eness of space in proportion to the space occupied by
the city, was occasioned by the custom of surrounding every house with a
separate garden. The broad main street, in which Aph-Lin dwelt, expanded
into a vast square, in which were placed the College of Sages and all
the public offices; a magnificent fountain of the luminous fluid which I
call naptha (I am ignorant of its real nature) in the centre. All these
public edifices have a uniform character of massiveness and solidity.
They reminded me of the architectural pictures of Martin. Along the
upper stories of each ran a balcony, or rather a terraced garden,
supported by columns, filled with flowering plants, and tenanted by
many kinds of tame birds.

From the square branched several streets, all broad and brilliantly
lighted, and ascending up the eminence on either side. In my excursions
in the town I was never allowed to go alone; Aph-Lin or his daughter was
my habitual companion. In this community the adult Gy is seen walking
with any young An as familiarly as if there were no difference of sex.

The retail shops are not very numerous; the persons who attend on a
customer are all children of various ages, and exceedingly intelligent
and courteous, but without the least touch of importunity or cringing.
The shopkeeper himself might or might not be visible; when visible, he
seemed rarely employed on any matter connected with his professional
business; and yet he had taken to that business from special liking for
it, and quite independently of his general sources of fortune.

The Ana of the community are, on the whole, an indolent set of beings
after the active age of childhood. Whether by temperament or philosophy,
they rank repose among the chief blessings of life. Indeed, when you
take away from a human being the incentives to action which are found in
cupidity or ambition, it seems to me no wonder that he rests quiet.

In their ordinary movements they prefer the use of their feet to that
of their wings. But for their sports or (to indulge in a bold misuse of
terms) their public 'promenades,' they employ the latter, also for the
aerial dances I have described, as well as for visiting their country
places, which are mostly placed on lofty heights; and, when still young,
they prefer their wings for travel into the other regions of the Ana, to
vehicular conveyances.

Those who accustom themselves to flight can fly, if less rapidly than
some birds, yet from twenty