up to it,' said Lee. 'Upon an occasion when this person was passing
through the streets of Fow Hou, there gathered around him a company of
those who had, on previous occasions, beheld his exceptional powers of
hurtling himself through the air in an upward direction, praying that
he would again delight their senses by a similar spectacle. Not being
unwilling to afford those estimable persons of the amusement they
desired, this one, without any elaborate show of affected hesitancy,
put himself into the necessary position, and would without doubt have
risen uninterruptedly almost into the Middle Air, had he not, in
making the preparatory movements, placed his left foot upon an over-
ripe wampee which lay unperceived on the ground. In consequence of
this really blameworthy want of caution the entire manner and
direction of this short-sighted individual's movements underwent a
sudden and complete change, so that to those who stood around it
appeared as though he were making a well-directed endeavour to
penetrate through the upper surface of the earth. This unexpected
display had the effect of removing the gravity of even the most aged
and severe-minded persons present, and for the space of some moments
the behaviour and positions of those who stood around were such that
they were quite unable to render any assistance, greatly as they
doubtless wished to do so. Being in this manner allowed a period for
inward reflexion of a very concentrated order, it arose within this
one's mind that at every similar occurrence which he had witnessed,
those who observed the event had been seized in a like fashion, being
very excessively amused. The fact was made even more undoubted by the
manner of behaving of an exceedingly stout and round-faced person, who
had not been present from the beginning, but who was affected to a
most incredible extent when the details, as they had occurred, were
made plain to him, he declaring, with many references to the Sacred
Dragon and the Seven Walled Temple at Peking, that he would willingly