following him. I roared so loud, they all fell off in a fright, but soon
returned. I struggled, and broke the strings that fastened my left hand,
but the creatures ran off before I could seize them, and I felt about a
hundred arrows discharged into my left hand, which pricked like so many
needles. I lay still, groaning with grief and pain, till some of the
inhabitants came and cut the strings that fastened my head, when turning
it a little I saw one, who seemed to be a person of quality, who made me
a long speech, of which I understood not one word; but in which I could
observe many periods of threatening, and others of pity and kindness.

I answered in the most submissive manner, and being famished with hunger
(perhaps against the strict rules of decency), put my finger in my
mouth, to signify I wanted food. He understood me very well. Several
ladders were applied to my sides, and a hundred of the inhabitants
mounted, laden with food and drink, and supplied me as fast as they
could, with marks of wonder at my bulk and appetite.

It seems that at the first moment I was discovered, the Emperor had
notice by an express, and it was determined in council that I should be
secured and fed, and at once conveyed to the capital city.

A sleepy potion having been mingled with my wine, I again slept. These
people have arrived to a great perfection in mechanics, and by means of
cords and pulleys, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung on
to the largest of their machines, used for the carriage of trees and
other great weights. Fifteen hundred of the largest horses, each about
four and a half inches high, were employed to draw me towards the
metropolis. The Emperor and all his Court came out to meet us. In the
largest temple in the kingdom, disused because polluted by a murder some
years before, I was to be lodged, secured by fourscore and eleven chains