o his heart. Then a
young female child opened a small door within the wall, and I perceived,
in the recess, shelves on which were placed many 'paterae' like that
which the son held, save that they all had covers. With such a cover
a Gy now approached the son, and placed it over the cup, on which it
closed with a spring. On the lid were engraven the name of the deceased,
and these words:--"Lent to us" (here the date of birth). "Recalled from
us" (here the date of death).

The closed door shut with a musical sound, and all was over.

Chapter XXV.

"And this," said I, with my mind full of what I had witnessed--"this, I
presume, is your usual form of burial?"

"Our invariable form," answered Aph-Lin. "What is it amongst your
people?"

"We inter the body whole within the earth."

"What! To degrade the form you have loved and honoured, the wife on
whose breast you have slept, to the loathsomeness of corruption?" "But
if the soul lives again, can it matter whether the body waste within
the earth or is reduced by that awful mechanism, worked, no doubt by the
agency of vril, into a pinch of dust?"

"You answer well," said my host, "and there is no arguing on a matter
of feeling; but to me your custom is horrible and repulsive, and would
serve to invest death with gloomy and hideous associations. It is
something, too, to my mind, to be able to preserve the token of what has
been our kinsman or friend within the abode in which we live. We thus
feel more sensibly that he still lives, though not visibly so to us. But
our sentiments in this, as in all things, are created by custom. Custom
is not to be changed by a wise An, any more than it is changed by a
wise Community, without the greatest deliberation, followed by the
most earnest conviction. It is only thus that change ceases to be
changeability, and once made is made for good."

When we regained the house, Aph-Lin summoned some of the children in his
service and sent them round to several of his friends, requesting their
attendance that day, during the Easy Hours, to a festival in honour of
his kinsman's recall to the All-Good. This was the largest and gayest
assembly I ever witnessed during my stay among the Ana, and was
prolonged far into the Silent Hours.

The banquet was spread in a vast chamber reserved especially for grand
occasions. This differed from our entertainments, and was not without
a certain resemblance to those we read of in the luxurious age of