* * * Having left _Bononia_, we went to _Rome_. This City is subject to a Priest, who, though his Dominions are very narrow, is reckon’d the most powerful of all the _European_ Kings and Princes. For other Princes exercise Dominion only over the Persons and Estates of their Subjects, but this can destroy their Souls likewise. The _Europeans_ in general believe, that the Keys of Heaven are in the Custody of this Priest. I was very desirous of seeing so great a Curiosity, but I lost my Labour, nor do I know, to this Day, what Form they are of, or in what Cabinet they are kept. The Authority which this Pontiff exercises, not only over his own Subjects, but over all Mankind, chiefly consists in this, that he can absolve whom God condemns, and condemn whom he absolves. An enormous Power, indeed! and such an one as our Subterraneans will never believe can fall to any Mortal’s Share. But it is an easy Matter to impose upon the _Europeans_ as one pleases, and to make them swallow the greatest Absurdities, though they imagine that nobody has any Understanding but themselves; and being puff’d with this Opinion, they look down with Contempt upon all other Mortals, as if they were Barbarians in Comparison of them. For my Part, I do not undertake to justify the Manners, Laws, and Customs of our Subterraneans; I will only produce some Instances of the Customs of the _Europeans_, in order to make it appear how undeservedly they pass a Censure upon the Manners of other Nations. It is a Custom all over _Europe_ for People to scatter a Kind of Meal, which is made by grinding the Fruits of the Earth, and which Nature intended for Food, over their Hair and Cloaths. This Meal is commonly call’d _Powder_, and great Care and Pains are us’d to cleanse their Hair from it every Morning, with an Instrument call’d a Comb, in order to make Room for more of the same Sort. They have another Custom which appear’d to me no less ridiculous, which is this. They have a Kind of little Cover, or Hat, to defend their Heads against the Cold, which Cover they very often wear under one of their Arms, even in the very Depth of Winter. This appear’d as absurd to me, as it would have been to have seen a Man walking through the Streets with his Coat or his Breeches in his Hand, and leaving his Body to be expos’d to the Inclemencies of the Air, from which they were intended to defend it.