Every Girl's Library, Volume 8 of 10: A Collection of Appropriate and Instructive Reading for Girls of All Ages from the Best Authors of All Time
General
Every Girl's Library, Volume 8 of 10: A Collection of Appropriate and Instructive Reading for Girls of All Ages from the Best Authors of All Time
Literature -- Collections
"In the right coat pocket of the great man-mountain we found only one
great piece of coarse cloth, large enough to cover the carpet of your
majesty's chief room of state. In the left pocket we saw a huge silver
chest, with a silver cover, which we could not lift. We desired that it
should be opened, and one of us stepping into it found himself up to
the mid-leg in a sort of dust, some of which flying into our faces sent
us both into a fit of sneezing. In his right waistcoat pocket we found a
number of white thin substances, folded one over another, about the size
of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures,
which we humbly conceive to be writings. In the left there was a sort of
engine, from the back of which extended twenty long poles, with which we
conjecture the man-mountain combs his head. In the smaller pocket on the
right side were several round flat pieces of white and red metal, of
different sizes. Some of the white, which appeared to be silver, were so
large and heavy that my comrades and I could hardly lift them. From
another pocket hung a huge silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine
fastened to it, a globe half silver and half of some transparent metal;
for on the transparent side we saw certain strange figures, and thought
we could touch them till we found our fingers stopped by the shining
substance. This engine made an incessant noise, like a water-mill, and
we conjecture it is either some unknown animal or the god he worships,
but probably the latter, for he has told us that he seldom did anything
without consulting it. This is a list of what we found about the body of
the man-mountain, who treated us with great civility."
I had one private pocket which escaped their search, containing a pair
of spectacles and a small spy-glass, which, being of no consequence to
the emperor, I did not think myself bound in honour to discover.
My gentleness and good behaviour gained so far on the emperor and his
court, and, indeed, on the people in general, that I began to have hopes
of getting my liberty in a short time. The natives came by degrees to be
less fearful of danger from me. I would sometimes lie down and let five
or six of them dance on my hand, and at last the boys and girls ventured
to come and play at hide-and-seek in my hair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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