Summary
Of all the laws implemented by Solamona, the Governor informs the crew, his most preeminent contribution was the creation of Salomon's House.
Salomon's House is the pride and center of Bensalem dedicated to the knowledge and understanding of God's creatures.
The Governor tells the crew that, though nobody is permitted to leave the island, every 12 years the island sends ships out into the world. The men on these ships are tasked with bringing back information about other civilizations related to art, culture, invention, and progress.
The crew spends more time on the island and begins to feel comfortable.
They attend a Feast of the Family, a ceremony wherein a patriarch of a family of at least 30 people honors his children and vice versa.
After a week on the island, the narrator has developed a friendship with a Jewish merchant named Joabin, whom the narrator describes as different from other, Christ-hating Jews he has encountered in his life.
The narrator questions Joabin about the laws surrounding marriage in Bensalem. Joabin explains that the people of Bensalem are the epitome of chastity, and that other civilizations (like Europe) have destroyed the sanctity of marriage with their loose morals.
Analysis
The Governor's explanation of Salomon's House to the sailors is an important turning point in the story. Here, the narrator (and by extension, the reader) begins to develop an understanding of what the people of Bensalem value: they are Christians, but they are also in constant pursuit of knowledge.
As the Governor describes Salomon's House, it is both mysterious (the intricacies of the organization are revealed later, by the Father of Salomon's House) and a symbol of the island's utopian foundation. Salomon's House represents a balance between maintaining the integrity of one's own civilization while also remaining in touch with the progress and development in the rest of the world. While the sailors may not be privy to the exact work of Salomon's House at this point in the story, the Governor's description showcases how the people of Bensalem are invested in their own community but also the progress of humanity more generally.
This moral rectitude manifests when the sailors are finally permitted to leave the House of Strangers and engage with the inhabitants in person. The narrator notes that, after traversing the streets of the island and meeting with all sorts of people, he perceives Bensalem as "a mirror in the world worthy to hold men's eyes." This description underscores the idyllic nature of Bensalem as a society of perfect men, representing the best of humanity.
When the narrator meets Joabin, he confirms the narrator's own experience with the inhabitants by saying that the people of Bensalem are "chaste," much more so than those in Europe (where the narrator is from, and likely where Bacon's readers were from as well). The Feast of the Family, which Joabin and the narrator both praise, is a symbolic incarnation of Bensalem's values, as it emphasizes the importance of prosperity, family, and honor.
In this section of the narrative, the sailors have become fully immersed in the culture of the island and have begun to appreciate the difference between the ethical governance of Bensalem and the purported (but corrupted) Christian morals of Europe.
