e points to the north. The first of them who came on board, was a
rich merchant. He saluted us after the custom of his nation, by turning
his back towards us, and immediately began to bargain with us for our
wares. I kept myself considerably remote during the negotiation, as
neither the sound nor the smell of his speech pleased me. To my great
horror our barber was taken sick at this time, so that I was obliged to
summon a Pyglossian perfume. As the barbers here are quite as talkative
as among us, this one, while shaving me, filled the cabin with so
disagreeable a smell, that, on his departure, we were obliged to smoke
with all the incense we had on board.

We sailed hence to Iceland. This land consisted of desolate rocks,
covered by eternal snows. The inhabitants who are all of ice, live here
and there in the clefts of the rocks on the tops of the mountains, where
the sun is never seen, enveloped by almost perpetual darkness and frost.
The only light they have comes from the shining rime.

These lands, of which I here have given a view, are all subject to the
great emperor of Mezendora proper, and are therefore called by seafaring
people the Mezendoric islands. This great and wonderful country, namely,
Mezendora, is the goal of all extended voyages. Eight days sail from
Iceland brought us to the imperial residence. There we found all that
realized, which our poets have fancied of the societies of animals,
trees and plants; Mezendora being, so to speak, the common father-land
of all sensible animals and plants. In this empire each animal and every
tree can obtain citizenship, merely by submitting to the government and
laws. One would suppose, that, on account of the mixture of so many
different creatures, great confusion would prevail among them: but this
is far from the case. On the contrary, this very difference produces the
most happy effects; which must be attributed to their wise laws and
institutions, decreeing to each subject that office and employment to
which his nature and special faculties are best fitted. Thus, the lion,
in consideration of his natural magnanimity, is always chosen regent.
The elephant, on account of his keen judgment, is called to sit in the
State-council. Courtiers are made of chameleons, because they are
inconstant and know how to temporize. The army consists of bears, tigers
and other valorous animals; in the marine service, on the contrary, are
oxen and bulls; seamen being generally har