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To the casual eye, this city didn’t show signs of excessive order or disorder. It was neither monocultural nor recklessly cosmopolitan. The brick townhomes and neoclassical government buildings were leavened with a healthy variety of styles, including some that the Time Traveller recognized from his own era. Human beings were organized, as was frequently the case, into nuclear family units, living within individually owned apartments and houses. But they did not seem to practise a currency economy, and this led to a number of confusing exchanges between the Time Traveller and his tour guide: a stolid, unblinking individual, squat in appearance, ashen in complexion, and with some characteristics suggestive of the female sex.