This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Katie Anderson. Irowan or Over the Range by Samuel Butler. There is no action save upon a balance of considerations. Introductory prefaces. Preface to the first edition. The author wishes it to be understood that Irowan is pronounced as a word of three syllables. All short. Thus I-re-wan. Preface to the second edition. Having been enabled by the kindness of the public to get through an unusually large edition of Irowan in a very short time, I have taken the opportunity of a second edition to make some necessary corrections and to add a few passages where it struck me that they would be appropriately introduced. The passages are few and it is my fixed intention never to touch the work again. I may perhaps be allowed to say a word or two here in reference to the coming race, to the success of which book Irowan has been very generally set down as due. This is a mistake though a perfectly natural one. The fact is that Irowan was finished with the exception of the last twenty pages and a sentence or two inserted from time to time here and there throughout the book before the first advertisement of the coming race appeared. A friend having called my attention to one of the first of these advertisements and suggesting that it probably referred to a work of similar character to my own, I took Irowan to a well-known firm of publishers on the first of May 1871 and left it in their hands for consideration. I then went abroad and on learning that the publishers alluded to decline the manuscript. I let it alone for six or seven months and being in and out of the way part of Italy never saw a single review of the coming race nor a copy of the work. On my return I purposely avoided looking into it until I had sent back my last revises to the printer. Then I had much pleasure in reading it but was indeed surprised that the many little points of similarity between the two books in spite of their entire independence to one another. I regret that reviewers have in some cases been inclined to treat the chapters on machines as an attempt to reduce Mr. Darwin's theory to an absurdity. Nothing could be further from my intention and few things would be more distasteful to me than any attempt to laugh at Mr. Darwin. But I must own that I have myself to thank for the misconception for I felt sure that my intention would be missed but preferred not to weaken the chapters by explanation. I knew very well that Mr. Darwin's theory would take no harm. The only question in my mind was how far I could afford to be misrepresented by laughing at that for which I have the most profound admiration. I am surprised, however, that the book at which such an example of the specious misuse of analogy would seem most naturally leveled should have occurred to no reviewer. Neither shall I mention the name of the book here, though I should fancy that the hint given will suffice. I have been held by some whose opinion I respect to have denied men's responsibility for their actions. He who does this is an enemy who deserves no quarter. I should have imagined that I had been sufficiently explicit but have made a few additions to the chapter on malcontents which will, I think, serve to render further mistake impossible. An anonymous correspondent by the handwriting, presumably a clergyman, tells me that in quoting from the Latin grammar I should have at any rate done so correctly and that I should have written agrocolas instead of agrocole. He added something about any boy in the fourth form, etc., etc., which I shall not quote, but which may be very uncomfortable. It may be said that I must have misquoted from design, from ignorance, or by a slip of the pen, but surely in these days it will be recognized as harsh to assign limits to the all-embracing boundlessness of truth and it will be more reasonably assumed that each of the three possible causes of misquotation have had a share in the apparent blunder. The art of writing things that shall sound right and yet be wrong has made so many reputations and affords comfort to such a large number of readers that I could not venture to neglect it. The Latin grammar, however, is a subject on which some of the younger members of the community feel strongly, so I have now written agrocolas. I have also parted with the word infortunium, though not without regret, but have not dared to meddle with other similar inaccuracies. For the inconsistencies in the book and I am aware that there are not a few, I must ask the indulgence of the reader. The blame, however, lies chiefly with the Erowinians themselves, for they were really a difficult people to understand. The most glaring anomalies seem to afford them no intellectual inconvenience, neither provided that they did not actually see the money dropping out of their pockets, nor suffer immediate physical pain, where they listen to any arguments as to the waste of money and happiness which their folly caused them. But this had an effect of which I have little reason to complain, for I was allowed almost to call them lifelong self-deceivers to their faces, and they said it was quite true, but that it did not matter. I must not conclude without expressing my most sincere thanks to my critics and to the public for the leniency and consideration with which they have treated my adventures. June 9, 1872 Preface to the Revised Edition My publisher wishes me to say a few words about the genesis of the work, a revised and enlarged edition of which he is herewith laying before the public. I therefore place on record as much as I can remember on this head after a lapse of more than thirty years. The first part of Irowan, written was an article headed Darwin Among the Machines and signed Solarius. It was written in the Upper Rangatada district of the Canterbury Province, as it then was, of New Zealand, and appeared at Christchurch in the press newspaper June 13, 1863. A copy of this article is indexed under my books in the British Museum catalog. In passing I may say that the opening chapters of Irowan were also drawn from the Upper Rangatada district, with such modifications as I found convenient. A second article on the same subject as the one just referred to appeared in the press shortly after the first, but I have no copy. It treated machines from a different point of view, and was the basis of pages 270 through 274 of the present edition of Irowan. This view ultimately led me to the theory I put forward in Life and Habit, published in November 1877. I have put a bare outline of this theory, which I believe to be quite sound, into the mouth of an Irowanian philosopher in Chapter 27 of this book. In 1865 I rewrote an enlarged Darwin Among the Machines for the Reasoner, a paper published in London, by Mr. G. J. Holioch. It appeared July 1, 1865, under the heading The Mechanical Creation, and can be seen in the British Museum. I again rewrote an enlarged it till it assumed the form in which it appeared in the first edition of Irowan. The next part of Irowan that I wrote was the World of the Unborn, a preliminary form of which was sent to Mr. Holioch's paper. But as I cannot find it among those copies of the Reasoner that are in the British Museum, I conclude that it was not accepted. I have, however, rather a strong fancy that it appeared in some London paper of the same character as the Reasoner, not very long after July 1, 1865, but I have no copy. I also wrote about this time the substance of what ultimately became the musical banks, and the trial of a man for being in a consumption. These four detached papers were, I believe, all that was written of Irowan before 1870. Between 1865 and 1870 I wrote hardly anything, being hopeful of attaining that success as a painter, which it has not been vouchsiffed to me to attain. But in the autumn of 1870, just as I was beginning to get occasionally hung at the Royal Academy exhibitions, my friend the late Sir F.N. then Mr. Broom suggested to me that I should add somewhat to the articles I had already written and string them together into a book. I was rather fired by the idea, but as I only worked at the manuscript on Sundays, it was some months before I had completed it. I see from my second preface that I took the book to M. Chapman and Hall May 1, 1871, and on their rejection of it, under the advice of one who has attained the highest rank among living writers, I let it sleep till I took it to Mr. Trubner early in 1872. As regards its rejection by M. Chapman and Hall, I believe their reader advised them quite wisely. They told me that he reported that it was a philosophical work, little likely to be popular with a large circle of readers. I hope that if I had been their reader and the book had been submitted to myself, I should have advised them to the same effect. Ira Juan appeared with the last day or two of March, 1872. I attribute its unlooked-for success mainly to two early favorable reviews, the first in the Palma Gazette of April 12th and the second in the spectator of April 20th. There was also another cause. I was complaining once to a friend that though Ira Juan had met with such a warm reception, my subsequent books had been all of them practically stillborn. He said you forget one charm that Ira Juan had, but which none of your other books can have. I asked what, and was answered, the sound of a new voice, and of an unknown voice. The first edition of Ira Juan sold in about three weeks. I had not taken molds, and as the demand was strong, it was set up again immediately. I made a few unimportant alterations and additions, and added a preface of which I cannot say that I am particularly proud, but an inexperienced rider with a head somewhat turned by unexpected success is not to be trusted with a preface. I made a few further very trifling alterations before molds were taken, but since the summer of 1872, as new additions were from time to time wanted, they had been printed from stereos then made. Having now, I fear a too great length done what I was asked to do, I should like to add a few words on my own account. I am still fairly well satisfied with those parts of Ira Juan that were repeatedly rewritten, but from those that had only a single writing, I would gladly cut out some 40 or 50 pages if I could. This however may not be for the copyright will probably expire in a little over 12 years. It was necessary therefore to revise the book throughout for literary inelegancies, of which I found many more than I had expected, and also to make such substantial additions as should secure a new lease of life at any rate for the copyright. If then, instead of cutting out say 50 pages, I have been compelled to add about 60 in Vita Minerva. The blame rests neither with my publisher, nor with me, but with the copyright laws. Nevertheless, I can assure the reader that though I have founded an irksome task to take up the work which I thought I had got rid of 30 years ago, and much of which I am ashamed of, I have done my best to make the new matter savor so much of the better portions of the old, that none but the best critics shall perceive at what places the gaps of between 30 and 40 years occur. Lastly, if my readers know the considerable difference between the literary technique of Irawan and that of Irawan revisited, I would remind them that as I have just shown, Irawan took something like ten years in writing, and even so was written with great difficulty, while Irawan revisited was written easily between November 1900 and the end of April 1901. There is no central idea underlying Irawan, whereas the attempt to realize the effect of a single supposed great miracle dominates the whole of its successor. In Irawan there was hardly any story and little attempt to give life and individuality to the characters. I hope that in Irawan revisited both these defects have been in great measure avoided. Irawan was not an organic whole. Irawan revisited may fairly claim to be one. Nevertheless, though in literary workmanship I do not doubt that this last named book is an improvement on the first, I shall be agreeably surprised if I'm not told that Irawan, with all its faults, is the better reading of the two. Samuel Butler, August 7th, 1901. End of the introductory prefaces. