The usage today of some prefatory address seems, alas, something of an anachronism. It must be but common courtesy, however, to beg the indulgence of the gentle reader for the lapse of time since the latest issue of information from your present correspondent.
       In point of fact, this is not due to any lack of travel on the part of the writer, who has taken the opportunity to visit many quite particular regions of the terrestrial globe, but rather to the fact that these travels have not seemed so singular as to command attention outside the small circle of his immediate family. By virtue of the prevalence of a system called "Charter", such vast numbers of other travellers have been enabled to visit these regions that their indigenous customs have been quite submerged and the writer has remarked upon very little in the way of native culture which could not as easily be found at home.
       The present account, however, retails the story of a journey to a land of such singularity and felicitous logic of organisation and administration, that it would seem no more than Christian Duty to present it to the general knowledge for the possibility of educating any liberal statesman desiring to reform our own decrepit systems of social and political government.
       Now I had, following the modest success of the memoirs I had published, resolved never more to take up duties in my previous occupation of ship's surgeon. In addition, being in the entitlement to a modest pension from the government of Her Majesty, I - with my wife - had taken up a lease on a charming cottage on the shore some miles to the west of the town of Portsmouth. Thus we continued happily for some years, and thought to close our days together in this most peaceful and happy state.
       Unfortunately this was not to be, for two particular circumstances. The first, the decision of the same government - or more precisely the Council of the County - to construct a highway to pass across the space of our happy domicile, causing our landlord to terminate our lease with no recourse or recompense. The second, the sudden bankruptcy of the publisher of my literary endeavours and also the lapsing of their copyright.
       Cruelly thus deprived both of home and income, it was clear that the recent inflations had largely eroded the value of Her Majesty's stipend so that Janet the maid must first be dismissed. Then, following the move to substantially reduced premises in an insalubrious part of the town, I resolved to Spare myself the continuous lamentations of my good lady at this straitening of our circumstances by taking ship once more, to earn the wherewithal better to provide for our daily necessaries.

I will spare the reader, as commonplace, any account of the difficulty with which one of advancing years obtains employment, no matter how suitable his qualifications, and say only that on the third of September of the year in question I sailed as third officer on the tanker ship Panama Snowdrop in ballast for Kuwait City to bring in fuel oils in time for the peak of the winter season.
       We called en route only in Durban on the East Coast of Africa, to which continent, the reader may well imagine, notable changes were discernible since my previous visits. Following one week in Kuwait City, the tanks being filled, we sailed again southwards, making our way down the Gulf of Persia towards the Indian Ocean. Our passage was uneventful through the straits and the sun was setting to the west over the last visible land when, with a fearful noise, our craft was rent by a mine or grenade remaining from a conflict of the region.
       The damage to the structure of the vessel was of such magnitude that she began to list to starboard so that the use of boats for escape was precluded, and a fire soon broke out amidships. I, having made my way to the prow to admire the sunset, was separated from the rest of the crew who must surely all have perished in the fierce heat of the flames that engulfed the ship.
       For me there was no choice but to leap into the water and (seizing a metal tank which had been jarred loose by the explosions) to swim as hard as I could ahead of the fearful spill of burning oil which issued from the side of the stricken vessel. Throughout the night I floated, and the next morning there was no sight of land on any horizon. By the middle of the day, under the burning sun of those latitudes, I thought to die of parching thirst, but was saved by a fearful storm which relieved my thirst but carried me further from land for, unlike the MONSOON which commonly blows in that time of the year from the Southwest, the wind was northerly and I calculated that my respite could be but brief.
       The storm blew for two days and a half and the reader must imagine my distress to be carried far from land, and away from the path of any stray craft which might make its way along the sea routes of that ocean. Thus, near to despair of the effect of the sun and the fierce fishes of those seas, I floated alone beneath the blazing heat the whole of the third day until suddenly, at nightfall, my eye encountered a light on the southern horizon.
       I knew that no ship would likely find me, passing at that distance, but thought that I might have stumbled on some recently opened sea lane which could bring me other succour, when I realised that the light was stable in position and so I began to exert myself to propel my fragile craft in its direction. Throughout the night I swam, and with the dawn I flung myself upon a beach of coarse white sand where I fell into a swoon.

