, moving with it, his throbbing brain seemed
dancing from his head. The room itself, all swaying and quivering
with the melody, grew dim and stole from view. The music softly died
away.

Again was silence, the moon above looking calmly down upon the ivied
walls.

He fell like a drunken man upon the floor, and did not wake till our
voices called him.

Such his tale.

He has a clear head and is no liar, but so many grapes upon an empty
stomach with the fever from his swollen limb might well explain it.

* * * * *

Bear's meat for dinner.

This morning toward noon Kuzundam, the second officer, wandered on
ahead of us, and entered a large building in pursuit of a rabbit. He
was about descending to the basement below, when he saw, close before
him, a bear leisurely mounting the marble stairs. Kuzundam is no
coward, but he turned and ran as he never ran before. The bear, who
seemed of a sportive nature, also ran, and in close pursuit. Luckily
for my friend we happened to be near, otherwise instead of our eating
bear's meat, the bear might have lunched quietly off Kuzundam in the
shady corridors of the "FIFTHAVENUEHOTEL."

[Illustration: Kuzundam's Narrow Escape]

_17th May_

To-day a scorching heat that burns the lungs. We started in the
morning prepared to spend the night ashore, and explore the northern
end of the city. It was a pleasant walk through the soft grass of the
shady streets, but in those places unsheltered from the sun we were as
fish upon a frying-pan. Other dwellings we saw, even larger and more
imposing than the one we entered yesterday. We were tempted to explore
them, but Lev-el-Hedyd wisely dissuaded us, saying the day was waxing
hotter each hour and it could be done on our return.

In the northern part of the town are many religious temples, with
their tall towers like slender pyramids, tapering to a point. They are
curious things, and surprisingly well preserved. The interiors of
these temples are uninteresting. Nofuhl says the religious rites of
the Mehrikans were devoid of character. There were many religious
beliefs, all complicated and insignificant variations one from
another, each sect having its own temples and refusing to believe as
the others. This is amusing to a Persian, but mayhap was a serious
matter with them. One day in each week they assembled, the priests
reading long moral lectures written by themselves, with music by hired
singers. They then sepa