the pleasure of Smell. The most delicious viands are spread for
us in apartments strewed with flowers. The table is adorned with
them, and the most exquisite wines are handed to us in crystal
goblets. When we have glorified God, by the agreeable use of the
palate, and the olfactory nerve, we enjoy a delightful sleep
of two hours, in bowers of orange trees, roses, and myrtles.
Having acquired a fresh store of strength and spirits, we return
to our occupations, that we may thus mingle labour with pleasure,
which would lose its zest by long continuance. After our work,
we return to the temple, to thank God, and to offer him incense.
From thence we go to the most delightful part of the garden,
where we find three hundred young girls, some of whom form lively
dances with the younger of our monks; the others execute serious
dances, which require neither strength nor agility, and which
only keep time to the sound of musical instruments.

We talk and laugh with our companions, who are dressed in a light
gauze, and whose tresses are adorned with flowers; we press them
to partake of exquisite sherbets, differently prepared. The hour
of supper being arrived, we repair to rooms illuminated with the
lustre of a thousand tapers fragrant with amber. The supper-room is
surrounded by three vast galleries, in which are placed musicians,
whose various instruments fill the mind with the most pleasurable
and the softest emotions. The young girls are seated at table
with us, and, towards the conclusion of the repast, they sing
songs, which are hymns in honour of the God who has endowed us
with senses which shed such a charm over existence, and which
promise us new pleasure from every fresh exercise of them. After
the repast is ended, we return to the dance, and, when the hour
of repose arrives, we draw from a kind of lottery, in which every
one is sure of a prize that is a sumptuously decorated sleeping
room for the night. These rooms are allotted to each by chance
to avoid jealousy, since some rooms are handsomer than others.
Thus ends the day and gives place to a night of exquisite repose
in which we enjoy well-earned sleep, that most divine of earthly
gifts.

We admire the wisdom and the goodness of Faraki, who has implanted
an unconscious mutual attraction between the sexes that constantly
draws them towards each other. It is this mutual love, these
invisible ties, that make the world brighter, cheerier, happier.
It has been truly s