ast an inch higher than any lord in the whole
empire. I have seen him do the summersault several times together upon a
trencher,[20] fixed on a rope, which is no thicker than a common
packthread in England. My friend Reldresal, principal secretary for
private affairs, is, in my opinion, if I am not partial, the second
after the treasurer; the rest of the great officers are much upon a par.

These diversions are often attended with fatal accidents, whereof great
numbers are on record. I myself have seen two or three candidates break
a limb. But the danger is much greater when the ministers themselves are
commanded to show their dexterity! for, by contending to excel
themselves and their fellows, they strain so far that there is hardly
one of them who hath not received a fall, and some of them two or three.
I was assured that a year or two before my arrival, Flimnap would have
infallibly broke his neck if one of the king's cushions, that
accidentally lay on the ground, had not weakened the force of his fall.

There is likewise another diversion, which is only shown before the
emperor and empress and first minister, upon particular occasions. The
emperor lays on the table three fine silken threads, of six inches long;
one is purple, the other yellow, and the third white. These threads are
proposed as prizes for those persons whom the emperor hath a mind to
distinguish by a peculiar mark of his favor. The ceremony is performed
in his majesty's great chamber of state, where the candidates are to
undergo a trial of dexterity very different from the former, and such as
I have not observed the least resemblance of in any other country of the
old or new world.

The emperor holds a stick in his hands, both ends parallel to the
horizon, while the candidates, advancing one by one, sometimes leap over
the stick, sometimes creep under it, backwards and forwards several
times, according as the stick is advanced or depressed. Sometimes the
emperor holds one end of the stick, and his first minister the other:
sometimes the minister has it entirely to himself. Whoever performs his
part with most agility, and holds out the longest in leaping and
creeping, is rewarded with the blue-colored silk; the yellow is given to
the next, and the green to the third, which they all wear girt twice
about the middle; and you see few great persons round about this court
who are not adorned with one of these girdles.

The horses of the army, and those