I must have slept without stirring a whole day, for the sun was lowering in the western sky when I was awakened by the sound of voices, raised in song. Since I had no clear idea of my position, I could not tell whom I might encounter. My best knowledge of the populations I might confront led me to conjecture that this might be an island occupied as a base by the navy of America - late our colonies - and on making my way up the beach, I came to a hedge from behind which I was able to view the singers.
       At the first - not having detailed knowledge of the naval uniforms of our American cousins - I thought to find my first conjectures confirmed. This was a fine looking band of men dressed in some sort of livery.  They wore short blue trousers, above their knees, with stout walking boots and stockings to the calf. Their shirts were also short sleeved, and on their heads they wore broad brimmed hats, no doubt against the tropical sun. They sang with such a sweet harmony that I determined to approach them and ask them to aid me in my pitiable condition.
       With this idea of throwing myself upon their mercy, I stept out from behind the hedge into the field or meadow where they were walking but my sudden appearance threw them completely into fear and confusion. Some were for taking to their heels - notwithstanding the fact that each was armed with a stout staff - and as I began to address them I am not sure that they would not all have run off had the toll of my recent ordeal not been such that I pitched forward, fainting, upon my face.
       Upon this, they all gathered around me and addressed me very fairly, offering fresh water from bottles which each carried by his side, and instantly building a campfire, next to which they laid me upon a bed fashioned from boughs cut from nearby woods where they took from their provisions to feed me a nourishing broth of carrots, peas and broccoli.
       I was much moved by their kindness and I asked them who or what they were, to which they replied that they belonged to an order called "Scouts", from an ancient French word, "ascouter" meaning to listen, and their object was to travel through the land to listen to the problems of the old and infirm, and if possible to do their best to assist them. I explained that I had taken them to be a part of an army or other military organisation and I was most surprised that these words were not within their knowledge or vocabulary.
       They insisted that their country had no need of defences as anyone attempting to disrupt the order established by their rulers would forfeit all chances of perfect pleasure, a statement which I interpreted as being of a religious nature. Then, three of their number being dispatched to inform their headquarters of their decision to spend the night under the stars with me, I fell to sleep, with the pleasant sounds of their songs echoing about me.

The next morning, the night having aided magnificently my recovery, they accompanied me to their quarters, a simple building painted all in white and surrounded by carefully tended lawns and beds of flowers where I was to stay for some days while they referred my fate for decision by the rulers of the land.
       I remarked on the very pleasant layout of their premises and complemented them upon their gardens, full of Hibiscus and Cannas, Frangipani, Poinsettia, Flamboyant and Jacarandas. They replied that as part of their duties as Scouts, they were judged upon the quality of their flowers, and the major honour for the first troop of the island would be the privilege of presenting a bouquet to their rulers on the National Holiday each year.
       In all of this time, I had not set eyes upon a single woman, and I felt exceeding curiosity to know whether this order of Scouts might be a variety of monasticism, for among them were men and boys of every age, and I wondered greatly to find that all the tasks of cooking and housework which so naturally fall to women in our own society were here carried out with great skill and care by men.
       When I asked about this, however, I threw my generous hosts into great consternation and they asked me if it were true, then, that women existed and whether, in fact I had seen such a creature. When I replied that I had indeed been on familiar terms with women, and gave some account of my relations with my good lady wife, then they treated me completely with awe and urged me to give them some information on the subject.
       For it emerged that, in their society, women were never seen, although they believed that there was a paradise to which the most fortunate of men might be promoted where they might indeed meet with women. When this occurred, however, the individual so honoured would disappear from his companions and never see them more.
       Upon this, I asked them how it came that, among their numbers, there were many young boys, some too young even to stand. They replied that to the best of their knowledge this had nothing to do with women but that at certain times of the year the boys would be found beneath a bush near to their house, (they showed me the type of plant, which I believe to have been a species of tropical GOOSEBERRY) from which they were brought into the order and trained in their duties of gardening and public service.
       As I was conscious of the great solace and comfort afforded within my own matrimony by my Lady Wife, I asked them how they could so survive without the sweetness of female companions but I could not succeed in explaining to them the force of my question, for they had never known any other state than their own, of total self sufficiency. They lived in total tranquillity and collaboration, dividing up the daily tasks so that some would cook, would scour the pots and till the fields and all those tasks, down to the most particular, which we commonly assign to the distaff side were performed by men.
