ubjects, and the shortness of our visit, I was unable to learn much
about it. They believe, however, in a Supreme Being, whom they only name
by epithets such as "The Giver" or "The Divine Artist." They also
believe in the immortality of the soul. One of their proverbs, "Life is
good, and good is life," implies that goodness means life, and badness
death. They hold that every thought, word, and deed, is by the nature of
things its own reward or punishment, here or hereafter. Their ideals of
childlike innocence, and the reign of love, seem to be essentially
Christian. Their solicitude and kindness extends to all that lives and
suffers, and they regard the world around them as a divine work which
they are to reverence and perfect.

Our visit fell during a great religious festival and holiday, which they
keep once a year, and by the courtesy of Dinus, or his son, we witnessed
many of their sacred concerts, dances, games, and other celebrations. Of
these, however, I shall only describe the principal ceremony, which is
called "Plucking the Flower," and appears to symbolise the passage of
the soul into a higher life.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FLOWER OF THE SOUL.

Early on the chief day of the festival Otare came and took us to see the
mystical rite of cutting the "Flower of the Soul."

The morning was fine, and the clear waters of the lake were bright with
boats filled with joyous parties bound like ourselves for the Holy
Island.

Landing at a noble quay of red granite, we climbed the steep and shaggy
sides of the mountain by a sacred and winding avenue, bordered with
blooming trees and statuary. Most of the figures were exquisitely carved
in a white wood or stone, having a pearly sheen, and represented the
former priestesses of the Temple, or illustrated the animating spirit of
the cult.

On gaining the summit we found ourselves at the brim of a spacious
hollow or basin, which in past ages must have been the crater of the
volcanic peak. The grassy slopes of the basin were laid out in flower
gardens and terraces of coloured marbles, shaded with sombre trees, and
ornamented with sculpture. In the bottom lay an oval sheet of water a
mile long or more, and from the midst of it, towards the near end, a
beautiful islet, crowned by a magnificent temple, rose like a mirage to
the view, and seemed to float on its glassy bosom.

Words of mine cannot give any idea of that sublime architecture, which
resembled no earthly order,