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m abundantly, as of old. I had heard that this whole country was governed by a Regent, whose residence, or palace, at that time, was about eight days' travel from the town where I lived. I say at that time, because the court dwelt, not in substantial, fixed houses, but in tents; and the residence was moved at pleasure from one province to another. The ruler at that period was an old man, named Casba, which signifies, the great emperor. In consideration of its many large provinces, this country was indeed a great empire; but, from the ignorance of the inhabitants, who made little use of their many natural advantages, and also from the absence of that unanimity among the provinces, which would have dignified and strengthened their counsels, and subserved for their mutual protection, they were exposed to the attacks and mockeries of their more vigorous neighbors, and not unfrequently obliged to pay tribute to nations much inferior to themselves. The report of my name and power was spread in a short time even to the remotest provinces. Nothing could be done without consulting me, as an oracle, and when any undertaking miscarried, its failure was ascribed to my indifference or indignation; wherefore, oblations were frequently made to assuage my anger. Finally the rumor was carried to the ears of the old emperor, that a great man had come into his dominions, in a strange dress, who gave himself out as ambassador of the sun, and had proved himself more than man, by bestowing to the Quamites (thus the inhabitants were called, after the name of the land, Quama,) wise and almost divine rules of life. He therefore sent ambassadors, with orders to invite me to the imperial residence. These were thirty in number, all clothed in tiger-skins, this dress being considered in Quama the greatest of ornaments, since none were permitted to wear it, but those who had distinguished themselves in war against the Tanaquites, a nation of sensible tigers, and the mortal enemies of the Quamites. I had built, in the town where I dwelt, a walled house, after the European style. At the sight of it, the imperial ambassadors were astonished, and exclaimed that it was a work beyond human powers; they entered it, as a sanctuary, with devout reverence, and there proclaimed to me the emperor's invitation in the following speech: "Since the great emperor, our most gracious lord, reckons his genealogy through manifold generations, from Spunko, the sun's
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