Thanks to the helpful spirit which animates them, and the bounty of Nature, nobody is ever in want.  As a rule, the garden around each home provides for the family, and any surplus goes to the public stores, or rather free tables, where anyone takes what he may require.

As I have already hinted, personal merit of every kind is honoured amongst them.

Dinus, the gentleman who received us on the night of our arrival, is the chief man or head of the community, and was appointed to the post for his wisdom, character, and age.  He is assisted in the government by a council of a hundred men, and there are district officers in various parts of the country.

They have no laws, or at all events their old laws have become a dead letter.  Custom and public opinion take their place.  Crime is practically unknown amongst them, and when a misdemeanour is committed the culprit is in general sufficiently punished by his own shame and remorse.  However, they have certain humane penalties, such as fines or restitution of stolen goods; but they never resort to violence or take life, and only in extreme cases of depravity and madness do they infringe on the liberty of an individual.

Quarrels and sickness of mind or body are almost unknown amongst them.  The care and cure of the person is a portion of the art of life as it is taught in the schools.

An account of this remarkable people would not be complete without some reference to their religion; but owing to their reticence on sacred subjects, and the shortness of our visit, I was unable to learn much about it.  They believe, however, in a Supreme Being, whom they only name by epithets such as “The Giver” or “The Divine Artist.”  They also believe in the immortality of the soul.  One of their proverbs, “Life is good, and good is life,” implies that goodness means life, and badness death.  They hold that every thought, word, and deed, is by the nature of things its own reward or punishment, here or hereafter.  Their ideals of childlike innocence, and the reign of love, seem to be essentially Christian.  Their solicitude and kindness extends to all that lives and suffers, and they regard the world around them as a divine work which they are to reverence and perfect.

Our visit fell during a great religious festival and holiday, which they keep once a year, and by the courtesy of Dinus, or his son, we witnessed many of their sacred concerts, dances, games, and other celebrations.  Of these, however, I shall only describe the principal ceremony, which is called “Plucking the Flower,” and appears to symbolise the passage of the soul into a higher life.

CHAPTER IX.

THE FLOWER OF THE SOUL.

Early on the chief day of the festival Otare came and took us to see the mystical rite of cutting the “Flower of the Soul.”

The morning was fine, and the clear waters of the lake were bright with boats filled with joyous parties bound like ourselves for the Holy Island.