about three o'clock
Without restrictions , but in full consciousness of the high mission which I have undertaken ; without cheating myself with too small a dose of the intoxicating draught , I act like an honest Epicurean . I take of the voluptuous delights of my harem as large a dose as an intelligent and refined student of nature ought to require , but without imprudently overstraining the springs of sensation . Armed with the dexterity of superior wisdom , I , floating on this Oriental stream of Love , know how to remain faithful to my charge , by avoiding the rocks of satiety and the shipwreck of illusions . Every day then , about three o'clock , after having devoted the morning to my business affairs or to my `` Essays on Psychology , '' I go to El-Nouzha , and stay there usually until the middle of the night . However , I sometimes go there of a morning , for a bath ; I am teaching my houris to swim . I must tell you that in this matter , indispensable for the comfort of the sultanas , Barbassou-Pasha designed a marvel . In the middle of an island in the lake -LRB- which is taken from the delightful garden of See-ma-Kouang , the famous Chinese poet -RRB- , picture to yourself a great marble basin surrounded by a circular arcade , a sort of _ atrium _ open to the sky .