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Katie Anderson. Irawan by Samuel Butler. Chapter 1. Wastelands. If the reader will excuse me, I will say nothing of my antecedents, nor of the circumstances which led me to leave my native country. The narrative would be tedious to him and painful to myself. Suffice it that when I left home it was with the intention of going to some new colony, and either finding, or even perhaps purchasing, waste crown land suitable for cattle or sheep farming, by which means I thought that I could better my fortunes more rapidly than in England. It will be seen that I did not succeed in my design, and that however much I may have met with that was new and strange, I have been unable to reap any pecuniary advantage. It is true I imagine myself to have made a discovery which, if I can be the first to profit by it, will bring me a recompense beyond all money computation and secure me a position such as not been attained by more than some fifteen or sixteen persons since the creation of the universe. But to this end I must possess myself of a considerable sum of money. Neither do I know how to get it, except by interesting the public in my story, and inducing the charitable to come forward and assist me. With this hope I now publish my adventures, but I do so with great reluctance, for I fear that my story will be doubted unless I tell the whole of it, and yet I dare not do so, lest others with more means than mine should get the start of me. I prefer the risk of being doubted to that of being anticipated, and have therefore concealed my destination on leaving England, as also the point from which I began my more serious and difficult journey. My chief consolation lies in the fact that my story will carry conviction by reason of the internal evidences for its accuracy. No one who is himself honest will doubt my being so. I reached my destination in one of the last months of 1868, but I dare not mention the season lest the readers should gather in which hemisphere I was. The colony was one which had not been opened up even to the most adventurous settlers for more than eight or nine years, having been previously uninhabited, and by the end of the 19th century, it was the first of its kind to reach the coastline of the beaches who frequented the seaboard. The part known to Europeans consisted of a coastline about 800 miles in length, affording three or four good harbors on a tract of country extending inland for a space varying from two to three hundred miles until it reached the offshoots of an exceedingly lofty range of mountains, which could be seen from far out south of the tract, to which I have alluded, but in neither direction was there a single harbour for 500 miles, and the mountains, which descended almost into the sea, were covered in thick timber so that none would think of settling. With this bay of land, however, the case was different. The harbors were sufficient, the country was timbered, but not too heavily. It was admirably suited for agriculture. It also contained millions on millions of acres and were one of the best suited for all manners of sheep and cattle. The climate was temperate and very healthy. There were no wild animals, nor were the natives dangerous, being few in number and of an intelligent tractable disposition. It may be readily understood that once Europeans set foot upon this territory, they were not slow to take advantage of its capabilities. Sheep and cattle were introduced and bred with extreme rapidity. Men took up their 50,000 country, going inland one behind the other. Till in a few years there was not an acre between the sea and the front ranges which was not taken up. And stations either for sheep or cattle were spotted, about at intervals of some 20 or 30 miles over the whole country. The front ranges stopped the tide of squatters for some little time. It was thought that there was too much snow upon them for too many months in the year and that the sheep would get lost the ground being too difficult for shepherding. The idea of getting wool down to the ship's side would eat up the farmer's profits and that the grass was too rough and sour for sheep to thrive upon. But one after another determined to try the experiment and it was wonderful how successfully it turned out. Men pushed farther and farther into the mountains and found a very considerable tract inside the front range between it and another which was loftier still, though even this was not the highest, the great snowy one which could be seen from out upon the plains. The front range, however, seemed to mark the extreme limits of pastoral country and it was here at a small and newly founded station that I was received as a cadet and soon regularly employed. I was then just 22 years old. I was delighted with the country and the manner of life. It was my daily business to go up to the top of a certain high mountain and down one of its spurs onto the flat in order to make sure that no sheep had crossed their boundaries. I would not have crossed it hand or to get them in a single mob but to see enough of them here and there to feel easy that nothing had gone wrong. This was no difficult matter for there were not above 800 of them and being all breeding yews they were pretty quiet. There were a good many sheep which I knew as two or three black yews and a black lamb or two and several others which had some distinguishing mark whereby I could tell them. I would try to see all of these and I might rest assured that all was well. It is surprising how soon the eye becomes accustomed to missing 20 sheep out of two or three hundred. I had a telescope and a dog and would take bread and meat and tobacco with me. Starting with early dawn it would be night before I could complete my round for the mountain over which I had to go was very high. In winter it was covered with snow and the sheep needed no watching from above. If I were to see sheep dung or tracks going down onto the other side of the mountain where there was a valley with a stream a mere cul-de-sac I was to follow them and look out for sheep but I never saw any the sheep always descending on their own side partly from habit and partly because there was an abundance of good sweet feed which had been burnt in the early spring just before I came and was now deliciously green and rich while that on the other side had never been burnt it was rank and course. It was a monotonous life but it was very healthy and one does not much mind anything when one is well. The country was the grandest that can be imagined. How often have I sat on the mountainside and watched the waving downs with the two white specks of huts in the distance and the little square of garden behind them the paddock with a patch of bright green oats above the huts and the yards and wool sheds down on the flat below. All seen is through the wrong end of a telescope so clear and brilliant was the air or as upon a colossal model or maps spread out beneath me. Beyond the downs was a plain going down to a river of great size on the farther side of which there were other high mountains with the winter snow still not quite melted up the river which ran winding in many streams over a bed some two miles broad I looked upon the second grade chain and could see a narrow gorge where the river retired and was lost. I knew that there was a range still farther back but except from one place near the very top of my own mountain no part of it was visible from this point however I saw whenever there were no clouds a single snow clad peak many miles away and I should think about as high as any mountain in the world. Never shall I forget the utter loneliness of the prospect only the little far away homestead giving sign of human handiwork the vastness of mountain and plain of river and sky the marvelous atmospheric effects sometimes black mountains against a white sky and then again after cold weather I went up mountains against the black sky sometimes seen through breaks and swirls of cloud and sometimes which was best of all I went up my mountain in a fog and then got above the mist going higher and higher I would look down upon a sea of whiteness through which would be thrust innumerable mountain tops that looked like islands I am there now as I write I fancy I can see the downs the huts the plain and the riverbed that torrent pathway of desolation and its distant roar of waters a wonderful wonderful so lonely and so solemn with the sad grey clouds above and no sound save a lost lamb bleeding upon the mountainside as though its little heart were breaking then there comes some lean and withered old you with deep gruff voice an unlovely aspect trotting back from the seductive pasture now she examines the scully and now that and now she stands listening with uplifted head that she may hear the distant wailing of the night aha they see and rush toward each other alas they are both mistaken the you is not the lamb's you they are neither kin nor kind to one another and part in coldness each must cry louder and wander farther yet may luck be with them both that they may find their own at nightfall but this is mere dreaming and I must proceed I could not help speculating upon what might lie further up the river and behind the second range and if I could only find workable country I might stock it with borrowed capital and consider myself a maid man true the range looks so vast that there seemed little chance of getting a sufficient road through or over it but no one had yet explored it and it is wonderful how one finds that one can make a path into all sorts of places and even get a road for pack horses which from a distance appear inaccessible the river was so great that it must drain and interact at least I thought so and though everyone said it would be madness to attempt taking sheep further inland I knew that only three years ago the same cry had been raised against the country which my master's flock was now overrunning I could not keep these thoughts out of my head as I would rest myself upon the mountainside they haunted me as I went my daily rounds and grew upon me from hour to hour till I resolved that after shearing I would remain in doubt no longer besetle my horse take as much provision with me as I could and go see for myself but over and above these thoughts came that of the great range itself what was beyond it ah who could say there was no one in the whole world who had the smallest idea save those who were themselves on the other side of it if indeed there was anyone at all could I hope to cross it this would be the highest triumph that I could wish for but it was too much to think of yet I would try the nearer range and see how far I could go even if I did not find country might I not find gold or diamonds or copper or silver I would sometimes lie flat down to drink out of a stream and could see little yellow specks among the sand were these gold people said no but then people always said there was no gold until it was found to be abundant there was plenty of slate and granite which I had always understood to accompany gold and even though it was not found in paying quantities here it might be abundant in the main ranges these thoughts filled my head and I could not banish them end of chapter 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Katie Anderson era 1 by Samuel Butler chapter 2 in the wool shed at last shearing came and with the shearers there was an old native whom they had nicknamed Chaubak though I believe his real name was Kahabuka he was a sort of chief of the natives could speak a little English and was a great favorite with the missionaries he did not do any regular work with the shearers but pretended to help in the yards his real aim being to get the grog which is always more freely circulated at shearing time he did not get much for he was apt to be dangerous when drunk and very little would make him so still he did get it occasionally and if one wanted to get anything out of him it was the best bribe to offer him I resolved to question him and get as much information from him as I could I did so as long as I kept to questions about the nearer ranges he was easy to get on with he had never been there but there were traditions among his tribe to the effect that there was no sheep country nothing in fact but stunted timber it was very difficult to reach still there were passes one of them up our own river though not directly along the river bed the gorge of which was not practicable he had never seen anyone who had been there was there to not enough on this side but when I came to the main range his manner changed at once he became uneasy and began to pervericate and shuffle in a very few moments I could see that of this too there existed traditions in his tribe but no efforts or coaxing could get a word from him about them at last I hinted about grog and presently he feigned to consent I gave it to him but as soon as he had drunk it he began shamming intoxication and then went to sleep or pretended to do so letting me kick him pretty hard and never budging I was angry for I had to go without my own grog and had got nothing out of him so the next day I determined that he should tell me before I gave him any or getting on at all accordingly when night came the shears had knocked off work and had their supper I got my share of rum in a tin panicon and made a sign to Chowbock to follow me to the wool shed which he willingly did slipping out after me and no one taking notice of either of us when we got down to the wool shed we lit a tallow candle and having stuck it into an old bottle we sat down upon the wool bales and began to smoke a wool shed is a roomy place built somewhat on the same plan as a cathedral with aisles on either side full of pens for the sheep a great nave at the upper end of which the shearers work and a further space for woolsorders and packers it always refreshed me with a semblance of antiquity precious in a new country though I very well knew that the oldest wool shed in the settlement was not more than seven years old while this was only two Chowbock pretended to expect his grog at once though both of us knew very well what the other was after and that we were each playing against the other the one for grog and the other for information we had a hard fight for more than two hours he had tried to put me off with lies but had carried no conviction during the whole time we have been morally wrestling with one another and had neither of us apparently gained the least advantage at length however I had become sure that he would give it ultimately and that with a little further patience I should get his story out of him as upon a cold day in winter when one has churned as I had often to do and churned in vain and the butter makes no sign of coming at last one tells by the sound that the cream has gone to sleep and then upon a sudden the butter comes so I had churned it Chowbock until I perceived that he had arrived as it were at the sleepy stage and that with a continuance of steady quiet pressure the day was mine on a sudden without a word of warning he rolled two bales of wool his strength was very great into the middle of the floor and on the top of these he placed another crosswise he snatched up an empty wool pack threw it like a mantle over his shoulders jumped upon the uppermost bale and sat upon it in a moment his whole form was changed his high shoulders dropped he set his feet close together heel to heel and toe to toe he laid his arms and hands close alongside of his body the palms following the thighs he held his head high but quite straight and his eyes stared right in front of him but he frowned horribly and assumed an expression of face that was positively fiendish at the best times Chowbock was very ugly but he now exceeded all conceivable limits of the hideous his mouth extended almost from ear to ear grinning horribly and showing all his teeth his eyes glared though they remain quite fixed and his forehead was contracted with the most malvolent scowl I'm afraid my description will have conveyed only the ridiculous side of his appearance but the ridiculous and the sublime are near and the grotesque fiendishness of Chowbock's face approached this last if it did not reach it I tried to be amused but