Turning to the coarser side of the question of public morals, prostitution exists, but neither to a great extent nor openly. Those who can recall the nocturnal conditions of the main London thorough-fares during the latter part of Queen Victoria's reign would be agreeably surprised to detect no outward flaunting of vice after dusk in the streets of Tamarida; and the least tendency to riot or disturbance is promptly quelled by the military patrols. Not that licence and debauchery do not abound, for there are, I believe, plenty of resorts of a certain class in the towns; but the doings of such places do not rise to the surface, and those who frequent them dare not offend the quiet of their neighbours. Meanwhile the priestesses of the Sun are constantly busied with the ultimate fate of the harlot, and their emissaries are often engaged in reclaiming girls from a licentious career and in training them to become useful wives, for such early lapses are held lightly by the mass of the people. And in not a few instances these "_filles de joie_" become wedded to their paramours, and make good mothers. Such an outlook is of course utterly unmoral to large sections of the civilised and Christianised nations of Europe and America; but the Meleagrian view is shared by many other races of the Earth who have enjoyed a longer and perhaps a better record of civilisation than have these complacent modern nations whose ancestors were half-naked savages in the days of the Roman Empire. Universal chastity, in short, is a feature almost exclusively confined to northern tribes of barbarians, for whom it has great natural advantages certainly, for it tends to breed a hardy and prolific race. But I do not think it can be classed as a genuine virtue in itself, and it always tends promptly to disappear the moment the trammels of education and development are assumed. Now the Meleagrians can lay claim to be an intensely civilised race, whereby I mean their rulers have been engaged in the study of the arts of peace and progress for many centuries, and have consequently left behind them the old barbarian necessity for absolute chastity, though they still recognise its value as a wholesome ingredient of married family life. For with marriage chastity in their eyes takes on another aspect, which must not be confounded with the former, and that is faithfulness. A faithless wife is very rare indeed in Meleager, and her treatment at the hands of her neighbours is not enviable. XII Religion has already entered so significantly into my narrative that I feel I must apologise for a special dissertation on this subject. Yet I have never so far described the exact nature or scope of the Meleagrian faith which may be said to permeate and regulate the whole private and public existence of the people.