eir minds,
for the future has no sensible vanishing point. Sincerity, honesty,
chastity and decency have taken flight to give place to falsehood,
lasciviousness, and bad manners.

I was happy to get away from this province, although I was obliged to
traverse desolate and rocky regions which lay beyond it. These deserts
separate Spelek from Spalank, or the "Innocent Land."

This name is obtained from the meekness and innocence of the
inhabitants. These are all stone oaks, and are thought to be the
happiest of all sensible beings. They are not subject to any agitation
of mind, and are free from all vices.

Free, of compulsion ignorant, did all obey
The simple rules of nature. Justice easy
And virtue unadorned they practised; for unknown
Were punishment and fear. On no holy stone
Were menaces engraved: no holy table
Declared the thunders of the law. None trembled
At the ruler's frown or nod: but, without guard,--
With sharpened steel on shoulder ready poised,--
Or castled wall bristling with murder's tools,
Were all ranks safe. On no battle-field
Was victor crowned or bloody altar
Heaped with his kinsmen's corpses.
With sports
And pleasant tales, in infant innocence they lived
(The innocence that lies in mother's lap unstained.)
Thus passed they from the fond embrace of peace,
With easy change to Death's determined grasp.

When I came to this province, I found that the reputation which these
people had gained, namely: that they practised virtue from inclination
rather than from the authority of law--was well founded.

But as envy and ambition were entirely unknown to them,--the inducements
to excel, and the will for great things were wanting.

They had no palaces, no courts, no fine buildings. They had no
magistrates to administer law; no avarice to carry them to court. In
fine, although without vices, they knew nothing of the arts,--of
splendid virtues,--nor of any of the things which refine a people. They
appeared to be rather an oak forest than a sensible and thoughtful
nation.

I travelled next through the province Kiliak. The natives of this
province are born with certain marks on their foreheads, which point out
how long they will live. At first I imagined these people to be happy,
as death could never overtake them unexpectedly, nor tear them away in
the midst of their sins. But as each one knows on what day he