The paradise of the Mahometans is said by them to be situated above the seven heavens, or in the seventh, and next under the throne of God; and, to express the amenity of the place, they tell us that the earth of it is of the finest wheat flour, or of the purest musk, or of saffron; and that its stones are pearls and jacinths, the walls of its buildings enriched with gold and silver, and the trunks of all its trees of gold, amongst which the most remarkable is the tree luba, or tree of happiness. They pretend that this tree stands in the palace of Mahomet, though a branch of it will reach to the house of every true believer, loaded with pomegranates, grapes, dates, and other fruits, of surprising size, and delicious testes, unknown to mortals.

If a man desires to eat of any particular kind of fruit, it will immediately be presented to him; or if he chooses flesh, birds ready dressed will be set before him, and such as he may wish for. They add, that this tree will supply the blessed, not only with fruit, but with silk garments also, and beasts to ride on, adorned with rich trappings, all which will burst forth from the fruit; and that the tree is so large, that a person mounted on the fleetest horse would not be able to gallop from one end of its shade to the other in one hundred years Plenty of water being one of the greatest additions to the pleasantness of any place, the Koran often speaks of the rivers of paradise as the principal ornament. Some of these rivers are said to flow with water, some with milk, some with wine, and others with honey: all of them have their sources in the root of this tree of happiness; and, as if these rivers were not sufficient, we are told that the garden of this paradise is also watered by a great number of lesser springs and fountains, whose pebbles are rubies and emeralds, their earth of camphor, their beds of musk, and their sides of saffron.

But all these glories will be eclipsed by the resplendent and exquisite beauty of the girls of paradise, the enjoyment of whose company will constitute the principal felicity of the faithful. These (they say) are not formed of clay, as mortal women, but of pure musk, and are, as their prophet often affirms in his Koran, free from all the natural defects and inconveniences incident to the sex. Being also of the strictest modesty, they keep themselves secluded from public view, in pavilions of hollow pearls, so large, that, as some traditions have it, one of them will be no less than sixteen, or, as others say, sixty miles long, and as many broad. With these the inhabitants of paradise may taste pleasures in their height; and for this purpose will be endowed with extraordinary abilities, and enjoy a perpetual youth.