cer-ship being generally taken from the hog-race. It must be
observed that the inhabitants of the Mezendoric empire, although they
are animals in figure, have hands and fingers on the fore feet.

After dinner the speckled sow entered into conversation with our
interpreter, during which she told him that she was overhead and ears in
love with me. He comforted her in the best manner he could, and promised
her his support and aid; then he turned himself towards me and
endeavored to persuade me to be easy; but when he observed that his
flattering and arguments were vain, he advised me to take to flight, as
he knew that this lady would move heaven and earth to satisfy her
desires. From this time I remained constantly on board; but the ship
itself was not a fortification sufficiently secure from the attacks of
this lady, who by messengers and love-letters strove to melt the ice
that surrounded my heart. Had I not, in the shipwreck I afterwards
suffered, lost my papers, I should now give some specimens of the
swine's poetry. I have forgotten it all, except the following lines, in
which she praises her being thus:

O thou! for whom my too fond soul most ardently doth thirst,
For whom my earliest passion, in retirement I have nursed:
Think not my figure homely, though it be endued in bristles,--
What beauty hath the leafless tree, through which the cold wind
whistles?
How unadorned the noble horse, when of his beauteous mane he's shorn!
O! who would love a purring cat, all in her furlessness forlorn.
Ah, look around my darling pig! look on all living things,
From the huge unwieldy mammoth to the smallest bird that sings;--
Were these not shagged or feathered all, how loudly should we jeer;--
Who would warmly strive to please e'en man, were man without a beard?

After our truck was finished and a rich freight stowed away, we sailed
for home. We had scarcely got into the open sea when it suddenly became
calm, but soon after the wind breezed up. Having sailed awhile with a
good wind, we saw again some mermaids, who

--dripping wet
Shot forth, and dived between the foaming waves,

and now and then emitted horrible shrieks. The sailors were much
terrified at this, for they knew by experience, that these mournful
sounds were presages of storm and wreck. They had scarcely taken in the
sails, before the whole heavens became veiled in black clouds: