ise, but could not; for as I happened to
be lying on my back, I found my arms and legs were fastened on each side
to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the
same manner. I could only look upward. The sun began to grow hot, and
the light hurt my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me, but could
see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive
and moving on my left leg, which, advancing gently over my breast, came
almost up to my chin, when, bending my eyes downward, I perceived it to
be a human creature, not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the meantime I felt at least forty
more following the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and roared
so loud that they all ran back in a fright; and some of them were
hurt with the falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground.
However, they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as to
get a full sight of my face, lifted up his hands in admiration. I lay
all this while in great uneasiness; but at length, struggling to get
loose, I succeeded in breaking the strings that fastened my left arm
to the ground; and at the same time, with a violent pull that gave me
extreme pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my hair, so
that I was just able to turn my head about two inches. But the creatures
ran off a second time before I could seize them, whereupon there was a
great shout, and in an instant I felt above a hundred arrows discharged
on my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles. Moreover, they
shot another flight into the air, of which some fell on my face, which
I immediately covered with my left hand. When this shower of arrows
was over I groaned with grief and pain, and then, striving again to get
loose, they discharged another flight of arrows larger than the first,
and some of them tried to stab me with their spears; but by good luck
I had on a leather jacket, which they could not pierce. By this time
I thought it most prudent to lie still till night, when, my left
hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the
inhabitants, I thought I might be a match for the greatest army they
could bring against me if they were all of the same size as him I
saw. When the people observed that I was quiet they discharged no more
arrows, but by the noise I heard I knew that their number was increased;
and about four yards from me, for mo