Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5Sylvester, Charles Herbert
General
Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 5
Sylvester, Charles Herbert
Children's literature; Literature -- Collections
"In the left pocket were two black pillars irregularly shaped; we could
not, without difficulty, reach the top of them, as we stood at the
bottom of his pocket. One of them was covered and seemed all of a piece;
but at the upper end of the other there appeared a white, round
substance, about twice the bigness of our heads. Within each of these
was enclosed a prodigious plate of steel; which, by our orders, we
obliged him to show us, because we apprehended they might be dangerous
engines. He took them out of their cases, and told us that, in his own
country, his practice was to shave his beard with one of these, and to
cut his meat with the other.
"There were two pockets which we could not enter; these he called his
fobs; they were two large slits cut into the top of his middle cover,
but squeezed close by the pressure of his belly. Out of the right fob
hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the
bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that
chain, which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some
transparent metal; for, on the transparent side, we saw certain strange
figures circularly drawn, and thought we could touch them, till we found
our fingers stopped by that lucid substance. He put this engine to our
ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill: and we
conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the god that he
worships; but we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he
assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very
imperfectly), that he seldom did anything without consulting it. He
called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action
of his life.
"From the left fob he took out a net, almost large enough for a
fisherman, but contrived to open and shut like a purse, and served him
for the same use: we found therein several massy pieces of yellow metal,
which, if they be real gold, must be of immense value.
"Having thus, in obedience to your majesty's commands, diligently
searched all his pockets, we observed a girdle about his waist, made of
the hide of some prodigious animal, from which, on the left side, hung a
sword of the length of five men; and on the right, a bag or pouch
divided into two cells, each cell capable of holding three of your
majesty's subjects. In one of these cells were several globes or balls,
of a most ponderous metal, about the bigness of our heads, and required
a strong hand to lift them; the other cell contained a heap of certain
black grains, but of no great bulk or weight, for we could hold above
fifty of them in the palms of our hands.
"This is an exact inventory of what we found about the body of the
man-mountain, who used us with great civility, and due respect to your
majesty's commission. Signed and sealed on the fourth day of the
eighty-ninth moon of your majesty's auspicious reign.
[Illustration: GULLIVER AND THE PISTOL]
"CLEFREN FRELOCK, MARSI FRELOCK."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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