Journeys Through Bookland — Volume 5 by Charles Herbert Sylvester
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page 30 of 462 (06%)
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trousers, in which the watch is carried.]
These gentlemen, having pen, ink, and paper about them, made an exact inventory of everything they saw; and when they had done desired I would set them down, that they might deliver it to the emperor. This inventory I afterwards translated into English, and is word for word as follows: "_Imprimis_[8] in the right coat pocket of the great man-mountain (for so I interpret the words _quinbus flestrin), after the strictest search, we found only one great piece of coarse cloth, large enough to be a footcloth for your majesty's chief room of state. [Footnote 8: _Imprimis_ is a word from the Latin, and means _in the first place._] "In the left pocket we saw a huge silver chest, with a cover of the same metal, which we, the searchers, were not able to lift. We desired it should be opened, and one of us, stepping into it, found himself up to the mid-leg in a sort of dust, some part whereof, flying up to our faces, set us both a-sneezing for several times together. "In his right waistcoat pocket we found a prodigious bundle of white, thin substances, folded one over another, about the bigness of three men, tied with a strong cable, and marked with black figures, which we humbly conceive to be writings, every letter almost half as large as the palm of our hands. "In the left there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were extended twenty long poles, resembling the palisadoes before your majesty's court; wherewith we conjecture the man-mountain combs his |
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