it is made early in the morning
in a state midway between sleeping and wakefulness, when they are in
an interior light not as yet interfered with by the bodily senses and
worldly things; that on such occasions they hear the angels of heaven
speaking concerning Divine truths, and a life according to them; and
that when they are quite awake, an angel in a white garment appears
to them by the bed, and then suddenly disappears from their sight; and
that by this they know that what they have heard is from heaven. Thus
a Divine vision is distinguished from a vision which is not Divine;
for in a vision which is not Divine no angel appears. They added,
that in such a manner revelations are made with their preachers, and
sometimes also with others.

176. On questioning them concerning their houses, they said that they
are lowly, built of wood, with a flat roof, having a cornice sloping
downwards; and that in front dwell the husband and wife, in the next
chamber the children, and the maid-servants and men-servants at the
back. With regard to food, they said that they drink milk with water;
and that they get the milk from cows, which are woolly like sheep.
Concerning their [mode of] life, they said that they go naked, and
that to them nakedness is not a matter of shame; also that their
habitual association is with those who are within their own families.

177. Concerning the sun of that earth, they related that it appears to
the inhabitants of a flame-colour; that the time of their year is two
hundred days, and that a day equals nine hours of our time, which they
could conclude from the length of the days of our Earth perceived in
me; and further, that they have a perpetual spring and summer, and
consequently that the fields are ever blooming, and the trees are ever
bearing fruit: the reason why the case is thus is, that their year
is so short, being equal to the time of only seventy-five days of our
year; and when the years are so short, the cold does not continue long
in winter nor the heat in summer, and the ground in consequence is in
a continual state of verdancy.

178. Concerning betrothals and marriages on that earth, they related
that a daughter, when she approaches a marriageable age, is kept at
home, nor is she allowed to go out till the day she is to be married;
and that she is then conducted to a certain connubial house, where
several other marriageable young women are also brought; that they are
there placed behin