I felt a sort of creeping at the roots of my hair and over my whole body as I looked and wondered what he could possibly be intending to signify he continued thus for about a minute sitting bolt upright as stiff as a stone and making this fearful face then there came from his lips a low moaning like the wind rising and falling by infinitely small gradations till it became almost a shriek from which it descended and died away after that he jumped down from the bale and held up the extended fingers of both his hands as one who should say ten though I did not then understand him for myself I was open-mouthed with astonishment Chowbock rolled the bales rapidly into their place and stood before me shuddering as in great fear horror was written upon his face this time quite involuntarily as though the natural panic of one who had committed an awful crime against unknown and superhuman agencies he nodded his head and gibbered slowly to the mountains he would not touch the grog but after a few seconds he made a run-through the wool-shed door into the moonlight nor did he reappear till the next day at dinnertime when he turned up looking very sheepish and abject in his civility towards myself of his meaning I had no conception how could I all I could feel sure of was that he had a meaning which was true and awful to himself it was enough for me that I believed him to have had and all he had this kindled my imagination more than if he had told me intelligible stories by the hour together I knew not what the great snowy ranges might conceal but I could no longer doubt that it would be something well worth discovering I kept aloof from Chowbock for the next few days and showed no desire to question him further when I spoke to him I called him Kahabuka which gratified him greatly he seemed to have become afraid of me and acted as one who was in my power having therefore made up my mind that I would begin exploring as soon as shearing was over I thought it would be a good thing to take Chowbock with me so I told him that I meant going to the nearer ranges for a few days prospecting and that he was to come too I made him promises of nightly grog and held out the chances of finding gold I said nothing about the main range for I knew it would frighten him I would get him as far up our own river as I could and trace it if possible to its source I would then either go on by myself if I felt my courage equal to the attempt or return with Chowbock so, as soon as ever shearing was over and the wool sent off I asked leave of absence and obtained it also I bought an old pack horse and pack saddle so that I might take plenty of provisions and blankets and a small tent I was to ride and find fords over the river Chowbock was to follow and lead the pack horse which would also carry him over the fords my master let me have tea and sugar ships, biscuits, tobacco and salt mutton with two or three good bottles of brandy four as the wool was now sent down abundance of provisions would come up with the empty trays everything being now ready all the hands on the station turned out to see us off and we started our journey not very long after the summer solstice of 1870 End of Chapter 2 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Katie Anderson Era 1 by Samuel Butler Chapter 3 Up the River The first day we had an easy time following up the great flats by the river side which had already been twice burned so that there was no dense undergrowth to check us though the ground was often rough and we had to go a good deal upon the river bed Towards nightfall Towards nightfall we had made a matter of some five and twenty miles and camped at the point where the river entered upon the gorge The weather was delightfully warm considering that the valley in which we were camped must have been at least two thousand feet above the level of the sea The river bed was here about a mile and a half broad and entirely covered with shingle over which the river ran in many winding channels looking when seen from above like a tangled skein of ribbon and glistening in the sun We knew that it was liable to very sudden and heavy fresh sets but even had we not known it we could have seen it by the snags of trees which must have been carried long distances and by the massive vegetable and mineral debris which was banked against their lower side showing that at times the whole river bed must be covered with a roaring torrent many feet in depth and of ungovernable fury At present the river was low there being but five or six streams too deep and rapid for even a strong man to be covered on foot but to be crossed safely on horseback On either side of it there were still a few acres of flat which grew wider and wider down the river till they became the large plains on which we looked for my master's hut Behind us rose the lowest spurs of the second range leading abruptly to the range itself and at a distance of half a mile began the gorge where the river narrowed and became boisterous and terrible The beauty of the scene cannot be conveyed in language The one side of the valley was blue with evening shadow through which loomed forest and precipice hillside and mountaintop and the other was still brilliant with the sunset gold The wide and wasteful river with ceaseless rushing the beautiful water birds too which abounded upon the islets and were so tame that we could come close up to them the ineffable purity of the air the solemn peacefulness of the untrodden region could there be a more delightful and exhilarating combination We set about making our camp close to some large bush which came down from the mountains onto the flat and tethered out our horses upon ground as free as we could find it from anything round which they might wind the rope and get themselves tied up We dared not let them run loose lest they might stray down the river home again We then gathered wood and lit the fire We filled a tin panikin with water and set it against the hot ashes to boil When the water boiled we threw in large pinches of tea and let them brew We had caught half a dozen young ducks in the course of the day an easy matter for the old birds made such a fuss in attempting to decoy us away from them pretending to be badly hurt as they say the plover does though we could always find them by going about in the opposite direction to the old bird till we heard the young ones crying then we ran them down for they could not fly though they were nearly full grown Chabak plucked them a little and singed them a good deal then we cut them up and boiled them on another panikin and this completed our preparations When we had done supper it was quite dark the silence and freshness of the night the occasional sharp cry of the wood hen the ruddy glow of the fire the subdued rushing of the river the somber forest and the immediate foreground of our saddles packs and blankets made a picture worthy of a savato rosa or Nicholas Poussin I call it to mind and delight in it now but I did not notice it at the time we next to never know when we are well off but this cuts two ways for if it did we should perhaps know better when we are ill off also and I have sometimes thought that there are as many ignorant of the one as the other he who wrote Oh Fortunatos Nimium Sua Sibona Norent Agrocolas might have written quite as truly Oh Infortunatos Nimium Sua Sibona Norent and there are a few of us who are not protected from the keenest pain by our inability to see what it is that we have done what we are suffering and what we truly are let us be grateful to the mirror for revealing us to our appearance only we found a soft a piece of ground as we could though it was all stony and having collected grass and so disposed of ourselves that we had a little hollow for our hip bones we strapped our blankets around us and went to sleep waking in the night I saw the stars overhead and the moonlight bright upon the mountains the river was ever rushing I heard one of our horses neigh to its companion and was assured that they were still at hand I had no care of mind or body save that I had doubtless many difficulties to overcome there came upon me a delicious sense of peace a fullness of contentment which I do not believe can be felt by any but those who have spent days consecutively on horseback or at any rate in the open air next morning we found our last night's tea leaves frozen at the bottom of the panikins though it was not nearly the beginning of autumn we breakfasted as we had supped and were on our way by six o'clock in half an hour we had entered the gorge and turning round a corner we bade farewell to the last sight of my master's country the gorge was narrow and precipitous the river was now only a few yards wide and roared and thundered against rocks with many tons in weight the sound was deafening for there was a great volume of water we were two hours and making less than a mile and that with danger sometimes in the river and sometimes on the rock there was that damp black smell of rocks covered with slimy vegetation as near some huge waterfall where spray is ever rising the air was clammy and cold I cannot conceive how our horses managed to keep their footing especially the one with the pack and I dreaded the having to return almost as much as going forward I suppose this lasted three miles but it was well midday when the gorge got a little wider and a small stream came into it from a tributary valley farther progress up the main river was impossible for the cliffs descended like walls so we went up the side stream chow-box seeming to think that here must be the pass of which reports existed among his people we now incurred less of actual danger but more fatigue and it was only after infinite trouble owing to the rocks and tangled vegetation that we got ourselves and our horses upon the saddle from which the small stream descended by that time the clouds had descended upon us and it was raining heavily moreover it was six o'clock and we were tired out having made perhaps six miles in 12 hours on the saddle there was some coarse grass which was in full seed and therefore very nourishing for the horses also abundance of anise and south hissel of which they are extravagantly fond so we turned them loose and prepared to camp everything was soaking wet and we were half perished with cold indeed we were very uncomfortable there was brushwood about but we could get no fire till we had shaved off the wet outside of some dead branches and filled our pockets with the dry inside chips having done this we managed to start a fire nor did we allow it to go out when we had once started it we pitched the tent and by nine o'clock we're comparatively warm and dry next morning it was fine we broke camp and after advancing a short distance we found that by descending over groundless difficult than yesterday's we should come again upon the river bed which had opened out above the gorge but it was plain at a glance that there was no available sheep country nothing but a few flats covered with scrub on either side of the river and mountains which are perfectly worthless but we could see the main range there was no mistake about this the glaciers were tumbling down the mountainside like rocks and seemed actually to descend upon the river bed there could be no serious difficulty in reaching them by following up the river which was wide and open but it seemed rather an objectless thing to do for the main range looked hopeless and my curiosity about the nature of the country above the gorge was now quite satisfied there was no money in it whatever unless there should be minerals of which I saw no more signs than lower down however I resolved that I would follow the river up and not return until I was compelled to do so I would go up every branch as far as I could and wash well for gold Chabach liked seeing me do this but it never came to anything for we did not even find the color his dislike of the main range appeared to have worn off and he made no objections to approaching it I think that he thought there was no danger of my trying to cross it and he was not afraid of anything on this side besides we might find gold but the fact was that he had made up of his mind what to do if he saw me getting too near it we passed three weeks in exploring and never did I find time go more quickly the weather was fine though the nights got very cold we followed every stream but one and always found it led us to a glacier which was plainly impassable at any rate without a larger party and ropes one stream remained which I should have followed up already had not Chabach said that he had risen early one morning while I was yet asleep and after going up it for three or four miles had seen that it was impossible to go farther I had long ago discovered that he was a great liar so I was bent on going up myself in brief I did so so far from being impossible it was quite easy traveling and after five or six miles I saw a saddle at the end of it which though covered deep in snow was not glacier and which did fairly appear to be the part of the main range itself no words can express the intensity of my delight my blood was all on fire with hope and elation but on looking round for Chabach who was behind me I saw to my surprise an anger that he had turned back and was going down the valley as hard as he could he had left me End of Chapter 3 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Katie Anderson Irrewon by Samuel Butler Chapter 4 The Saddle I cooed to him but he would not hear I ran after him but he had got too good a start Then I sat down on a stone and thought the matter carefully over It was plain that Chabach had designedly attempted to keep me from going up this valley yet he had shown no unwillingness to follow me anywhere else What could this mean unless that I was now upon the route by which alone the mysteries of the great ranges could be revealed What then should I do go back at the very moment when it had become plain that I was on the right scent Hardly, yet to proceed alone would be both difficult and dangerous It would be bad enough to return to my master's run and pass through the rocky gorges with no chance of help from another should I get into difficulty But to advance for any considerable distance without a