       Their produce, surplus to their own needs, was given over to the maintenance of the order and quantities of vegetables, of cloth, of tallow, of milk, cheese etcetera were conveyed daily by wagons and trucks to the seat of their order which was some way off, beyond a range of mountains or tall hills.
       During the time I was with them, I had ample opportunity to observe the harmonious tenor of their lives. Often they worked in the fields, and when they did not then they practised useful skills, as knot tying, knitting, campfire lighting, coracle sailing, semaphore and many others. At night, around the fire, they would sing cheerfully. Each, within the organisation knew exactly his position and seniority in terms of the skills he had acquired and the ruling of the order lay in the hands of the experts in these skills, with committees to adjudge and define the standards of excellence, of the very best knitters or weavers, builders or cookers and so forth.
       I observed also the great affection in which they held one another, their being signs of many most sincere friendships as, indeed, develop naturally in surroundings of such perfect harmony, a phenomenon I marvelled to observe on land.
       Thus I passed among this gentle and pleasant people fifteen days in which I quite recovered my strength and they were kind enough to replace my ragged apparel with splendid uniforms of their store before word came that I should be transported to the regional centre of their order. The next day I set out, with an escort of three stout fellows to walk the distance over the hills, making camp in the night en route, and arriving at noon of the next day at their city of Reginule, where I was immediately conducted to the headquarters of the Scouts in the city, passing through streets crowded with Scouts, not only of the same order but also others wearing different uniforms.
       This headquarters lay in a whitewashed walled compound with a large building at the front, facing out over a lake. Behind it the compound stretched backwards with a series of low buildings or barracks.
       I was taken to the offices of the order where I was ushered into a spacious room on the second floor, overlooking the lake. When my escorts had left the room, I faced a considerable interrogation from a committee of craft experts of the Scouts.
       At the beginning, alas, it did not go well for me. My knowledge of Semaphore was found sadly wanting; my cooking skills were minimal, I knew nothing of basic fire-lighting but to my great good fortune, my chief inquisitor was the Grande Master of the Knotte and this was an area where my long seagoing career was of inestimable value.
       I was able to demonstrate reef knots, sheepshanks, hitches (clove and others), bends, nooses, surgical sutures and many others which I had learned in the course of my travels. At the start, I fear that I was treated with some contempt, but as I progressed from naval knotting, through frogging, looping and braiding to a number of specialised macramé knots and crochet double trebles I could sense the interest of the room being stirred so that when I finished with the blanket knotting often used for suturing post partum damage to the birth canal, the whole room rose, as a man, and I was applauded to the echo.
       It soon became clear that my skills in knotting were considered to be exceptional, even in the company of these brave and gallant scouting knotters. With my interrogation thus brought to a satisfactory conclusion, it was unanimously decided to admit me to the order of Scouts, and I was much moved emotionally as I accepted the honorary title of Learned Knotting Frogger together with a Commission to pass on my skills in a series of Knotting Master Classes.
       Thus I lived at the Scouting Centre by the lake for several months and I participated in the rituals of their cult – camping, fire-lighting, singing and cooking, but it became clear quite soon that all about me was not so simple as it seemed. Many times, my more senior colleagues would break off a conversation suddenly when I entered the room. I observed also that whereas, in the local centre at the coast where first I had sojourned, authority followed strictly upon merit in craft, here this was not always the case.
       In addition, the senior committee would sometimes disappear for several days and return with new policies and priorities for the movement. I could not but hypothesise that there was some occult force at work that governed the way in which the order was directed. Another aspect of the order which I found puzzling was the complete reliance on verbal instructions for, notwithstanding their sophisticated abilities in all areas of craft and trade, I found that none of my companions were in the least able to read or write.
       Any questions on these subjects were skilfully evaded so I resolved to make an investigation on my own account and, one evening, observing the members of the Senior Council departing the premises as dusk was falling, I followed them surreptitiously at a distance. They made there way by small side streets through the city along the side of the lake until they reached a large building upon the shore that seemed to resemble a temple or church. As they entered, observing that my presence was not suspected, I determined to follow them into the building and so made my way through the door and concealed myself in the gloom behind one of the pillars.
