you kill and devour each
other?'

"'No,' answered Mubarek; 'not each other, but other animals, such as
the camel, the sheep, and the goat.'

"They heard this avowal with almost the same disgust as we should an
avowal of man-eating, and explained that in their world they neither
killed nor ate any living thing.

"'We have,' they said, 'fruits pleasing to the palate and nourishing to
the body. These we gather, each one for himself, and should regard a
man who required some one to gather his food for him very much as you
would regard a man so lazy as to want some one to put it into his mouth
for him.'

"Saying this, they rose, and Mubarek and the fairy with them, and
taking each a plate or dish, every one of which was fashioned out of a
single piece of the same beautiful and many-tinted crystal as composed
the walls of their dwellings, they proceeded to gather in the garden
which surrounded the palace all kinds of fruit.

"This fruit seemed to Mubarek to consist of all sorts of precious
stones--the topaz, the jasper, the onyx, the carbuncle, the emerald,
the ruby, and many others, and having brought their plates filled with
this fruit into the house, these strange people sat down and ate them
with much relish, praising highly their delicious flavour and
nutritious qualities.

"They then replaced the plates, unsoiled by the repast they had
contained, and prepared to show Mubarek and the fairy the beauties of
their marvellous city.

"Instead of mounting on horseback like men, or being carried in litters
like women, these singular beings had but to press a knob or spring on
a pillar standing before the house, and straightway a gentle breeze
arose and carried them smoothly, and swiftly or slowly as they pleased,
whithersoever they desired to go.

"In this easy and pleasant manner they journeyed through the city and
were received by all they met with the most friendly and affectionate
greetings. In every house they entered they were welcomed with frank
cordiality, and at once, without ceremony or embarrassment, fell to
assisting the host in any work at which he might chance to be engaged,
or discussing any topic of interest that might occur to them.

"After paying many of these visits and admiring the extraordinary
richness and variety of architecture, furniture and utensils to be
observed in every one of the dwellings of this happy and intelligent
race, Mubarek said with some astonishment--

"'In all this vast