companion would be next door to madness Accidents which are slight when there is another at hand as the springing of an ankle or the falling into some place when to escape would be easy by means of an outstretched hand and a bit of rope may be fatal to one who is alone The more I pondered the less I liked it and yet the less I could make up my mind to return when I looked at the saddle at the head of the valley and noted the comparative ease with which its smooth sweep of snow might be surmounted I seemed to see my way almost from my present position to the very top After much thought I resolved to go forward until I should come to some place which was really dangerous but then to return I should thus I hoped at any rate reach the top of the saddle and satisfy myself as to what might be on the other side I had no time to lose for it was now between 10 and 11 in the morning Fortunately I was well equipped for on leaving the camp and the horses at the lower end of the valley I had provided myself according to my custom with everything that I was likely to want for four or five days Chalbacca carried half but had dropped his whole swag I suppose at the moment of his taking flight for I came upon it when I ran after him I had therefore his provisions as well as my own Accordingly I took as many biscuits as I thought I could carry and also some tobacco, tea and a few matches I rolled all these things together with a flask nearly full of brandy which I had kept in my pocket for fearless Chalbacca to get a hold of it Inside my blankets and strapped them very tightly making the hole into a long roll of some 7 feet in length and 6 inches in diameter When I tied the two ends together I put the hole around my neck and over one shoulder This is the easiest way of carrying a heavy swag for one can rest oneself by shifting the burden from one shoulder to the other I strapped my panic in and a small axe about my waist and thus equipped began to ascend the valley angry at having been misled by Chalbacca but determined not to return till I was compelled to do so I crossed and re-crossed the stream several times without difficulty for there were many good fords At one o'clock I was at the foot of the saddle for four hours I mounted the last two on snow where the going was easier by five I was within ten minutes of the top In a state of greater excitement I think than I had ever known before Ten minutes more and the cold air from the other side came rushing upon me A glance of the main range Another glance There was an awful river muddy and horribly angry Roaring over an immense riverbed thousands of feet below me It went round to the westward and I could see no farther up the valley save that there were enormous glaciers which must extend round the source of the river and from which it must spring Another glance and then I remained motionless There was an easy pass in the mountains Totally opposite to me through which I caught a glimpse of an immeasurable extent of blue and distant plains Easy? Yes, perfectly easy Grast nearly to the summit which was, as it were an open path between two glaciers from which an inconsiderable stream came tumbling down over rough but very possible hillsides Till it got down to the level of the great river and formed a flat where there was grass and a small bush of stunted timber Almost before I could believe my eyes a cloud had come up from the valley on the other side and the plains were hidden What wonderful luck was mine Had I arrived five minutes later the cloud would have been over the pass and I should not have known of its existence Now that the cloud was there I began to doubt my memory and to be uncertain whether it had been more than a blue line of distant vapor that had filled up the opening I could only be certain of this much namely that the river in the valley below must be the one next to the northward of that which flowed past my master's station of this there could be no doubt Could I, however, imagine that my luck should have led me up a wrong river in search of a pass and yet brought me to the spot where I could detect the one week place in the fortifications of a more northern basin This was too improbable But even as I doubted there came a rent in the cloud opposite and a second time I saw the blue lines of heaving downs growing gradually fainter and retiring into a far space of plain It was substantial There had been no mistake whatsoever I had hardly made myself perfectly sure of this ere the rent in the clouds joined up again and I could see nothing more What then should I do? The night would be upon me shortly and I was already chilled with standing still after the exertion of climbing To stay where I was would be impossible I must either go backwards or forward I found a rock which gave me shelter from the evening wind and took a good pull at the brandy flask which immediately warmed and encouraged me I asked myself Could I descend upon the river-bed beneath me? It was impossible to say what precipices might prevent my doing so If I were on the river-bed dare I cross the river? I am an excellent swimmer yet once in the frightful rush of waters I should be hurled forward to the shore I am an excellent swimmer yet once in the frightful rush of waters I should be hurled wither-soever at willed absolutely powerless Moreover there was my swag I should perish of cold and hunger if I left it but I should certainly be drowned if I attempted to carry it across the river These were serious considerations but the hope of finding an immense tract of available sheep-country which I was determined that I would monopolize as far as I possibly could suffice to outweigh them but once I felt resolved that having made so important a discovery as a pass into a country which was probably as valuable as that on our own side of the ranges I would follow it up and ascertain its value even though I should pay the penalty of failure with life itself The more I thought the more determined I became either to win fame and perhaps fortune by entering upon this unknown world or give up life in the attempt In fact I felt the life longer valuable if I were to have seen so great a prize and refuse to grasp at the possible profits therefrom I had still an hour of good daylight during which I might begin my descent onto some suitable camping-ground but there was not a moment to be lost At first I got along rapidly for I was on the snow and sank into it enough to save me from falling though I went forward straight down the mountainside as fast as I could but there was less snow on this side and I had soon done with it getting onto a coom of dangerous and very stony ground where a slip might have given me a disastrous fall but I was careful with my speed and got safely to the bottom where there were patches of coarse grass and an attempt here and there at brushwood what was below this I could not see I advanced a few hundred yards further and found that I was on the brink of a frightful precipice which no one in his senses would attempt descending I bethought me however to try the creek which drained the coom and see whether it might not have made itself a smoother way in a few minutes I found myself at the upper end of a chasm in the rocks something like twildew only on a greatly larger scale the creek had found its way into it and had worn a deep channel through a material which appeared softer than that upon the other side of the mountain I believe it must have been a different geological formation though I regret to say that I cannot tell what it was I looked at this rift in great doubt then I went a little way on either side of it and found myself looking over the edge of horrible precipices on to the river which roared some four or five thousand feet below me I dared not think of getting down at all unless I committed myself to the rift of which I was hopeful when I reflected that the rock was soft and that the water might have worn its channel tolerably even through the whole extent the darkness was increasing with every minute but I should have twilight for another half hour so I went in the chasm though by no means without fear and resolved to return and camp and then try some other path next day should I come to any serious difficulty in about five minutes I completely lost my head the side of the rift became hundreds of feet in height and over hung so that I could not see the sky it was full of rocks and I had many falls and bruises I was wet through from falling into the water which there was no great volume but it had such a force that I could do nothing against it once I had to leap down and not inconsiderable waterfall into a deep pool below and my swag was so heavy that I very nearly drowned I had indeed a hair's breadth escape but as luck would have it Providence was on my side shortly afterwards I began to fancy that the rift was getting wider and that there was more brushwood presently I found myself on an open grassy slope and feeling my way a little further along the stream I came upon a flat place with wood where I could camp comfortably which was well for it was now quite dark my first care was for my matches were they dry the outside of my swag had got completely wet but on undoing the blankets I found things warm and dry within how thankful I was I lit a fire and was grateful for its warmth and company I made myself some tea and ate two of my biscuits my brandy I did not touch for I had little left and might want it when my courage failed me all that I did I did almost mechanically for I could not realize my situation to myself beyond knowing that I was alone and that return through the chasm which I had just ascended would be impossible it is a dreadful feeling that of being cut off from all one's kind I was still full of hope and built golden castles for myself as soon as I was warmed with food and fire but I do not believe that any man could long retain his reason in such solitude unless he had the companionship of animals one begins doubting one's own identity I remembered deriving comfort even from the sight of my blankets and the sound of my watch ticking things which seemed to link me to other people but the screaming of the wood hens frightened me as also a chattering bird which I had never heard before and which seemed to laugh at me when I got used to it and before long it fancy that it was many years since I had first heard it I took off my clothes and wrapped my inside blanket about me till my things were dry the night was very still and I made a roaring fire so I soon got warm and at last I could put my clothes on again then I strapped my blanket round me and went to sleep as near the fire as I could I dreamed that there was an organ placed in my master's wool shed the wool shed faded away and the organ seemed to grow and grow amid a blaze of brilliant light till it became like a golden city upon the side of a mountain with rows upon rows of pipes set in cliffs and precipices one above the other and in mysterious caverns like that of Fingall within whose depths I could see the burnished pillars gleaming in the front there was a flight of lofty terraces at the top of which I could see a man with his head buried forward toward a keyboard and his body from side to side amid the storm of huge arpeggioed harmonies that came crashing overhead and round then there was one who touched me on the shoulder and said do you not see it is handle but I had hardly apprehended and was trying to scale the terraces and get near him when I awoke dazzled with the vividness and distinctness of the dream a piece of wood had burned through and the ends had fallen into the ashes with a blaze this I supposed had both given me my dream and robbed me of it I was bitterly disappointed and sitting up on my elbow came back to reality and my strange surroundings as best I could I was thoroughly aroused moreover I felt a foreshadowing as though my attention were arrested by something more than the dream although no sense in particular was as yet appealed to I held my breath and waited and then I heard was it fancy? nay I listened again and again I could hear a faint and extremely distant sound of music like that of an aeolian harp born upon the wind which was willing fresh and chill from the opposite mountains the roots of my hair thrilled I listened but the wind had died and fancing that it must have been the wind itself no on a sudden I remembered the noise which Chabak had made in the wool shed yes it was that thank heaven whatever it was it was over now I reasoned with myself and recovered my firmness I became convinced that I had only been dreaming more vividly than usual soon I began even to laugh and think at what a fool I was to be frightened at nothing reminding myself that even if I were to come to a bad end it would be no such dreadful matter at all I said my prayers a duty which I had too often neglected and in a little time fell into a really refreshing sleep which lasted till broad daylight and restored me I rose and searching among the embers of my fire I found a few live coals and soon had a blaze again I got breakfast and was delighted to have the company of several small birds which hopped about me and perched on my boots and hands I felt comparatively happy but I can assure the reader that I had had a far worse time of it than I have told him and I strongly recommend him to remain in Europe if he can or at any rate in some country which has been explored and settled rather than go into places where others have been before him exploring is delightful to look forward to and back upon but it is not comfortable at the time unless it be of such an easy nature as not to deserve the name End of Chapter 4 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Katie Anderson Irowan by Samuel Butler Chapter 5 The River and the Range My next business was to descend upon the river I had lost sight of the pass which I had seen from the saddle but had made such notes of it that I could not fail to find it I was bruised and stiff and my boots had begun to give for I had been going on rough ground for more than three weeks but as the day wore on descending without serious difficulty I became easier In a couple of hours I got among pine forests where there was little undergrowth and