       Now my first vision of the interior of this edifice did nothing so much as to draw my attention to the state of the world in which my Scouting colleagues lived for they inhabited usually an environment of rustic simplicity, with clean whitewashed walls, bare, clean floorboards and their only decor was the simple product of their own hands. Here was an edifice, outside of simple architecture, within like unto a crystal of light. The floor of the great hall a mosaic of coloured stones with, in the midst, a fountain.
       The walls were painted in the most glowing colours with scenes of maidens and nymphs, woodlands and flowered, fantastic animals half man, half goat, and in these fantastic picnics, no man to be seen who did not appear as a servant proposing some delicate sweetmeat to the bucolic shepherdesses who took their leisure beneath the canopies of Arcadian groves.
       As they entered the room, each of my Scouts removed his hat and bowed then took some gift, of flowers or of produce, of craft or of design and laid it by the fountain. My colleagues were not the only Scouts present, and it was clear from the different colours and distinction of garb that I observed the leaders of the various orders of Scouts of the city were also here. When the assembly was complete, the room contained some hundred souls, but it was not more than one tenth filled.
       All waited, kneeling, with their eyes closed, when of a sudden came the sound of a bell or gong, struck three times and a curtain at the end of the hall, painted to be the same as the walls, began slowly to rise upwards. Behind the curtain was revealed a raised platform upon which were seated an assembly of women. They were dressed in flowing robes of finest silk, some white, some pearly as the oyster, some of beautiful shades of blues and aquamarines.
       The Scouts in the body of the hall, with this, began to sing, a most beauteous melody of praises and paeans expressing joy to be able to attend the gathering, to be united in worship and cetera. After some ten minutes, one of the women, who seemed to be a leader among them, stood and called upon the Scouts to present their reports and they then recounted the most minute details of the administration of their responsibilities, viz.: how many merit awards they had issued to their groups, weekly production of vegetables, personnel plans and development, contributions of produce to the temple.
       Upon this, another of the women, a younger, with blonde hair arrayed in a high coil upon her head, then responded with detailed instructions for the administration of the offices for the succeeding period. This being known to both parties I was unable from the context to deduce how frequent these ceremonies might be, though I later found that they were normally held once in each week.
       This was followed by a further session of song, after which it was announced that one of the Scouts was now to be honoured for his endeavours and he was made to present himself upon the stage, accompanied by two of his peers who stood by him while he disrobed and was arrayed by the women in a blood red drape or toga. Then, most solemnly and fondly, he bade farewell to his two companions, who carried his previous clothing back into the hall, and he was led away, to the women's end of the hall and out of sight, by two female attendants.
       This being the end of the ceremonial, the curtain concealing the women was lowered, and the remaining Scouts, with much discussion, and indeed grief on the part of the friends of the one who had gone, began to leave the hall. I waited in my place of concealment until the place was empty and then made to exit myself, only to find, to my chagrin and consternation, that the great door, by which I had entered, was fast to.

The reader should require no explanation of the frantic haste with which I researched an alternative exit, but, alas, on the side of the curtain where the men had stood there was no other egress. As I ran to and fro, there appeared a group of men dressed, unlike the Scouts, in robes or Togas, similar to that which had been given in the ceremony, but of a dull brown colour, and began to remove the piles of produce which had been placed by the fountain.
       With this, I tried once more to conceal myself, but was soon discerned by one of these and very roughly taken into custody. This event was the cause of considerable turmoil, and I was soon securely bound and closed in a dark pit or cellar beneath the stage of the hall, where I waited in fear, not knowing what possible fate might lie in store.
       Presently I was brought out and manhandled over the platform, carried up a flight of stairs and held in a wooden panelled antechamber, before a heavy carved wooden door. After some time, the door opened and three women emerged, who examined me with the liveliest curiosity, commenting on my hair, the shape of my physiognomy and my physical build in the most frank and open manner, as if I were a table or other object of trade, so that I came to understand that the robed men who held me captive must, indeed, be some form of servant or slave.
       When they had passed, I was led through the door. I found myself in a large room, richly carved in wood panelling with a floor of polished granite of a blue grey colour veined in curious patterns with a carpet woven so densely that the pile, though soft, did not permit the footstep to depress it, and of a curious pattern - Persian or Arabic.
