journey. The vehicle in which this was to be
performed, and which was standing at the door,
was in shape somewhat like a one-horse chaise,
but on each side of it, in lieu of wheels, were
two bladders, ten times as large as those of an
ordinary bullock. Before the chaise, to which
they were fastened by silken cords, were two
green birds, each about twice as big as a very
large swan. These, of course, were to draw
the vehicle, while the bladders were to keep it
in a proper equilibrium.

The chaise having risen with Bruce and his
companion to the level of a quarter of a mile,
they floated smoothly along until, at the end of
three hours, they stopped to pay a visit to the
old man's daughter: a fine young girl of fifty, who
had only been lately married, and was living in a
country seat immediately beneath them. The
mode of alighting was curious. Bruce's
companion, when they were immediately over the
court of the house, took some small cakes from
his robe, which he threw upon the ground, and
the birds, tempted by the sight of food,
immediately descended. When the travellers had
been set down at the gate of an elegant house,
the birds were instantly released, and flew out
of sight, to the infinite surprise of Bruce, who
was, however, informed by his friend that there
would be no difficulty about the rest of the
journey. The lady received her guests with
due hospitality, and conducted them to her
husband, who, she said, was fishing in the
garden. Do not let it be supposed that Izaak
Walton's delightful book had fallen into the
hand of this sporting gentleman and tempted
him to depart from the usages of the Central
World. "Fishing," in the ideas of that country,
meant something very different from angling,
as Bruce soon perceived. The gentleman in
the garden was standing by a pond, near which
was a cistern of clear water and a vessel full of
grain. When he stirred the pond with a stick,
fishes ran by hundreds to the surface, and taking
them out gently with his hand he cast them into
the cistern, flinging after them some grain. When
they had been sufficiently regaled he emptied
the cistern into the pond; and Bruce reflected
how much greater must be the pleasure of
catching fish, with no other intent than to feed
them, than that of taking them with hooks, and
then leaving them on the ground to expire in
agonies.

The newly married pair, at whose house this
exercise of benevolence was observed, seem to
have been rather more smartly attired than the
Centralians in general. The gentleman, whose
beard was not very long, inasmuch as he was
only seventy years of age, wore on his head a
turban of blue satin, adorned with crimson
plumes; his jacket and petticoat were white,
and his robe was crimson. The lady had black
hair, which hung down in ringlets to her waist;
her jacket and petticoat were pink; and as she
did not wear a robe, the gracefulness of her
person was distinctly perceptible, especially as
she was not disfigured by stays.
The journey to the capital was not resumed
until the following morning, when a whistle from
Bruce's companion brought together a number
of birds like the first pair, from which two were
selected. At half-past one in the afternoon they
reached Oudenteminos, as the capital was called,
and put up at the house of a friend.

The form of the city is accurately described.
Its centre is (Hibernicé) a large octagon square,
from each side of which proceeds a street a mile
in length, and as broad as the Haymarket.
Narrower thoroughfares and ground for the
use of the inhabitants occupy the spaces
between the eight streets, at the end of each of
which is a church, a still larger church having
been erected in the central square. At the
distance of about half a mile from the town stands
the palace of the king, who, far from being
highly elevated above the rest of his fellows,
considers himself the principal servant of his
people. Indeed, he has come to the throne not
by hereditary succession, which is unknown,
but simply because he is the oldest man in the
country: the age of every person being
registered to prevent mistakes.

The origin of evil, even in our wicked world,
has been regarded by both philosophers and
theologians as one of the most difficult of
problems. This problem becomes still harder
in the case of the Centralians, who seem so
perfectly good, that they do not require the
curb of any executive power. Nevertheless,
they have an origin of evil peculiar to
themselves. About a century before Bruce's
descent, a great multitude of the inhabitants of
the outer world, members of the most wicked
race that ever existed (and consequently not
Englishmen), having, as a punishment for their
sins, been swallowed up by an earthquake, a
hundred or so of both sexes arrived safe in the
Central World, and were hospitably received. So
ill, however, did they behave that the Centralians
were soon obliged to confine them to one spot,
which was thenceforward called the earthly
quarter. There is no doubt that the people
thus complimented are the Portuguese, and
that the earthquake is that which destroyed
Lisbon; but the Centralians, otherwise so good,
seem to have been indifferent chronologists, for
the calamity of Portugal occurred in 1755, and
Bruce's book was published in 1802, so that the
lapse of a century is hard to make out. The
use made of the foreign quarter in explaining
the origin of evil in the Central World is
this: the Centralians, though good are not
incapable of sin, and hence some unlucky fellow,
who strays into the unclean district may
possibly be drawn into mischief.

The humility of the king is only one instance
of the equality that prevails through the
Central World. Wisdom and old age are alone
treated with exceptional respect. The rapid
increase of population, and the spontaneous
productiveness of the soil, make the employment
of servants unnecessary; and the
abundance of metals and jewels, precious in the
outward world, depriving them of their value, there
is no aristocracy of wealth.