descended quickly till I reached the edge of another precipice which gave me a great deal of trouble though I eventually managed to avoid it By about three or four o'clock I found myself on the riverbed from calculations which I made as to the height of the valley on the other side the saddle over which I had come I concluded that the saddle itself was 9,000 feet high and I should think the riverbed onto which I now descended was 3,000 feet above the sea level The water had a terrific current with a fall of not less than 40 to 50 feet per mile It was certainly the river next to the northward of that which flowed past my master's run and would have to go through an impassable gorge as is commonly the case with the rivers of that country before it came upon known parts It was reckoned to be nearly 2,000 feet above the sea level where it came out of the gorge onto the plains As soon as I got to the riverside I liked it even less than I thought I should It was muddy being near its parent glaciers The stream was wide, rapid and rough and I could hear the smaller stones knocking against each other under the rage of the waters as upon a seashore Fording was out of the question I could not swim and carry my swag and I dared not leave my swag behind me My only chance was to make a small raft and that would be difficult to make and not at all safe when it was made not for one man in such a current As it was too late to do much that afternoon I spent the rest of it in going up and down the riverside and seeing where I should find the most favorable crossing Then I camped early and had a quiet comfortable night with no more music for which I was thankful as it had haunted me all day although I perfectly well knew that it had been nothing but my own fancy brought on by the reminiscence of what I had heard from Chowbock the evening Next day I began gathering the dry bloom stalks of a kind of flag or iris-looking plant which was abundant in whose leaves when torn into strips were as strong as the strongest string I brought them to the waterside and fell to making myself a kind of rough platform which should suffice for myself and my swag if I could only stick to it The stalks were 10 or 12 feet long and very strong but light and hollow I made my raft entirely of them binding bundles of them from the right angles to each other neatly and strongly with strips from leaves of the same plant and tying other rods across It took me all day till nearly 4 o'clock to finish the raft but I still had enough daylight for crossing and resolved on doing so at once I had selected a place where the river was broad and comparatively still some at 70 or 80 yards above a furious rapid At this spot I had built my raft I now launched it made my swag fast to the middle by myself keeping in my hand one of the longest blossom stalks so that I might punt myself across as long as the water was shallow enough to let me do so I got on pretty well for 20 or 30 yards from the shore but even in this short space I nearly upset my raft by shifting too rapidly from one side to the other The water then became much deeper and I leaned over so far in order to get the bloom rod to the bottom that I had to stay still leaning on the rod for a few seconds I left it up the rod from the ground the current was too much for me and I found myself being carried down the rapid Everything in a second flew past me and I had no more control over the raft neither can I remember anything except hurry and noise and waters which in the end upset me but it all came right and I found myself near the shore not more than up to my knees and water and pulling my raft to land fortunately upon the left bank of the river which was the one I wanted When I had landed I found that I was about a mile or perhaps a little less below the point from which I started My swag was wet upon the outside and I was myself dripping but I had gained my point I knew that my difficulties were for a time over I then lit my fire and dried myself Having done so I caught some of the young ducks and seagulls which were abundant on and near the riverbed so that I had not only a good meal of which I was in great want having had an insufficient diet from the time that Chabak left me which was also well provided for on the morrow I thought of Chabak and felt how useful he had been to me and in how many ways I was the loser by his absence having now to do all sorts of things for myself which he had hitherto done for me and could do infinitely better than I could Moreover I had set my heart upon making him a real convert to the Christian religion which he had already embraced outwardly though I cannot think that it had taken deep root in his impenetrably stupid nature I used to cataclyse him by our campfire and explained him the mysteries of the Trinity and of original sin with which I was myself familiar having been the grandson of an archdeacon by my mother's side to say nothing of the fact that my father was a clergyman of the English church I was therefore sufficiently qualified for the task and was the more inclined to it over and above my real desire to save the unhappy creature from an eternity of torture by recollecting the promise of Saint James that if anyone converted a sinner which Chabak surely was, he should hide a multitude of sins I reflected therefore that the conversion of Chabak might in some degree compensate for irregularities and shortcomings in my own previous life the remembrance of which had been more than once unpleasant to me during my recent experiences Indeed on one occasion I had even gone so far as to baptize him as well as I could having ascertained that he had certainly not been both christened and baptized and gathering from his telling me that he had received the name William from the missionary that it was probably the first mentioned rite to which he had been subjected I thought a great carelessness on the part of the missionary to have omitted the second and certainly more important ceremony which I have always understood precedes christening both in the case of infants and of adult converts and when I thought of the risks we were both incurring I determined that there should be no further delay Fortunately it was not yet twelve o'clock so I baptized him at once from one of the Panachins the only vessels I had reverently and I trust efficiently I then sent myself to work to instruct him in the deeper mysteries of our belief and to make him not only in name but in heart a Christian It is true that I might not have succeeded for Chalbach was very hard to teach Indeed on the evening of the same day that I baptized him he tried for the twentieth time to steal the brandy which made me rather unhappy as to whether I could have baptized him rightly He had a prayer book, more than twenty years old which had been given him by the missionaries but the only thing in it which had taken any living hold upon him was the title of Adelaide the Queen Dowager which he would repeat whenever strongly moved or touched and which did really seem to have some deep spiritual significance to him though he could never completely separate her individuality from that of Mary Magdalene whose name had also fascinated him though in a less degree He was indeed stony ground but by digging about him I might have revived him of all faith in the religion of his tribe which would have been halfway towards making him a sincere Christian and now all this was cut off from me and I could neither be a further spiritual assistance to him nor he of bodily profit to myself besides any company was better than being quite alone I got very melancholy as these reflections crossed me but when I had boiled the ducks and eaten them I was much better I had a little tea left and about a pound of tobacco which should last me for another fortnight with moderate smoking I had also eight-ship biscuits and most precious of all about six ounces of brandy which I presently reduced to four for the night was cold I rose with early dawn and in an hour I was on my way feeling strange not to say weak from the burden of solitude but full of hope when I considered how many dangers I had overcome and that this day should see me at the summit of the dividing range after a slow but steady climb of between three and four hours of serious hindrance I found myself upon a table-land and close to a glacier which I recognized as marking the summit of the pass above it towered a succession of rugged precipices and snowy mountainsides the solitude was greater than I could bear the mountain upon my master's sheep-brun was a crowded thoroughfare in comparison with this sombersault in place the air moreover was dark and heavy which made the lowliness even more oppressive there was an inky gloom over all that was not covered with snow and ice grass there was none each moment I felt increasing upon me that dreadful doubt as to my own identity as to the continuity of my past and present existence which is the first sign of that distraction which comes on those who have lost themselves in the bush I had fought against this feeling hitherto and had conquered it but the intense silence and gloom of this rocky wilderness were too much for me and I felt that my power of collecting myself was beginning to be impaired for a little while and that advanced over very rough ground until I reached the lower end of the glacier then I saw another glacier descending from the eastern side into a small lake I passed along the western side of the lake where the ground was easier and when I had got about halfway I expected that I should see the plains which I had already seen from the opposite mountains but it was not to be so for the clouds rolled up to the very summit of the pass though they did not over-lip it onto the side from which I had come and shrouded by a cold thin vapor which prevented my seeing more than a very few yards in front of me then I came upon a large patch of old snow in which I could distinctly trace the half-melted tracks of goats and in one place as it seemed to me there had been a dog following them had I lighted upon a land of shepherds the ground where not covered with snow was so poor and stony and there was so little earbridge that I could see no sign of path or regular sheep track I found myself feeling rather uneasy as I wondered what sort of a reception I might meet with if I were to suddenly come upon inhabitants I was thinking of this and proceeding cautiously through the mist when I began to fancy that I saw some objects darker than the cloud looming in front of me a few steps brought me near and a shutter of unutterable horror ran through me when I saw a circle of gigantic forms many times higher than myself upstanding grim and gray through the veil of cloud before me I suppose I must have fainted I found myself sometime afterwards sitting upon the ground sick and deadly cold there were the figures quite still in silence seen vaguely through the thick gloom but in human shape, indisputably a sudden thought occurred to me which would have doubtless struck me at once had I not been pre-possessed before boatings at the time that I first saw the figures and had not the cloud concealed them from me I mean that they were not living beings but statues I had determined that I would count fifty slowly I was sure that the objects were not alive during that time I could detect no sign of motion how thankful was I when I came to the end of my fifty and there had been no movement I counted a second time but again all was still I then advanced timidly forward and in another moment I saw that my surmise was correct I had come upon a sort of stonehenge of rude and barbaric figures seated his child back at sat when I questioned him in the wool shed and with the same superhumanly malvalent expression on their faces they had been all seated but two had fallen they were barbarous neither Egyptian nor Assyrian nor Japanese different from any of these and yet akin to all they were six or seven times larger than life of great antiquity worn and like and grown they were ten in number there was snow upon their heads and wherever snow could lodge each statue had been built of four or five enormous blocks but how these had been raised and put together is known to those alone each was terrible after a different kind one was raging furiously as in pain and great despair another was lean and cadaverous with famine another cruel and idiotic but with the silliest simper that can be conceived this one had fallen and looked exquisitely ludicrous in his fall the mouths of all were more or less open and as I looked at them from behind I saw that their heads had been hollowed I was sick and shivering with cold solitude had unmanned me already unfit to have come upon such an assembly of fiends in such a dreadful wilderness and without preparation I would have given everything I had in the world to have been back at my master's station but that was not to be thought of my head was failing and I felt sure that I could never get back alive then came a gust of howling wind accompanied with a moan from one of the statues above me I clasped my hands in fear I felt like a rat caught in a trap as though I would have turned and bitten at whatever time was nearest to me the wildness of the wind increased the moans grew shriller coming from several statues and swelling into a chorus I almost immediately knew what it was but the sound was so unearthly that this was but little consolation the inhuman beings into whose hearts the evil one had put it to conceive these statues had made their heads into a sort of organ pipe so that their mouths should catch the wind and sound with its blowing it was horrible however brave a man could stand such a concert from such lips and in such a place I heaped every invective upon them that my tongue could utter as I rushed away from them into the mist and even after I had lost sight of them and turning my head round could see nothing but the stormwraiths driving behind me I heard their ghostly chanting and felt as though one of them would rush after me and grip me in his hand and throttle me I may say here since my return to England I heard a friend playing some chords upon the organ which put me very forcibly into mind of the Irawanian statues