       At the far end of the room, the only furniture was a large table, but notwithstanding its size, I must leave my guards and walk some twenty five paces to reach it when the lady thereat seated ordered me to approach. Several times as I journeyed across the room, I thought to fall, trussed as I was, into a swoon, with fear and trepidation.
       My guards keeping but a step behind me, it was soon clear that I was held to be a dangerous intruder and threat to the safety and security of the place, and I was informed that the customary punishment for trespasses of the type I had committed was no less than the severance of those organs of procreation which might make of me a menace to the peace of the female gender.
       As I understood that this was to be my fate, I began to protest, miserably, my innocence, or at least my ignorance, and lack of ill intention in what I had done. My inquisitress, a stern lady of some fifty summers, when she found that I was not of that place, seemed the more determined to separate me from my manhood and it became clear that my arrival in their country had not gone unnoticed and had, in fact, been the subject of reports from my hosts, the Scouts, to the women who carried the government of the country.
       Thus it was that she adamantly decided that the operation be forthwith performed and my guards should immediately have removed me from that place to the place of execution of the deed, when the door was opened and the blonde haired lady who had presented the instructions for the week entered the room and, upon seeing me, asked to be informed of the meaning of my presence.
       My captors explained to her the circumstances of my case, and she began then to cross question me as to my origins, the circumstances of my arrival in their country, something of the habits of my native land, to which I eagerly replied. I explained my trade of surgeon and she asked at once how it could be that a man might pursue so learned a calling, or whether much learning was not required in the treatment of illness in my country.
       I told of my studies at the school of medicine and it became clear from her conversations not only that she was herself medically trained, but that the skills of treatment of that place, particularly in the therapeutic consideration of the whole person and the environment in which they lived were very advanced in practice and methodology.
       This lady, then evinced great interest in the comparison of the techniques of medicine, systems of diagnosis and treatment, in particular as related to our use of medicines and therapeutic drugs, and made to remove me from the guards for further discussions. At this, my original interrogator protested vehemently, making me out a potential rapist or voyeur and would have me instantly castrated, but the younger lady who seemed to be of a higher rank or status overrode her protests. She then took me with her to another part of the building where I was released from my bonds and brought before an impromptu committee of the women who questioned me for most of the remainder of that night.
       Near to dawn I was once again bound - though less violently - and taken to my previous place of incarceration beneath the stage. Here I spent the day attempting to find some comfort in repose, in spite of my bonds.
       Although I was now a prisoner, I was not in any way mistreated, except in so far as required to guarantee the security of the place. I was fed quantities of scraps from the kitchens and, indeed, allowed to use the facilities of the place to ease my natural requirements. Over a period of a week, I was continuously questioned regarding my motives, my history and my personal views.
       Now I do not consider myself to be particularly gifted in mental agility or breadth of knowledge and, indeed, in comparison to my gentle questioners I found my self severely disadvantaged, but I discovered that they considered me to be a veritable prodigy because I could both read and write, I had knowledge of history and geography, some interest in politics and government and was able to discourse of literature and poetry, art and science; accomplishments which in their society were unthinkable in anyone so rough and uncouth as a man.
       At the start, I was shocked and taken aback by this view of my sex and, in the course of my interrogations, I tried to explain the habits and customs of our own country. This they always listened to with great courtesy as they continued in discussion with me over a period of some weeks.
       At last, a council was called of their leaders in order to decide what was to become of me. This was the subject of lengthy debate with, on the one hand, the lady before whom I had originally been brought, whose view was that the only safe and prudent course was to castrate me, and on the other, my blonde protectrice, who wished to give me some limited freedom in order to inform their greatest scientists of the state of the world beyond their borders.
       Finally, this gracious lady, by taking upon herself the complete responsibility for my good behaviour was able to procure my release into her custody and arrangements were made immediately for my transfer to her residence.

Now I did not appreciate, at that time, the singular favour thus bestowed upon me; nor indeed the considerable risk to her own good name incurred by my Lady, as a result of her taking me up in this way. In fact, she had rescued me from certain mutilation which is very common in that place - for reasons which shall presently become clear - purely from motives of detached curiosity and a singular openness to learning of the world beyond their shores.
