art good to see the stuff, in these harticles,
that they does take from us without higgling!"

"I presume, brigadier, that you use them as an amusement--as a means to
pass a pleasant hour, of an evening--a sort of moral segar?"

"No, sir," put in the broker, "they doesn't smoke 'em, my word on't, or
they wouldn't buy 'em in such lots!"

I now thought enough had been laid in on my own account, and I turned
to see what the captain was about. He was higgling for a bale marked
"Opinions on the Lost Condition of the Monikin Soul." A little curious
to know why he had made this selection, I led him aside, and frankly put
the question.

"Why, to own the truth, Sir John," he said, "religion is an article that
sells in every market, in some shape or other. Now, we are all in the
dark about the Leaplow tastes and usages, for I always suspect a native
of the country to which I am bound, on such a p'int; and if the things
shouldn't sell there, they'll at least do at Stunnin'tun. Miss Poke
alone would use up what there is in that there bale, in a twelvemonth.
To give the woman her due, she's a desperate consumer of snuff and
religion."

We had now pretty effectually cleared the shelves, and the cook, who
had come ashore to dispose of his slush, had not yet been able to get
anything.

"Here is a small bale as come FROM Leaplow, and a pinched little thing
it is," said the broker, laughing; "it don't take at all, here, and it
might do to go 'ome again--at any rate, you will get the drawback. It is
filled with 'Distinctive Opinions of the Republic of Leaplow.'" The cook
looked at the brigadier, who appeared to think the speculation doubtful.
Still it was Hobson's choice; and, after a good deal of grumbling,
the doctor, as Noah always called his cook, consented to take the
"harticle," at half the prime cost.

Judge People's Friend now came trotting down to the port, thoroughly en
republican, when we immediately embarked, and in half an hour, Bob was
kicked to Noah's heart's content, and the Walrus was fairly under way
for Leaplow.

CHAPTER XXIII. POLITICAL BOUNDARIES--POLITICAL RIGHTS--POLITICAL
SELECTIONS, AND POLITICAL DISQUISITIONS; WITH POLITICAL RESULTS.

The aquatic mile-stones of the monikin seas have been already mentioned;
but I believe I omitted to say, that there was a line of demarcation
drawn in the water, by means of a similar invention, to point out
the limits of the jurisdiction of each state. Thus, all