Their voices are so pleasing, and their language is so melodious that I enjoyed hearing their talk before I understood a word of it.  Moreover, their delightful manners evince a rare delicacy of sentiment and appreciation of the beautiful in life.  We foreigners must have been objects of the liveliest curiosity to them, yet they never showed it in their conduct; they never stared at us, or stopped to enquire about us, but courteously saluted us wherever we went, and left us to make ourselves at home.  We never saw an ugly or unbecoming gesture, and we never heard a rude, unmannerly word all the time we stayed in Womla.

Some of their public buildings are magnificent; but most of their private houses are pretty one-storied cottages, each more or less isolated in a big garden, and beyond earshot of the rest.  They are elegant, not to say fanciful constructions of stone and timber, generally of an oval shape, or at least with rounded outlines; but sometimes rambling, and varying much in detail.  Everyone seems to follow his particular bent and taste in the fashion of his home.  Many of them have balconies or verandahs, and also terraces on the roof, where the inmates can sit and enjoy the surrounding view.  They are doorless, and the outer walls are usually open so that one may see inside; but in stormy weather they are closed by panels of wood, and a translucent mineral resembling glass.  They are divided into rooms by mats and curtains, or partitions and screens of wood, which are sometimes decorated with paintings of inimitable beauty.  The ceilings are usually of carved wood, and the floors inlaid with marbles, corals, and the richer stones.  There are no stuffy carpets on the floors, or hangings on the walls to collect the dust.  The light easy furniture is for the most part made of precious or fragrant woods of divers colours—­red, black, yellow, blue, white, and green.  At night the rooms are softly and agreeably lighted by phosphorescent tablets, or lamps of glow-worms and fire-flies in crystal vases.

The dishes and utensils not only serve but adorn the home.  Most of the implements and fittings are made of coloured metals or alloys.  Many of the cups and vessels are beautifully cut from shells and diamonds, rubies, or other precious stones.  Statuary, manuscripts, and musical instruments, bespeak their taste and genius for the fine arts.

Their love of Nature is also shown in their gardens and pleasure grounds, which are stocked with the rarest flowers, fruits, and pet animals; such as bright fishes, luminous frogs and moths, singing birds, and so forth, none of which are captives in the strict sense of the word.