is not only less happy than she otherwise would
be, but she is not so good a being, that her qualities of heart are not
sufficiently developed; whereas the An is a creature that less lastingly
concentrates his affections on one object; that if he cannot get the
Gy whom he prefers he easily reconciles himself to another Gy; and,
finally, that at the worst, if he is loved and taken care of, it is less
necessary to the welfare of his existence that he should love as well
as be loved; he grows contented with his creature comforts, and the many
occupations of thought which he creates for himself.

Whatever may be said as to this reasoning, the system works well for the
male; for being thus sure that he is truly and ardently loved, and that
the more coy and reluctant he shows himself, the more determination
to secure him increases, he generally contrives to make his consent
dependent on such conditions as he thinks the best calculated to insure,
if not a blissful, at least a peaceful life. Each individual An has his
own hobbies, his own ways, his own predilections, and, whatever they may
be, he demands a promise of full and unrestrained concession to them.
This, in the pursuit of her object, the Gy readily promises; and as the
characteristic of this extraordinary people is an implicit veneration
for truth, and her word once given is never broken even by the giddiest
Gy, the conditions stipulated for are religiously observed. In fact,
notwithstanding all their abstract rights and powers, the Gy-ei are the
most amiable, conciliatory, and submissive wives I have ever seen even
in the happiest households above ground. It is an aphorism among them,
that "where a Gy loves it is her pleasure to obey." It will be observed
that in the relationship of the sexes I have spoken only of marriage,
for such is the moral perfection to which this community has attained,
that any illicit connection is as little possible amongst them as it
would be to a couple of linnets during the time they agree to live in
pairs.

Chapter XI.

Nothing had more perplexed me in seeking to reconcile my sense to the
existence of regions extending below the surface of the earth, and
habitable by beings, if dissimilar from, still, in all material points
of organism, akin to those in the upper world, than the contradiction
thus presented to the doctrine in which, I believe, most geologists
and philosophers concur--viz., that though with us the sun is the grea