This Sentence being publish’d, I was clapt into Prison. Some of my Friends persuaded me to protest against this Sentence, since among my Judges there were so many Matrons and Virgins, all Judges in their own Cause. Some advis’d me, as the safer Way, to make a fair Acknowledgment of my Crime, and lay the Blame upon my own native human Weakness. But this last Advice I rejected with great Constancy, out of Respect to Mankind, upon whose Character such a Confession would leave an indelible Blemish. I heard soon after, that his Highness had determin’d to give me an absolute Pardon, if I would but only prostrate myself at his Feet, confess my Fault, and implore his Favour, although _Rahagna_ the Treasurer oppos’d that Motion with Might and Main. But, to speak the Truth, I was not displeas’d with the Sentence. For Death was not half so terrible to me as that Employment they pick’d out for me; and I was weary of conversing longer with these Trees, who had so high an Opinion of their Wisdom. I hop’d also to meet with better Treatment in the Firmament, where I had heard, that all Strangers, without Distinction, were kindly receiv’d. CHAP. X. _The Author’s Banishment to the_ +Firmament+. I have hitherto said nothing concerning the strange and very singular Punishment the _Potuans_ have, of banishing to the Firmament: Wherefore I think myself oblig’d in this Place, to give some Account of it. Twice every Year certain Birds of an enormous Magnitude appear upon this Globe. They are call’d _Cupac_, that is to say, Birds of Post, and at stated Seasons they come and go. It has long perplex’d the Subterranean Naturalists to account for this periodical Visit. Some think they descend upon this Planet in Quest of certain Insects, or large Flies, of which there are prodigious Numbers about this Time of the Year, and of which these Birds are exceedingly voracious. This Opinion is strengthen’d by this Circumstance, that when these Flies disappear, the Birds fly off towards the Firmament. An evident Proof of this we have in other Countries, where Birds by the same Instinct of Nature appear, and for the very same Causes. Others think that these Birds are train’d up and instructed to this very End and Purpose by the Inhabitants of the Firmament, like our Falcons and other Birds of Prey. This Hypothesis receives some Countenance from that Tenderness, Care, and Dexterity, which these Birds use in bringing home their Prey, and laying it gently down before their Masters. Other Circumstances also shew, that these Creatures are either thus instructed, or else that they have a certain Portion of Reason to direct them; for at the Approach of the Season of _Departure_, they are so tractable and tame, that they suffer certain Nets, or small Chains, to be thrown over them, under which they lie quiet for many Days, and are fed out of Hand by the Inhabitants with the aforesaid Flies, of which they take Care to