Our reception by the Corcovadians was affectionate beyond comparison, fully enlisting our utmost resources in reciprocation. When the exuberance of our mingled congratulations had subsided into the calm current of sympathetic inquiry, we soon became aware of their loving troth to Manatitlan habits and customs. In evidence of the lealty of their alliance they had diminished a third in numbers, as they averred, with a marked improvement in all the essentials of affectionate purity and goodness, manifest alike in the conservation of physical and thoughtful development. In answer to our solicitous inquiries with regard to the welfare of the Animalculan and Giga population of the islands and mainland, they answered that the inhabitants of the islands had become more barbarously enlightened and destructive in tendency than they were in our ancestors’ time; our Mouthpat deportations having added fuel to the degenerative tendency of the islanders. Still the good example of the colonists had attracted a desire on the part of parents that their children should be educated under their instruction. After a week’s sojourn with the Corcovadians, Soartus continued his flight to Rome, taking with him as many of the islanders as the howdahs could accommodate. “Soaring to our first poise above the peaks of the Asturian mountains, we hailed with matin song of praise the broad disc of the sun as it reflected, in ascendency from the horizon, the inequalities of the countries beneath in panoramic light and shadow. As it rose in the full splendor of its mellowed morning beams, dispelling with sparkling reflection the dewy mists of night, a scene of surpassing beauty greeted our vision. From north to south, on the western confines of the Iberian peninsula, a lofty range of intervaled mountains formed an inviting attraction for the mist clouds, which dispensed their moisture as an ever replenishing source of rivers and streams, that in descent received tributary contributions rendering with their water supply the valleys fertile. In continuation from the extreme south, a sea-coast range of lesser height formed an interior basin, by circle inclosure to the east and north. Within this, cities and hamlets were scattered with seeming indications of peaceful repose. Our eyes were held entranced with the beautiful scene; and we wondered how man, gifted with rational powers of discernment, could fail to discover in the lovely blendings Creative indications designed for his direction in the paths of peace and purity. The falcons, left to the guidance of their own pleasurable instincts, just cleared the topmost sprays of the trees in their gliding circuits, but in soaring above villages and cities the volantaphs raised their flight beyond the reach of missile weapons. While passing over the city of Leon from north to south, we saw men, women, and children, flocking in crowds to the western gate. Curious to learn the cause of this early commotion, so unwonted from the