BOOK VI. XXIV. 89-91 



country than in ours, but that we made more use of 

 our riches : with them nobody kcpt a slave, every- 

 body got up at sunrise and nobody took a siesta 

 in the middle of the day ; their buildings were of 

 only moderate height ; the price of corn was never 

 inHated; there were no lawcourts and no Htigation; 

 the deity worshipped was Hercules ; the king was 

 elected by the people on the grounds of age and 

 gentleness of disposition, and as having no children, 

 and if he afterwards had a chikl, he was deposed, 

 to prevent the monarchy from becoming hereditary. 

 Thirty Governors, they told us, were assigned to the 

 king by the people, and capital punishment could 

 only be inflictcd by a vote of a majority of these ; 

 and even then there was a right of appeal to the 

 people, and a jury of seventy members was appointed 

 to try the case, and if these acquitted the accused 

 the thirty Governors were no more held in any 

 esteem, bei ng utterly disgraced. The king's costume 

 was that ° of Father Liber, and the other people wore 

 Arabian dress. If the king committcd a deUnqueney 

 he was punished by being condemned to death, 

 though nobody executed the sentence, but the whole 

 of the pcople turned their backs on him and refused 

 to have any communication with him or even to speak 

 to him. Holidays, they told us, were spent in hunting, 

 tiger hunts and elephant hunts being always the 

 most popular. Agriculture was industriously prac- 

 tised, but the vine was not grown, although orchard 

 fruit was al)undant. They were also fond of fishing, 

 especially for turtle, the shells of which were used 

 as roofs for family dweUings — they were found 

 of so large a size. They looked upon a hundred 

 years as a moderate span of Ufe. 



407 



