The third day after his drive with his friend Skindeep, Popanilla was
waited upon by the most eminent bookseller in Hubbabub, who begged to
have the honour of introducing to the public a Narrative of Captain
Popanilla's Voyage. This gentleman assured Popanilla that the
Vraibleusian public were nervously alive to anything connected with
discovery; that so ardent was their attachment to science and natural
philosophy that voyages and travels were sure to be read with eagerness,
particularly if they had coloured plates. Popanilla was charmed with the
proposition, but blushingly informed the mercantile Maecenas that he did
not know how to write. The publisher told him that this circumstance was
not of the slightest importance; that he had never for a moment supposed
that so sublime a savage could possess such a vulgar accomplishment;
and that it was by no means difficult for a man to publish his travels
without writing a line of them.

Popanilla having consented to become an author upon these terms,
the publisher asked him to dine with him, and introduced him to an
intelligent individual. This intelligent individual listened attentively
to all Popanilla's adventures. The Captain concealed nothing. He began
with the eternal lock of hair, and showed how wonderfully this world was
constituted, that even the loss of a thing was not useless; from which
it was clear that Utility was Providence. After drinking some capital
wine, the intelligent individual told Popanilla that he was wrong in
supposing Fantaisie to be an island; that, on the contrary, it was a
great continent; that this was proved by the probable action of the
tides in the part of the island which had not yet been visited; that the
consequence of these tides would be that, in the course of a season
or two, Fantaisie would become a great receptacle for icebergs, and be
turned into the North Pole; that, therefore, the seasons throughout the
world would be changed; that this year, in Vraibleusia, the usual winter
would be omitted, and that when the present summer was finished the
dog-days would again commence. Popanilla took his leave highly delighted
with this intelligent individual and with the bookseller's wine.

Owing to the competition which existed between the publishers, the
printers, and the engravers of the city of Hubbabub, and the great
exertions of the intelligent individual, the Narrative of Captain
Popanilla's Voyage was brought out in less than a week