, they have certain humane penalties, such as fines orrestitution of stolen goods; but they never resort to violence or takelife, and only in extreme cases of depravity and madness do theyinfringe on the liberty of an individual.
Quarrels and sickness of mind or body are almost unknown amongst them.The care and cure of the person is a portion of the art of life as it istaught in the schools.
An account of this remarkable people would not be complete without somereference to their religion; but owing to their reticence on sacredsubjects, and the shortness of our visit, I was unable to learn muchabout it. They believe, however, in a Supreme Being, whom they only nameby epithets such as "The Giver" or "The Divine Artist." They alsobelieve in the immortality of the soul. One of their proverbs, "Life isgood, and good is life," implies that goodness means life, and badnessdeath. They hold that every thought, word, and deed, is by the nature ofthings its own reward or punishment, here or hereafter. Their ideals ofchildlike innocence, and the reign of love, seem to be essentiallyChristian. Their solicitude and kindness extends to all that lives andsuffers, and they regard the world around them as a divine work whichthey are to reverence and perfect.
Our visit fell during a great religious festival and holiday, which theykeep once a year, and by the courtesy of Dinus, or his son, we witnessedmany of their sacred concerts, dances, games, and other celebrations. Ofthese, however, I shall only describe the principal ceremony, which iscalled "Plucking the Flower," and appears to symbolise the passage ofthe soul into a higher life.