The women in this quarter were nearly as huge as the men, and, like them, admirably shaped, and, in spite of their great stature, very graceful in their movements. Daphne noticed, however, both here as through the rest of the city, that the women always retired to their dwellings on the appearance of the masks. But apparently to please Daphne, Thoth ordered some of the giantesses to approach, and they did so with every sign of being honoured and gratified. Daphne was delighted to discover that, with the giants as with the pigmies, the source of Thoth’s power was not tyranny. Evidently he was regarded as a superior being, but as yet she could not imagine in what the superiority consisted. It seemed as if the whole city was ruled by perfect obedience, resting on perfect love. When she returned to her apartments her little servants expressed the most lively satisfaction, and Thoth left her in their care, promising, if she wished, to show her more of the city and its people on the following day. CHAPTER VIII. THE DISHONOURED STATUE. Day after day, Thoth conducted Daphne through the city, showing to her all its wonders. They were always masked, and were invariably treated with the same profound respect—no one even speaking to them, except in answer to some question of Thoth. All the inhabitants seemed to be people of great skill; and many of the arts which they practised Daphne would have thought magical, but for the constant assurance of her guide that everything was due simply to the accumulated knowledge of ages. She saw black charred wood changed into beautiful crystals, and transparent fluids transformed to solid images of exquisite design. Time itself seemed to be defeated at the hands of these cunning workmen, for, in a few moments, she saw a seedling grow into a plant with beautiful flowers, as strong and healthy as if it had taken a whole spring and summer. Space was conquered in an equally mysterious manner. In a few moments they were carried under the ground, noiselessly and apparently without motion, from one end of the city to the other. The powers of nature also seemed enslaved: the heat of the sun was made to turn vapour into ice, the air was constrained to lift great weights, and light as brilliant as the sun was drawn from running water. To her amazement, Daphne found that the solid earth had been honey-combed with workings, and forced to yield up abundance of all kinds of treasures. Streams of molten fluids were drawn from the centre of the earth, and compelled to separate into parts and to congeal into solid metals; and noxious gases were unloosed to drive intricate arrangements of wheels and all kinds of tools.