Probably Kola, the chief, would not have permitted the constant presence of inquisitive visitors when important matters were under discussion, or would have changed the subject on their arrival. In any case to have sat evening after evening, as it were in the distinguished strangers’ gallery, listening to debates which were only half intelligible, was an entertainment drearier than any of his visitors was prepared to face. Thus it is impossible to decide whether these parliaments had legislative and judicial functions, or whether, as Kola’s privy council, they were only deliberative and advisory. When strangers were present Fardi sometimes improved the occasion by producing a little ragged map of the world to question them about the amenities of different countries. It was a projection after the method of Mercator, in which Greenland appeared, grossly exaggerated, as an attractive patch of bright colour equal in size to the whole of Europe and pleasantly unspotted by the names of icy mountains or any other geographical complexities. This image of Greenland had for Fardi the same attraction as the bellman’s chart for the Snark-hunting crew, and he was convinced only with difficulty that, the climate being intolerable and the natives poor, he was unlikely to do there a great trade in mending copper pots. To parliament, too, Kola exhibited his first large payment in British money, a big bundle of Bank of England notes. His subjects passed them from grimy hand to grimy hand, tugged them viciously, held them up to the light, and then delivered judgment: “Ugly notes, but tough paper.”