for Irawan is the name of the country upon which I was now entering they rose most vividly to my recollection the moment my friend began they are as follows and are by the greatest of all musicians and here the author has included a musical score End of Chapter 5 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Katie Anderson Irawan by Samuel Butler Chapter 6 Into Irawan And now I found myself on a narrow path which followed a small water-course I was too glad to have an easy track for my flight to lay hold of the full significance of its existence The thought however soon presented itself to me that I must be in an inhabited country but one which was yet unknown What then was to be my fate at the hands of its inhabitants Should I be taken up and offered as a burnt offering to those hideous guardians of the past? It might be so I shuddered at the thought yet the horrors of solitude had now fairly possessed me and so dazed was I and chilled and will be gone that I could lay hold of no idea firmly amid the crowd of fancies that kept wandering in upon my brain onward, down, down, down more streams came in then there was a bridge a few pine logs thrown over the water but they gave me comfort for savages do not make bridges then I had a treat such as I could never convey on paper a moment perhaps the most striking and unexpected of my whole life the one I think that with some three or four exceptions I would most gladly have again were I able to recall it out below the level of the clouds into a burst of brilliant evening sunshine I was facing the northwest and the sun was full upon me oh how its light cheered me but what I saw it was such an expanse as was revealed to Moses when he stood upon the summit of Mount Sinai and beheld that promised land which it was not to be his to enter the beautiful sunset sky was crimson and gold blue, silver and purple exquisite and tranquilizing were plains on which I could see many a town in city with buildings that had lofty steeples and rounded domes nearer beneath me lay ridge behind ridge outline behind outline sunlight behind shadow and shadow behind sunlight gully and serrated ravine I saw large pine forests and the glitter of a noble river winding its way upon the plains also many villages and hamlets some of them quite near at hand and it was on these that I pondered most I sank upon the ground at the foot of a large tree and thought what I had best do but I could not collect myself I was tired out and presently feeling warmed by the sun and quieted I fell off into a profound sleep I was awoke by the sound of tinkling bells and looking up I saw four or five goats feeding near me as soon as I moved the creatures turned their heads toward me with an expression of infinite wonder they did not run away but stood still and looked at me from every side as I at them then came the sound of chattering and laughter and there approached two lovely girls of about seventeen or eighteen years old dressed each in a sort of linen gabardine with a girdle round the waist they saw me I sat quite still and looked at them dazzled with their extreme beauty for a moment they looked at me and at each other in great amazement then they gave a little frightened cry and ran off as hard as they could so that's that I said to myself as I watched them scampering I knew that I'd better stay where I was and meet my fate whatever it was to be and even if there was a better course I had no strength left to take it I must come into contact with the inhabitants sooner or later and it might as well be sooner better not to seem afraid of them as I should do by running away and being caught with a hue and a cry tomorrow or next day so I remained quite still and waited in about an hour I heard distant voices talking excitedly and in a few minutes I saw the two girls bringing up a party of six or seven men well armed with bows and arrows and pikes there was nothing for it so I remained sitting quite still even after they had seen me until they came close up then we all had a good look at one another both the girls and men were very dark in color but not more so than the south Italians or Spaniards men wore no trousers but were dressed nearly the same as the Arabs whom I have seen in Algeria they were of the most magnificent presence being no less strong and handsome than the women were beautiful and not only this but their expression was courteous and benign I think they would have killed me at once if I had made the slightest show of violence but they gave me no impression of there being likely to hurt me so long as I was quiet I am not much given to liking anybody at first sight they asked me much more favorably than I should have thought possible so that I could not fear them as I scan their faces one after another they were all powerful men I might have been a match for any one of them singly for I have been told that I have more to glory in the flesh than in any other respect being over six feet and proportionately strong but any two could have soon mastered me even were I not so bereft of energy by my recent adventures my colors seemed to surprise them most for I have light hair, blue eyes and a fresh complexion they could not understand how these things could be my clothes also seemed quite beyond them their eyes kept wandering all over me and the more they looked the less they seemed able to make me out at last I raised myself upon my feet and leaning upon my stick I spoke whatever came into my head to the man who seemed foremost among them I spoke in English though I was very sure that he would not understand I said that I had no idea what country I was in that I had stumbled upon it almost by accident after a series of hair-breath escapes and that I trusted they would not allow any evil to overtake me now that I was completely at their mercy all this I said quietly and firmly with hardly any change of expression they could not understand me but they looked approvingly to one another and seemed pleased so I thought that I showed no fear nor acknowledgement of inferiority the fact being that I was exhausted beyond the sense of fear then one of them pointed to the mountain in the direction of the statues and made a grimace in imitation of one of them I laughed and shuddered expressively whereon they all burst out laughing too and chattered hard to one another I could make out nothing of what they said but I think they thought it a rather good joke that I had come past the statues then one among them came forward and motioned me to follow which I did for I did not forth them moreover I liked them well enough and felt tolerably sure that they had no intention of hurting me in about a quarter of an hour we got to a small hamlet built on the side of a hill with a narrow street and houses huddled up together the roofs were large and overhanging some few windows were glazed but not many altogether the village was exceedingly like one of those that one comes upon and descending the less known passes over the Alps on to Lombardy I will pass over the excitement which my arrival caused suffice it that though there was an abundance of curiosity there was no rudeness I was taken to the principal house which seemed to belong to the people who had captured me there I was hospitably entertained and a supper of milk and goat's flesh with a kind of oat cake was set before me of which I ate heartily but all the time I was eating I could not help turning my eyes upon the two beautiful girls whom I had first seen and who seemed to consider me as their lawful prize which indeed I was for I would have gone through fire and water for either of them then came the inevitable surprise at seeing me smoke which I will spare the reader but I noticed that when they saw me strike a match there was a hubbub of excitement which it struck me was not altogether unmixed with disapproval why I could not guess then the women retired and I was left alone with the men who tried to talk to me in every conceivable way but we could come to no understanding the fact that I was quite alone and I had come from a long way over the mountains in the course of time they grew tired and I very sleepy I made signs as though I would sleep on the floor in my blankets but they gave me one of their bunks with plenty of dried fern and grass onto which I had no sooner laid myself than I fell fast asleep nor did I awake till well into the following day when I found myself in the hut with two men keeping guard over me and an old woman cooking when I woke the men seemed pleased as though bidding me good morning in a pleasant tone I went out of doors to wash in a creek which ran a few yards from the house my hosts were as engrossed with me as ever they never took their eyes off me following every action that I did no matter how trifling and each looking toward the other for his opinion at every touch and turn they took great interest in my ablutions for they seemed to have doubted whether I was in all respects human like themselves they even laid hold of my arms and overhauled them when they saw that they were strong and muscular they now examine my legs and especially my feet when they desisted they nodded approvingly to each other and when I had combed and brushed my hair and generally made myself as neat and well arranged as circumstances would allow I could see that their respect for me increased greatly and that they were by no means sure that they had treated me with sufficient deference a matter on which I am not competent to decide all I know is that they were very good to me which I thank them heartily as it might well have been otherwise for my own part I liked them and admired them for their quiet self-possession and dignified ease impressed me pleasurably at once neither did their manner make me feel as though I were personally distasteful to them only that I was a thing utterly new and unlooked for which they could not comprehend their type was more that of the most robust Italians than any other their manners were also eminently Italian in their entire unconsciousness of self having traveled a good deal in Italy I was struck with little gestures of the hand and shoulders which constantly reminded me of that country my feeling was that my wisest plan would be to go on as I had begun and be simply myself for better or worse such as I was in taking my chance accordingly I thought of these things while they were waiting for me to have done washing and on my way back then they gave me breakfast, hot bread and milk and fried flesh of something between mutton and medicine their ways of cooking and eating were European though they had only a skewer for a fork and a sort of butcher's knife to cut with the more I looked at everything in the house the more I was struck with its quasi-European character and had the walls only been pasted over with extracts from the illustrated London news and punch I could have almost fancied myself in a shepherd's hut upon my master's sheep run and yet everything was slightly different it was much the same with the birds and flowers on the other side as compared with the English ones on my arrival I had been pleased at noticing that nearly all the plants and birds were very like common English ones thus there was a robin and a lark and a wren and daisies and dandelions not quite the same as the English but still very like them quite like enough to be called by the same name so now here the ways of these two men and the things that they had in the house were all very nearly the same as in Europe it was not at all like going to China or Japan where everything that one sees is strange I was indeed at once struck with the primitive character of their appliances for they seemed to be some five or six hundred years behind Europe in their inventions but this is the case in many an Italian village all the time that I was eating my breakfast I kept speculating as to what family and mankind they could belong to and shortly there came an idea into my head which brought the blood into my cheeks with excitement as I thought of it was it possible that they might be the lost ten tribes of Israel of whom I had heard both my grandfather and father make mention as existing in an unknown country and awaiting a final return to Palestine was it possible that I might have been designed by Providence as the instrument of their conversion oh what a thought was this I laid down my skewer and gave them a hasty survey there was nothing of a Jewish type about them their noses were distinctly Grecian and their lips though full were not Jewish how could I settle this question I knew neither Greek nor Hebrew and even if I should get to understanding the language here spoken I should be unable to detect the roots of either of those tongues I had not been long enough among them to ascertain their habits but they did not give me the impression of being a religious people this too was natural the ten tribes had always been lamentably irreligious but could I not make them change to restore the lost ten tribes of Israel to a knowledge of the only truth here would be indeed an immortal crown of glory my heart beat fast and furious as I entertained the thought what a position would it not ensure me in the next world or perhaps even in this what folly would it be to throw such a chance away I should rank next the apostles if not as high as they certainly above the minor prophets and possibly above any Old Testament writer except Moses and Isaiah for such a future as this I would sacrifice all that I have without a moment's hesitation could I be reasonably assured of it I had always cordially approved of missionary efforts and had at times contributed my might toward their support and extension but I had never hitherto felt drawn toward becoming a missionary myself and indeed had always admired and envied and respected them more than I had exactly liked them but if these people were the lost ten tribes of Israel the case would be widely different the opening was too excellent to be lost and I resolved that should I see indications which appeared to confirm my impression that I had indeed come upon the missing tribes I would certainly convert them I may here mention that this discovery is the one to which I alluded in the opening pages of my story time