part made of precious or fragrant woods of divers colours--red, black,
yellow, blue, white, and green. At night the rooms are softly and
agreeably lighted by phosphorescent tablets, or lamps of glow-worms and
fire-flies in crystal vases.

The dishes and utensils not only serve but adorn the home. Most of the
implements and fittings are made of coloured metals or alloys. Many of
the cups and vessels are beautifully cut from shells and diamonds,
rubies, or other precious stones. Statuary, manuscripts, and musical
instruments, bespeak their taste and genius for the fine arts.

Their love of Nature is also shown in their gardens and pleasure
grounds, which are stocked with the rarest flowers, fruits, and pet
animals; such as bright fishes, luminous frogs and moths, singing birds,
and so forth, none of which are captives in the strict sense of the
word.

Members of one family live under the same roof, or at all events within
the same ground. The father is head of the household, and the highest in
authority. The mother is next, and the children follow in the order of
their age. They hold that the proper place for the woman is between the
man and the child, and that her nature, which partakes of both, fits
her for it. On the rare occasions when authority needs to be exercised
it is promptly obeyed. All the members of the family mix freely together
in mutual confidence and love, with reverence, but not fear. They are
very clean and dainty in their habits. To every house, either in an open
court or in the garden, there is a bathing pond of running water, with a
fountain playing in the middle, where they can bathe at any time without
going to the lake.