e I could seize them; whereupon
there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and after it ceased I
heard one of them cry aloud _Tolgo phonac_; when in an instant I felt
above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked me like
so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the air, as
we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body, (though
I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered with
my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning
with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they
discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them
attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on
a buff jerkin, which they could not pierce. I thought it the most
prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night,
when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself: and
as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for
the greatest army they could bring against me, if they were all of the
same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwise of me.
When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows;
but, by the noise I heard, I knew their numbers increased; and about four
yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an
hour, like that of people at work; when turning my head that way, as well
as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected about a
foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the
inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it: from whence one of
them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech,
whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned, that
before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three times,
_Langro dehul san_ (these words and the former were afterwards repeated
and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fifty of the
inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my
head, which gave me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of
observing the person and gesture of him that was to speak. He appeared
to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three who
attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed
to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on
each side to support him. He act