strengthened the impression made upon me at first and though I remained in doubt for several months I feel now no longer uncertain when I had done eating my host approached and pointed down the valley leading to their own country as though wanting to show that I must go with them at the same time they laid hold of my arms and made as though they would take me but use no violence I laughed and motioned my hand across my throat pointing down the valley as though I was afraid lest I should be killed when I got there but they divined me at once and shook their heads with much decision to show that I was in no danger their manner quite reassured me and in half an hour or so I had packed up my swag and was eager for the forward journey feeling wonderfully strengthened and refreshed by good food and sleep and some curiosity were aroused to their very utmost by the extraordinary position in which I found myself but already my excitement had begun to cool and I reflected that these people might not be the ten tribes after all in which case I could not but regret that my hopes of making money which had led me into so much trouble and danger were almost annihilated by the fact that the country was full to overflowing with the people who had probably already developed its more available resources moreover how was I to get back for there was something about my hosts which told me that they had got me and meant to keep me in spite of all their goodness for some four miles now hundreds of feet above a brawling stream which descended from the glaciers and now nearly alongside it the morning was cold and somewhat foggy for the autumn had made great strides laterally sometimes we went through forests of pine or rather yew trees though they looked like pine and I remember that now and again we passed a little wayside shrine wherein there would be a statue of great beauty representing some figure, male or female in the very heyday of youth strength and beauty or of the most dignified maturity and old age my hosts always bowed their heads as they passed one of these shrines and it shocked me to see statues that had no apparent object beyond the chronicling of some unusual individual excellence or beauty received so serious an homage however I showed no sign of wonder or disapproval for I remembered that to be all things to all men was one of the injunctions of the Gentile Apostle which for the present I should do well to heed shortly after passing one of these chapels we came suddenly upon a village which started up out of the mist and I was alarmed lest I should be made an object of curiosity or dislike but it was not so my guide spoke to many in passing and those spoken to showed much amazement my guides however were well known and the natural politeness of the people prevented them from putting me to any inconvenience but they could not help eyeing me nor eye them I may as well say at once what my after experience taught me namely that with all their faults and extraordinary obliquity of mental vision upon many subjects they are the very best bred people that I ever fell in with the village was just like the ones we had left only rather larger the streets were narrow and unpaved but very fairly clean the vine grew outside many of the houses and there were some with signboards on which was painted a bottle and a glass that made me feel much at home even on this ledge of human society there was a stunted growth of shoplits which had taken root and vegetated somehow though as in an era mercantile of the bleakest it was here as hitherto all things were generically the same as in Europe the differences being of species only and I was amused at seeing in a window some bottles with barley sugar and sweet meats for children as at home but the barley sugar was in plates not in twisted sticks and was colored blue glass was plentiful in the better houses lastly I should say that the people were of a physical beauty which was simply amazing I never saw anything in the least comparable to them the women were vigorous and had a most majestic gait their heads being set upon their shoulders with a grace beyond all power of expression each feature was finished eyelids, eyelashes, and ears being almost invariably perfect their color was equal to that of the finest Italian paintings being of the clearest olive and yet ready with a glow of perfect health their expression was divine and as they glanced at me timidly but with parted lips and great bewilderment I forgot all thoughts of their conversion and feelings that were far more earthly I was dazzled as I saw one after the other of whom I could only feel that each was the loveliest I had ever seen even in middle age they were still comely and the old great-haired women at their cottage doors had a dignity not to say majesty of their own the men were as handsome as the women beautiful I have always delighted in and reverenced beauty but I felt simply abashed in the presence of such a splendid type a compound of all that is best in Egyptian, Greek, and Italian the children were infinite in number and exceedingly merry I need hardly say that they came in for their full share of the prevailing beauty I expressed by signs my admiration and pleasure to my guides and they were greatly pleased I should add that all seemed to take a pride in their personal appearance and that even the poorest and none seemed rich were well-kempt and tidy I could feel many pages with a description of their dress and the ornaments which they wore and a hundred details which struck me with all the force of novelty but I must not stay to do so when we had got past the village and revealed magnificent views of the snowy mountains and their nearer abutments while in front I could now and again catch glimpses of the great plains which I had surveyed on the preceding evening the country was highly cultivated every ledge being planted with chestnuts walnuts and apple trees from which the apples were now gathering goats were abundant also kind of small black cattle in the marshes near the river which was now fast widening and running between larger flats which the hills receded more and more I saw a few sheep with rounded noses and enormous tails dogs were there in plenty and very English but I saw no cats nor indeed are these creatures known their place being supplied by a sort of small terrier in about four hours of walking from the time we started and after passing two or three more villages we came upon a considerable town and my guides made many attempts to make me understand something about the angling of their meaning except that I need be under no apprehension of danger I will spare the reader any description of the town and would only bid him think of Damodosola or Fido suffice it that I found myself taken before the chief magistrate and by his orders was placed in an apartment with two other people who were the first I had seen looking anything but well and handsome in fact one of them was plainly very much out of health permanently from time to time in spite of manifest efforts to suppress it the other looked pale and ill but he was marvelously self-contained and it was impossible to say what was the matter with him both of them appeared astonished at seeing one who was evidently a stranger but they were too ill to come up to me and form conclusions concerning me these two were first called out and in about a quarter of an hour I was made to follow them which I did in some fear and with much curiosity the chief magistrate was a venerable looking man with white hair and a beard and a face of great sagacity he looked me all over for about five minutes letting his eyes wander from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet up and down and down and up neither did his mind seem in the least clearer when he had done looking than when he began he at length asked me a single short question which I supposed meant who are you I answered in English quite composedly as though he would understand me and endeavored to be my very most natural self as well as I could he appeared more and more puzzled and then retired returning with two others much like himself they took me to an inner room and the two fresh arrivals stripped me while the chief looked on they felt my pulse, they looked at my tongue they listened at my chest they felt all my muscles and at the end of each operation they looked at the chief and nodded quite pleasant as though I were alright they even pulled down my eyelids and looked I suppose to see if they were bloodshot but it was not so at length they gave up and I think they were all satisfied of my being in the most perfect health and very robust to boot at last the old magistrate made a speech of about five minutes long which the other two appeared to think greatly to the point but from which I gathered nothing as soon as it was ended they proceeded to overhaul my swag and the contents of my pockets this gave me little uneasiness for I had no money with me nor anything which they were at all likely to want or which I cared about losing at least I fancied so but I soon found my mistake they got uncomfortably at first though they were much puzzled with my tobacco pipe and insisted on seeing me use it when I had shown them what I did with it they were astonished but not displeased and seemed to like the smell but by and by they came to my watch which I had hidden away in the inmost pocket that I had and had forgotten when they began their search they seemed concerned and uneasy as soon as they got a hold of it they then made me open it and show the works and when I had done so they gave signs of very grave displeasure which disturbed me all the more because I could not conceive where and it could have offended them I remember that when they first found it I had thought of Paley and how he tells us that a savage on seeing a watch would at once conclude that it was designed true these people were not savages but I nonetheless felt sure that this was the conclusion they would arrive at and I was thinking what a wonderfully wise man Archbishop Paley must have been when I was aroused by a look of horror and dismay upon the face of the magistrate a look which conveyed to me the impression that he regarded my watch not as having been designed but rather as the designer of himself and of the universe or as at any rate one of the great first causes of all things then it struck me that this view was quite as likely to be taken as the other by a people who had no experience of European civilization and I was a little peaked with Paley for having led me so much astray but I soon discovered that I had misinterpreted the expression on the magistrate's face and that it was not one of fear but hatred he spoke to me solemnly and sternly for two or three minutes then reflecting that this was of no use he caused me to be conducted through several passages into a large room which I afterwards found was the museum of the town and wherein I beheld a sight which astonished me more than anything that I had yet seen it was filled with cases containing all manner of curiosities such as skeletons stuffed birds and animals carvings of stone where I saw several that were like those on the saddle only smaller but the greater part of the room was occupied by broken machinery of all descriptions the larger specimens had a case to themselves and tickets with writing on them in a character which I could not understand there were fragments of steam engines all broken and rusted among them I saw a cylinder and a piston, a broken flywheel and part of a crank which was laid on the ground by their side again there was a very old carriage whose wheels in spite of rust and decay I could see had been designed originally for iron rails indeed there were fragments of a great many of our own most advanced inventions but they seemed all to be several hundred years old and to be placed where they were not for instruction but curiosity as I said before all were marred and broken we passed many cases and at last came to one in which there were several clocks and two or three old watches here the magistrates stopped and opening the case began comparing my watch with the others the design was different but the thing was clearly the same on this he turned to me and made a speech in a severe and injured tone of voice pointing repeatedly to the watches in the case and to my own neither did he seem in the least appeased until I made signs to him that he had better take my watch and put it with the others this had some effect in calming him I said in English trusting the tone and manner to convey my meaning that I was exceedingly sorry if I had been found to have anything contraband in my possession that I had had no intention of evading the ordinary tolls with my doing so would atone for the unintentional violation of the law he began presently to relent and spoke to me in a kinder manner I think he saw that I had offended without knowledge but I believe the chief thing that brought him round was my not seeming to be afraid of him although I was quite respectful this in my having light hair and complexion on which he remarked previously by signs as everyone else had done I afterwards found that it was reckoned to very great merit to have fair hair this being a thing of the rarest possible occurrence and greatly admired and envied in all who were possessed of it however that might be my watch was taken from me but our piece was made and I was conducted back to the room where I had been examined the magistrate then made me another speech whereon I was taken to a building hard by which I soon discovered to be the common prison of the town but in which an apartment was assigned me separate from the other prisoners the room contained a bed, table and chairs also a fireplace and a washing stand there was another door which opened onto a balcony with a flight of steps descending into a walled garden of some size the man who conducted me into this room made signs to me that I might go down and walk in the garden whenever I pleased and intimated that I should shortly have something brought me to eat I was allowed to retain my blankets and the few things which I had wrapped inside them but it was plain that I was to consider myself a prisoner for