       Thus I found myself conveyed from the city to my lady's estate some distance away on the other side of the lake. We travelled by boat in a galley rowed by eight sturdy fellows dressed in the grey brown robes of the male servants to the female upper classes who bent enthusiastically to their oars, singing in rhythm with their stroke as they conveyed us across the lake.
       During the course of the journey, my Lady took the opportunity of asking me to give her an undertaking that I would abide by whatever regulation she might specify for me, to which I readily acquiesced.
       I had noted in the city that, in addition to the use of horse drawn carts and wagons, there was an extensive system of steel rails, on which ran small horse drawn trams, or rail carriages. It was in one of these vehicles, admirably efficient in that a single horse was able to draw the heavy vehicle, that we were transported to my lady's home.
       This was a large single story building arrayed about a courtyard or threshing floor, which resembled most (of my experience) a hybrid between a Mexican 'Hacienda' and a prosperous farm of the plains of Northern Italy.
       I was installed in a room on the north wing and it was agreed that, in the first instance, I would remain in my room and not associate with the remainder of the household. It was from my window, therefore, that I received my first impressions of the composition of the establishment. In the main part of the house lived many women and girls of different ages. They dressed gracefully and appeared to devote their time to study and the arts, painting, music and reading. The surrounding farmland was cultivated by the brown robed serving men who also provided service as chefs, waiters and valets within the house.
       For the first week of my stay, I remained in my room and was visited daily by my Lady who continued to enquire after the history and culture of the western world. I discussed our mode of government, our history and social organisation, and our institutions of marriage, religion, and family. My accounts of our society were, to her, entirely novel and she could not completely believe that such a society might successfully survive.
       At the same time I learned of the organisation of society in her country, the name of which was Feminopia. In this land, happy chance had given the ruling of the country into the hands of the female gender, so that the organisation of the nation was perfectly balanced without the conflicts and rivalries that men are so wont to engender in their continuing struggle for power. At first I was most perplexed by this situation and I could not see how the realm might be defended or policed without the services of armies and marines, but I quickly learnt that in this happily ordered country, there was no need for these measures, by virtue of the quality of government.
       Then I asked how rivalries might be avoided between women, and my kind hostess explained how it was that all those petty conflicts I had been used to seeing among women in my own country were engendered by the pernicious male trait of competition. Here women were able to live in sweet accord because they were not subjected, beyond the absolute necessary minimum, to the presence of men.
       I could not credit that women - so much the weaker vessels in our own society - could thus survive without men, but my Lady made haste to remind me that for the survival of humanity, but one single moment of male contribution was actually required. For the rest, men had no necessary utility. This point I was forced to concede, and found that from this simple enlightenment it was possible to derive the complete and logical organisation of the society of Feminopia.
       It had been found in their universities many centuries since, that the major part of the lives of male human beings was devoted exclusively to a struggle for power, and to the building of a position, and all in order to obtain the favourable opinion of women. This position might be in relation to land, or to money, or to cattle, or to clothing or mode of dress, but the final result led always to war and conflict; and too often the women found their lives disrupted by these very struggles.
       Thus, the breeding instincts of the men gave discomfort unto the very beings the purposed to impress.
       It was the great triumph of the women of Feminopia to react rationally to this torment by banding together to proclaim that they were the true guardians of human posterity, and to join together in rearing the next generations of men to follow them in this philosophy. Thus it was that the women forbade to their male children the weapons of war and began to teach them instead the pursuits of peace as practised by my friends the scouts.
       The women, to avoid unnecessary concourse with these men, closed themselves in estates where they lived peacefully as sisters, caring for one another when in need, organising the government of the land and suitable education to promote the happy separation of the sexes.
       With this I - not without much stammering and blushing - asked how the process of procreation might be organised in such a society and She, commending me for the perspicacity of my question, gave me a complete understanding of their approach to the problem:
       The Scouts among whom I had spent my days were held as immature male specimens. They did not breed, they could not own property, except in common, and they were continuously supervised, even though physically adult, as though they were but children. This treatment had been found most suitable for the male psyche since, by nature and instinct men were creatures of the herd.
       Like all herd animals, therefore, they were used to receiving and carrying out orders. Indeed, researches had been carried out which showed that in any group of males there exists a natural order of status so that those lower down in the hierarchy produce a lesser quantity of the male hormones, cause, therefore less trouble and are prone to be subservient and accept the rule imposed upon them.
