this cistern to make tea with.
They have no more notion than a sheep how to render this bad water good."
And then he overwhelmed us with all sorts of odd questions about the
natural properties of things. In relation to the purification of water
which we had just operated, he asked whether by rubbing his face hard
with the charcoal, he could make it as white as ours; but then, when his
eyes turned to his hands, still black with the charcoal he had just
broken up, he himself laughed immensely at the idea he had propounded.

Night had set in before we had completed the distillation of the water we
required. We then made abundance of tea, and the evening was occupied in
drinking it. We contented ourselves with infusing a few pinches of
oatmeal in the tea, for the ardent thirst which devoured us absorbed all
desire to eat. After having deluged our inward man, we sought repose.

We had scarcely, however, stretched ourselves on the turf, when an
extraordinary and altogether unexpected noise threw us into a state of
stupor. It was a long, lugubrious, deep cry that seemed approaching our
tent. We had heard the howl of wolves, the roar of tigers and of bears;
but these in no way resembled the sound which now affrighted our ears.
It was something like the bellowing of a bull, but crossed with tones so
strange and unintelligible, that we were utterly panic-stricken. And we
were all the more surprised and confounded, because everybody had assured
us that there were no wild beasts of any kind in the whole Ortous
country.

Our embarrassment was becoming serious. We were in fear not only for our
animals, which were tied round the tent, but also on our own account. As
the noise did not cease, but, on the contrary, seemed to approach nearer
and nearer, we got up, not, indeed, to go forth in search of the
villainous beast that was thus disturbing our repose, but in order to try
to frighten it. To this intent all three of us set to work, shouting at
the pitch of our lungs; then we stopped, and so did the beast. After a
moment's silence, the roaring was heard once more, but at a considerable
distance. We conjectured that in our turn we had frightened the animal,
and this somewhat reassured us.

The cries once more approaching, we piled up some brushwood at a few
paces from the tent, and made a bonfire. The light, instead of deterring
the unknown monster, seemed rather to attract it; and before long, by the
flame of the brus