All things spring forth spontaneously:

Here, between melon vines and moist strawberry,
 Flow milky brooks and amber streams of mead;
 There, luscious wine, from crystal, spouts more merry,
 As Bacchus from his slumber had been freed.
 Far down along the mountain's verdant side,
 The limpid juice, with golden lustre, ripples.
 In dales, soft undulating, oozing glide
 Sweet waters, out of teeming nature's nipples;
 And trees of Paradise their branches reach,
 Bending with purple plum and mellow peach.
 From all the land nutritious savors rise,
 To bless its sons, then mount to scent the skies.

These advantages do not, by any means, make the inhabitants happy. It occurred to me, that laborers in harsher climates are much better off than these people, who necessarily languish in idleness and luxury.

Next to Lalak is Mardak, inhabited by cypresses. Of these are different descents or races, determined by the number or shape of their eyes. Here is a list of the varieties:

Nagiri, who have oblong eyes; to whom all objects appear oblong.

Naquire, whose eyes are square.

Palampi, who have very small eyes.

Jaraku, with two eyes, which are turned in opposite directions.

Mehanki, with three eyes.

Panasuki, with four eyes.

Harramba, whose eyes occupy the whole forehead; and finally,

Skodolki, who have a single eye in the neck.

The most numerous and powerful of these races, are the Nagirians. Kings, senators and priests are always chosen from this class. None are admitted to any office, but those who acknowledge and testify by oath, that a certain table, dedicated to the sun and placed in the temple, is oblong. This table is the holiest object of mardakanic worship. The oath, to be taken by aspirants to honors, is as follows:

"Kaki manaska quihampu miriac jakku, mesimbrii caphani crukkia, manaskar quebriac krusondora."

In English:

"I swear, that the holy table of the sun seems oblong to me, and I promise to remain in this opinion until my last breath."

When the neophyte, of either class, has sworn this oath, he is taken up among the Nagirians, and is qualified for any office. On the day after my arrival, as I walked in the market-place, I met a party bearing an old man to the whipping post. I asked them the nature of his offence, and was told that he was a heretic, who had publicly declared that the holy table of the sun appeared square to him.

I immediately entered the temple, being curious to know whether or not my eyes were orthodox. The table was certainly square to my view, and I said so to my landlord, on my return. This tree, who had been recently appointed a church-warden, drew a deep sigh on this occasion, and confessed that it also seemed square to him, but that he dared not express such an opinion, openly, from fear of being ejected from office, if not worse.

Trembling in every joint, I quietly left this region, fearful that my back might suffer on account of my heterodox vision.

The duchy of Kimal is considered the mightiest and richest of the states on this planet. There are numberless silver mines within its borders: the sand of its rivers is colored by gold, and its coasts are paved with pearl oysters of the finest water.

The people of this province, nevertheless, are more miserable than those of any other I visited. They are miners, gold-strainers and pearl-divers, condemned to the most infamous slavery, drenched in water, or secluded from air and light, and all for the sake of dear gain. How strange and senseless is the lust for brilliant baubles!

The possessors of wealth are obliged to keep a continual watch over their property, for the land is full of robbers. None can travel without an armed retinue. Thus, this people, on which their neighbors look with longing eyes, should deserve pity rather than excite envy. Fear, mistrust and jealousy rage in all hearts: each regards his neighbor as an enemy. Sorrows and terrors, sleepless nights, pale faces and trembling hands are the fruits of that very wealth, which their neighbors look upon as the greatest good.

My wanderings through Kimal were the most unpleasant and dangerous in all my experience. My course was towards the east. I journeyed among many people, who were generally polite and social, but whose customs were not singular enough to merit particular attention. I had much cause to wonder, when I came among the Quambojas, in whom nature was entirely perverted. The older these people grow, the more lustful they become. Rashness, lasciviousness and roguery increase with years. None are suffered to hold offices after the fortieth year. At this age, the wildness and moral insensibility of boyhood begins; the sports of childhood, only, are tolerated. The tree becomes a minor, and is placed under the guardianship of his younger relations.

I did not think it advisable to remain long in Quamboja, where in a few years, I should be sentenced to become a child again.

I witnessed a perversion of a different kind in Kokleku. In the former province, nature is the agent of this perversion; here the law is the agent. The Koklekuans are juniper trees.

The males alone cook and perform all domestic duties. In time of war, they serve in the army, but always in the ranks.