       With this I clapped my hand to my head and exclaimed in enlightenment for, just before my departure on my latest, ill fated, voyage I had indeed read of such discoveries in our own medical journals, but there the fact that males of higher status produced more testosterone had been interpreted to show that this was the cause of their success, so that lawyers, lords, officers and others of high rank had been thought to succeed because of their higher hormone levels.
       Now indeed, I understood the fallacy, and this new insight explained even why those in the first year of military service underachieved in this area but the same persons were found to have levels of the highest on reaching senior rank.
       Thus I saw that by rigid discipline, by application to trade and labour, by creating groups of happy, busy fellows, the levels of these troublesome and disruptive hormones were kept in check so that the Scouts could lead happy and useful lives.
       Now, to meet the reproductive needs of the society, it was necessary to bring some few of these Scouts over and introduce them to the female governing class, and hence the ceremony of the red robe which I had accidentally witnessed in the temple. Thus, this happy man, selected for his virtue, his robust constitution, health and intelligence, with the care of a race horse to the stud, would be given the ultimate privilege of perpetuation of the race.
       Among the population of Feminopia, this ceremony was the highest rite of the religion as, to their men, the women of Feminopia stood in the relation of the divine. Thus these fortunate few were enabled to perform the final act of worship in the final physical knowledge of the Goddess, from which rite grew the posterity of the nation.
       At once I saw how fortunate indeed was the recipient of the crimson robe and I enthusiastically endorsed their magnificent system of selection which ensured that only the finest specimens might contribute to the future and that those less fine of limb, less quick of mind might not last beyond their own brief day. But then I could not understand that these privileged few might not, with time, become a menace to the stability of the country.
       And precisely here, in the resolution of this apparently thorny problem, is shown the brilliance of feminine mind and its infinite generosity, unlike our own chaotic practices; for once this fortunate man has made his contribution to the future, his utility is at an end. Cold logic might tempt one to suggest that he forfeit his life but, in a demonstration of true greatness, this is not the case. The man is then neutered, so that the troublesome lusts and urges which would else plague him for the rest of his life are stilled and he may partake of the ultimate privilege of permanent feminine domesticity.
       At this point he receives, as a mark of honour, the status of Houseband and the brown robe of honour, for he has shed the unseemly male traits of youth and he is permitted to live in the same house among the women and allowed, in all those simple ways that men's superior strength fits them for, to be of service to the community and partake of the rearing of the female children. The male children are taken to be placed, immediately they are weaned, as Scouts, but the girls are brought up among the women by the houseband of brown robe men.
       Thus the women are freed to study, to write, to paint, to sculpt, to invent music. They may devote themselves to a life of beauty and art to which, it is clear, they are naturally suited by virtue of their fair, soft skins and gentle hands and eye.
       Now, as I began to reach an understanding of the society in which I was, my Lady began to permit me to meet some of her sisters of the house. I began to join the rest of the residents for meals where I was the only man and my Lady was able to take me through the museum of her home where I saw many paintings of the most gentle themes and great elegance and beauty such as I have never seen in the most elevated art produced by men in our own society.
       Although today I can hardly comprehend how this was, I am forced to own that I found this whole explanation, at the telling, somewhat difficult to accept. I know now that it was but my mannish ignorance that kept me at first from seeing the truth and I can but be grateful for the exceptional tolerance which my hostesses displayed because of their knowledge of the limitations of intellect necessary in a male.
       Nevertheless, earnestly desiring to improve myself, I came by gradual degrees to understand how much superior were my hostesses in every way to the men that I had previously known so that I could understand how exceptionally kind and generous it was for them even to speak to me.
       As time passed, I was constrained to compare their fair skins and elegant dress with my own hairy, rough self. I found the sophistication and maturity of their thought to be far superior to the thinking of their own men, who, instead of devoting themselves to the pursuit of beauty, truth and art thought only of childish games and vegetable gardening.
       I found that the true source of the great music, art and sculpture in the land lay with the women. All planning for the future was their responsibility and I could verify from my own experience that the Scouts if not given organisation by the government of females must needs have perished with the first drought or harsh weather.
