up. The horse that fell was strained in
the left shoulder, but the rider got no hurt; and I repaired my
handkerchief as well as I could: however, I would not trust to the
strength of it any more, in such dangerous enterprises.

About two or three days before I was set at liberty, as I was
entertaining the court with this kind of feat, there arrived an express
to inform his majesty, that some of his subjects, riding near the place
where I was first taken up, had seen a great black substance lying on the
around, very oddly shaped, extending its edges round, as wide as his
majesty's bedchamber, and rising up in the middle as high as a man; that
it was no living creature, as they at first apprehended, for it lay on
the grass without motion; and some of them had walked round it several
times; that, by mounting upon each other's shoulders, they had got to the
top, which was flat and even, and, stamping upon it, they found that it
was hollow within; that they humbly conceived it might be something
belonging to the man-mountain; and if his majesty pleased, they would
undertake to bring it with only five horses. I presently knew what they
meant, and was glad at heart to receive this intelligence. It seems,
upon my first reaching the shore after our shipwreck, I was in such
confusion, that before I came to the place where I went to sleep, my hat,
which I had fastened with a string to my head while I was rowing, and had
stuck on all the time I was swimming, fell off after I came to land; the
string, as I conjecture, breaking by some accident, which I never
observed, but thought my hat had been lost at sea. I entreated his
imperial majesty to give orders it might be brought to me as soon as
possible, describing to him the use and the nature of it: and the next
day the waggoners arrived with it, but not in a very good condition; they
had bored two holes in the brim, within an inch and half of the edge, and
fastened two hooks in the holes; these hooks were tied by a long cord to
the harness, and thus my hat was dragged along for above half an English
mile; but, the ground in that country being extremely smooth and level,
it received less damage than I expected.

Two days after this adventure, the emperor, having ordered that part of
his army which quarters in and about his metropolis, to be in readiness,
took a fancy of diverting himself in a very singular manner. He desired
I would stand like a Colossus, with my legs as far asun