Page:Neuroomia.djvu/139

Rh it in Neuroomia. Many other lands had beautiful scenery, but it appeared to advantage during certain hours only, generally those of morning, evening, and moonlight; but the morning soon passed into the heat of noonday, the evening into night, while the pale and sombre light of the moon in turn gave way to the grey of dawn; but here it was an evening or morning for half the year.

"And what kind of girls have you in those distant regions?" she inquired.

"Many of the maidens are extremely beautiful," I said; "indeed, as beautiful as it is possible for human beings to be, but only for a very brief period—men and women fade quickly. Take myself, for instance. When I left Tasmania, one of the most favourable places in the world for our race, I was considered a young-looking man for fifty; but when I came to Atazatlan, I had the mortification to be set down for three times that age."

"How does the disposition of the most civilized inhabitants of those parts compare with that of the people of Neuroomia?" she asked.

"Not favourably," I responded. "Many of our people, young and old, were full of love, kindness,