       So I began to understand the evil that men have done in our own land, for not only do they cause wars and rivalries among themselves, but by their pernicious presence they corrupt the pure familial forms which are the natural instinct of our women, turning them to thoughts of competition and pride to which women by their nature are not heir. Now, too, I understood the great risks which, every day, my own presence gave to the reputation of my kind protectress.
       For it was considered in those parts abnormal and odd in the extreme to keep an entire male in the house and it can only be by virtue of the kind concern for her welfare on the part of the council that this topic became - so I heard - a general discussion of the region. Then I saw the danger that I might cause my mistress and I asked her what might be done to remedy the matter and whether I might not be returned to the Scouts where, though no longer privileged to live in their elevated and divine presence I might nevertheless benefit by living under female protection and supervision.
       Regretfully I was informed that this was no longer possible since no man who had seen the female parts of the island could ever be permitted to return to a life among the Scouts where the knowledge of what he had sacrificed by losing their company must make him forever a soul in misery and torment.
       With this I knew of only one solution, and I volunteered to become Houseband, joyfully giving up those masculine parts which are at the root of men's' fatal restlessness and inability to accommodate himself to the correct tenor of life. At the start their seemed no urgency to this process, but soon it became apparent that if matters were not concluded with some despatch then the council might take some hand.
       Thus the ceremony was put in train and we made the journey together, my self, my Lady and her sisters, to the traditional location or temple for these nuptials, on the coast of the sea at the opposite end of the island from which I had first landed. Now this temple, called by name the Venus Love Nest, was to be the scene of my initiation which would take the traditional form of the island. I was first to complete my statutory procreative duties and worship with my body each of My Lady and her Sisters - some thirty seven in number. Following this I would, in a solemn ceremony, be circumscribed, by the surgical removal of those organs that were the root of all my foul manliness.
       Now here there arose a problem for, not being any longer as young as once I was, nor indeed as young as the average of the promotees from the ranks of the scouts - this was not to be accomplished in a period of less than one month. During this period the concerns of the remainder of the council (honestly expressed with such vehemence that news of them reached even my ears) that this was not a normal traditional procedure led to our group deciding to conclude the ceremony prematurely.
       They graciously consented, therefore, to pardon me some of the normal exertions of the task. I thus, after scarce two weeks of service, gladly prepared for the night in which I would shed at least some of my rough mannish nature. Thus I retired to my room to watch and pray until the dawn should bring me deliverance at the fair hand of my Gracious Lady.

Alas, this was not to be, for in the dark of the night arrived from the council a messenger carrying for me a far harsher sentence. I had been accused of turning my Lady's judgement, in that her kindness to me, a stranger, was not in accord with the laws of that place and confirmed my first captor's view that I constituted a grave peril to the happiness of the whole society. I should therefore be hauled forth and my life to cease by imbibing hemlock.
       My Lady, by this news, was thrown in great distress for, she said, the council could not know that, though a male, I had learned quickly much of female wisdom and certainly did not merit death. Thus She decided to assist me to come away from that place and procured from the establishment of that place a form of pleasure craft which, propelled by pedalling, could be used to sail away. This she equipped with fresh water and food for ten days and with many tears I bade farewell to all my hopes of happiness and set sail in this fragile craft.
       Thus I travelled, by pedalling at night and by resting in the day beneath the umbrella or parasol with which I was equipped, westward until I reached a sea lane. Here, I was given sustenance by an Arab Dhow which transported me to the spice isle of Zanzibar, from whence home.
       Now, once more, I take my ease by the side of my dear good lady wife. I listen to her entreaties and endeavour always to respect her as the fallen image of those more elevated ladies of the land of Feminopia, though I have learned that it is not always constructive to attempt to influence her to emulate their good examples. She is quite badly affected by her life thus exposed to men so that when I tell her of their perfection, of my efforts in the Venus Love Nest and cetera, she takes, not edification, but umbrage and cannot see the good of it.
       Thus I must continue in a miserable state of mind, being in possession of conceptions of government and social relations of the greatest import but from which I cannot bring profit in a domestic surrounding. In this spirit of frustration, seeing the sad state of our nation, I have resolved that the only honourable course must be to make public this adventure that, perchance, it may rather lead some reformer of noble spirit to profitable renovation of our public order.