how long a period I could not by any means determine he then left me alone End of Chapter 7 This is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Irawan by Samuel Butler Chapter 8 And now for the first time my courage completely failed me it is enough to say that I was penniless and a prisoner in a foreign country where I had no friend nor any knowledge of the customs or language of the people I was at the mercy of men with whom I had little in common and yet engrossed as I was with my extremely difficult and doubtful position I could not help feeling deeply interested in the people among whom I had fallen I noticed the meaning of that room of old machinery which I had just seen and of the displeasure with which the magistrate had regarded my watch the people had very little machinery now I had been struck with this over and over again though I had not been more than four and twenty hours in the country they were about as far advanced as Europeans of the 12th or 13th century certainly not more so and yet they must have had at one time the fullest knowledge of our own most recent inventions how could it have happened that having been once so far in advance they were now as much behind us it was evident that it was not from ignorance they knew my watch as a watch when they saw it and the care with which the broken machines were preserved and ticketed proved that they had not lost the recollection of their former civilization the more I thought the less I could understand it but at last I concluded that they must have worked out their minds of coal and iron till either none were left or so few that the use of these metals was restricted to the very highest nobility this was the only solution I could think of and though I afterwards found how entirely mistaken I was I felt quite sure then that it must be the right one I had hardly arrived at this opinion for above four or five minutes when the door opened and a young woman made her appearance with a tray and a very appetizing smell of dinner I gazed upon her with admiration as she laid a cloth and set a savory looking dish upon the table as I beheld her I felt as though my position was already much ameliorated for the very side of her carried great comfort she was not more than 20 rather above the middle height active and strong but yet most delicately featured her lips were full and sweet her eyes were of a deep hazel and fringed with long and springing eyelashes her hair was neatly braided from off her forehead her complexion was simply exquisite her figure as robust as was consistent with the most perfect female beauty yet not more so her hands and feet might have served as models to a sculptor having set the stew upon the table she retired with a glance of pity whereon remembering Pity's kinsmen I decided that she should pity me a little more she returned with a bottle and a glass and found me sitting on the bed with my hands over my face looking the very picture of abject misery and like all pictures rather untruthful as I watched her through my fingers out of the room again I felt sure that she was exceedingly sorry for me her back being turned I set to work and ate my dinner which was excellent she returned in about an hour to take away and there came with her a man who had a great bunch of keys at his waist and whose manner convinced me that he was the jailer I afterwards found that he was father to the beautiful creature who had brought me my dinner I am not a much greater hypocrite than other people and do what I would I could not look so very miserable I had already recovered from my rejection and felt in a most genial humor both with my jailer and his daughter I thanked them for all their attention towards me and though they could not understand they looked at one another and laughed and chattered till the old man said something or other which I suppose was a joke for the girl laughed merrily and ran away leaving her father to take away the dinner things then I had another visitor who was not so prepossessing and who seemed himself in a small one of me he brought a book with him and pens and paper all very English and yet neither paper nor printing nor binding nor pen nor ink were quite the same as ours he gave me to understand that he was to teach me the language and that we were to begin it at once this delighted me both because I should be more comfortable when I can understand and make myself understood and because I suppose that the authorities would hardly teach me the language if they intended any cruel usage toward me afterwards we began at once and I learned the names of everything in the room and also the numerals and personal pronouns I found to my sorrow the resemblance to European things which I had so frequently observed hitherto did not hold good in the matter of language for I could detect no analogy whatever between this and any tongue of which I have the slightest knowledge a thing which made me think it possible that I might be learning Hebrew I must detail no longer from this time my days were spent with a monotony which would have been tedious but for the society of Irem the jailer's daughter who had taken a great fancy for me and treated me with the utmost kindness the man came every day to teach me the language but my real dictionary and grammar were Irem and I consulted them to such purpose that I made the most extraordinary progress being able at the end of a month to understand a great deal of the conversation which I overheard between Irem and her father my teacher professed himself well satisfied and said he should make a favorable report of me to the authorities I then questioned him as to what would probably be done with me he told me that my arrival had caused great excitement throughout the country and that I was to be detained a close prisoner until the receipt of advice is from the government my having had a watch the only damaging feature in the case and then in answer to my asking why this should be so he gave me a long story of which with my imperfect knowledge of the language I could make nothing whatever except that it was a very heinous offense almost as bad at least so I thought I understood him as having typhus fever but he said he thought my light hair would save me I was allowed to walk in the garden there was a high wall so that I managed to engage five which prevented my feeling the bad affect of my confinement though it was stupid work, playing alone in the course of time people from the town and neighborhood began to pester the jailer to be allowed to see me and on receiving hands and fees he led them to so the people were good to me almost to good for they were inclined to make a line of me which I hated at least the women were only they had to be aware of Irem who was a young lady jealous temperament and kept a sharp eye both on me and on my lady-visitors. However I felt so kindly towards her, and was so entirely dependent upon her for almost all that made my life a blessing and a comfort to me, that I took good care not to vex her, and we remained excellent friends. The men were far less inquisitive and would not, I believe, have come near me of their own accord, but the women made them come as escorts. I was delighted with their handsome mean and pleasant genial manners. My food was plain but always varied and wholesome, and the good red wine was admirable. I had found a sort of wart in the garden, which I sweated in heaps and then dried, obtaining thus a substitute for tobacco, so that what with irum, the language, visitors, fives in the garden, smoking, and bed, my time slipped by more rapidly and pleasantly than might have been expected. I also made myself a small flute, and being a tolerable player, amused myself at times with playing snatches from operas and airs, such as Aware and Aware, and Home Sweet Home. This was of great advantage to me for the people of the country were ignorant of the diatonic scale and could hardly believe their ears on hearing some of our most common melodies. Often too they would make me sing, and I could at any time make irum's eyes swim with tears by singing Wilkins and his dina, Billy Taylor, the rat catcher's daughter, or as much of them as I could remember. I had one or two discussions with them because I never would sing on Sunday, of which I kept count in my pocket book, except chants and hem tunes, of these I regret to say that I had forgotten the words so that I could only sing the tune. They appeared to have little or no religious feeling, and to have never so much as heard of the divine institution of the Sabbath, so they ascribed my observance of it to a fit of sulkiness, which they remarked as coming over me upon every seventh day. But they were very tolerant, and one of them said to me quite kindly that she knew how impossible it was to help being sulk-y at times. Only she thought I ought to see someone if it became more serious, a piece of advice which I then failed to understand, though I pretended to take it quite as a matter of course. Only once did Erem treat me in a way that was unkind and unreasonable, at least so I thought at the time. It happened thus. I had been playing fives in the garden and got much heated. Although the day was cold, for autumn was now advancing, and cold harbour, as the name of the town in which my prison was, should be translated, stood fully three thousand feet above the sea, I had played without my coat and waistcoat, and took a sharp chill on resting myself too long in the open air without protection. The next day I had a severe cold, and felt really poorly. Being little used even to the lightest ailments and thinking that it would be rather nice to be petted and cosyded by Erem, I certainly did not make myself out to be any better than I was. In fact I remember that I made the worst of things, and took it into my head to consider myself upon the sick list. When Erem brought me my breakfast I complained somewhat dolefully of my indisposition, expecting this sympathy and humoring which I should have received from my mother and sisters at home. Not a bit of it. She fired up in an instant and asked me what I meant by it, and how I dared to presume to mention such a thing, especially when I considered in what place I was. She had the best mind to tell her father. Only that she was afraid the consequences would be so very serious for me. Her manner was so injured and decided, and her anger so evidently unfaigned, that I forgot my cold upon the spot, begging her by all means to tell her father if she wished to do so, and telling her that I had no idea of being shielded by her from anything whatever. Presently mollifying, after having said as many biting things as I could, I asked her what it was that I had done amiss, and promised amendment as soon as ever I became aware of it.  I followed up the conversation as well as my imperfect knowledge of the language would allow, and caught a glimmering of her position with regard to ill health, but I did not even then fully comprehend it, nor had I as yet any idea of the other extraordinary perversions of thought which existed among the Irowanians, but with which I was soon to become familiar. I proposed therefore to make no mention of what passed between us on this occasion, save that we were reconciled, and that she brought me surreptitiously a hot glass of spirits and water before I went to bed, as also a pile of extra blankets, and that next morning I was quite well. I never remember to have lost a cold so rapidly. This little affair explained much of what had hitherto puzzled me. It seemed that the two men who were examined before the magistrates on the day of my arrival in the country had been given in charge on account of ill health, and were both condemned to a long term of imprisonment with hard labour. They were now expiating their offence in this very prison, and their exercise-ground was a yard separated by my fives-wall from the garden in which I walked. This accounted for the sounds of coughing and groaning which I had often noticed as coming from the other side of the wall. It was high, and I had not dared to climb it, for fear the jailer should see me and think that I was trying to escape. But I had often wondered what sort of people could be on the other side, and had resolved on asking the jailer but I seldom saw him, and Irim and I generally found other things to talk about. Another month flew by during which I made such progress in the language that I could understand all that was said to me and express myself with tolerable fluency. My instructor professed to be astonished with the progress I had made. I was careful to attribute it to the pains he had taken with me and to his admirable method of explaining my difficulties, so we became excellent friends. My visitors became more and more frequent. Among them there were some both men and women who delighted me entirely by their simplicity, unconsciousness of self, kindly genial manners and last but not least, by their exquisite beauty. There came others less well-bred but still comely and agreeable people, while some more snobs, pure and simple. At the end of the third month a jailer in my instructor came together to visit me and told me that communications had been received from the government to the effect that if I had behaved well and seemed generally reasonable and if there could be no suspicion at all about my bodily health and vigor and if my hair was really light and my eyes blue and complexion fresh, I was to be sent up at once to the metropolis in order that the king and queen might see me and converse with me. But that when I arrived there I should be set at liberty and a suitable allowance would be made me. My teacher also told me that one of the leading merchants had sent me an invitation to repair to his house and to consider myself his guest for as long a time as I chose. He is a delightful man, continued the interpreter, but has suffered terribly from. Here came a long word which I could not quite catch, only it was much longer than kleptomania, and has but lately recovered from embezzling a large sum of money under singularly distressing circumstances, but he has quite got over it and the straighteners say that he has made a really wonderful recovery. You are sure to like him.