the language of Hili-li land, and the Hili-lites being ignorant of the
English tongue, it was of course impossible for them to hold converse
beyond that permitted by signs. The pleasure party, however, saw at once
that the two men were almost ready to expire from want of food and rest.
The Hili-lites took them into their own spacious boat, and hastened to a
landing-place in the suburbs of the capital and metropolis of the
nation, Hili-li City. There they all disembarked, and the strangers were
supported across a lawn, the grass of which was of the palest green--(so
nearly white, in fact, that its greenness of tint would scarcely have
been noticed but for the contrast afforded by many brilliant white
flowers that appeared here and there amid the grass)--up to a palace,
the equal of which, for size and beauty, neither of the Americans had
before seen, though Pym was familiar with the external appearance of the
finest residences in and about Boston, and also of those on the Hudson
River just above New York; whilst Peters had been in most of the
sea-coast cities of the habitable world.

"They were taken into this palace, were immediately escorted to the bath
(which Peters declined to enter), were furnished with liquid
nourishments, and were then allowed to sleep--which both of them did,
uninterruptedly, for twenty-four hours. When they awoke they were
furnished with new clothing of the best (the Hili-lites dressed
something in the style of Louis XIV.), and then invited to a full
repast. So well were they treated that in less than a week they felt
quite as strong and otherwise natural as they had on leaving the harbor
of Nantucket.

"So elegant and expressive, yet so simple was the language of Hili-li,
that Pym could in two weeks understand and speak it sufficiently well
for ordinary converse; whilst Peters was able to employ it sufficiently