assumption was a great mistake. Although I never
saw any of them sad, yet none appeared to be happy. The purest heaven
is never impressive, but after a storm; so happiness is not appreciated
by these oaks, because it is never interrupted; they bless not health,
because they are never sick. They spend their lives in tame and
uninterrupted indifference. Possessed of little politeness and goodness
of heart, their conversation is cold and cheerless; their manners stiff
and haughty. Without passions, they are crimeless; without weakness,
they are pitiless.

Those alone to whom pain and sickness bring the remembrance of their
mortality, learn in their own sufferings, to sympathise with and
compassionate the woes of others.

I was now in a land, where I had a living proof of how much the
occurrence of pain and the fear of death tend to produce mutual love and
cheerful converse among fellow beings. Here, for the first time, I came
to know the folly and sin of grumbling at the Creator, for bringing upon
us trouble and suffering, which are really good for us, and which
produce the happiest consequences.

The province Lalak, which is sometimes called Maskatta, or the Blessed
Land, was the next in the order of my journey. This land is very
appropriately named. 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, wit