fowl," "ah!" and the like.

With repeated assurances that however ineptly the adventure may at the
time appear to be tending, as regards the essentials of true dignity
and an undeviating grasp upon articles of negotiable value, nothing of
a regrettable incident need be feared.

KONG HO.




LETTER IX


Concerning the proverb of the highly-accomplished horse. The
various perils to be encountered in the Beneath Parts. The
inexplicable journey performed by this one, and concerning the
obscurity of the witchcraft employed.



VENERATED SIRE,--Among these islanders there is a proverb, "Do not
place the carte" (or card, the two words having an identical purport,
and both signifying the inscribed tablet of viands prepared for a
banquet,) before the horse." Doubtless the saying first arose as a
timely rebuke to a certain barbarian emperor who announced his
contempt for the intelligence of his subjects by conferring high
mandarin rank upon a favourite steed and ceremoniously appointing it
to be his chancellor; but from the narrower moral that an unreasoning