The borders of the lakes and ponds teemed with corals, delicate
seaweeds, and lovely shells. Innumerable fishes of gay and brilliant
hues darted and burned in the water like broken rainbows.
Reptiles are not very common, at least, in the cultivated zone; but we
saw a few snakes, tortoises, and lizards, all brightly and harmoniously
marked. One of the snakes was phosphorescent, and one of the lizards
could sit up like a dog, or fly in the air like a swallow. The variety
and beauty of the birds, as well as the charm of their song, exceed all
description. Most of them have iridescent feathers, several are
wingless, and one at least has teeth. The insects are a match for the
birds in point of beauty, if not also in size and musical qualities.
Many of them are luminescent, and omit steady or flashing lights of
every tint all through the night.
There are few large quadrupeds in the country, and so far as we could
learn none of these are predaceous. We saw an animal resembling a deer
on one hand, and a tapir on the other, as well as a kind of toed horse
or hipparion, and a number of domestic pets all strange to us.
The people, according to their tradition, came originally from a
temperate land far across the ocean to the south-east, which is now a
dark and frozen desert. They are a remarkably fine race, probably of
mixed descent, for they found Womla inhabited, and their complexions
vary from a dazzling blonde to an olive-green brunette. They are nearly
all very handsome, both in face and figure, and I should say that many
of them more than realise our ideals of beauty. As a rule, the
countenances of the men are open, frank, and noble; those of the women
are sweet, smiling, and serene. Free of care and trouble, or unaffected
by it, mere existence is a pleasure to them, and not a few appear to
live in a kind of rapture, such as I have seen in the eyes of a young
artist on the earth while regarding a beautiful woman or a glorious
landscape. Their attitudes and movements are full of dignity and grace.
In fact, during my walks abroad, I frequently found myself admiring
their natural groups, and fancying myself in ancient Greece, as depicted
by our modern painters. Their style of beauty is not unlike that of the
old Hellenes, but I doubt whether the delicacy and bloom of their skins
has ever been matched on our planet except, perhaps, in a few favoured
persons.
From some experiments made by Gazen, it would appear that while
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