s majesty King Aldemegry Bhoolmakar of
Atvatabar), said Plothoy.

Atvatabar, then, was a kingdom. We should go there certainly and see
King Bhoolmakar and his people. But where was this mysterious country?

"Yohili ec Atvatabar?" we asked of Plothoy.

"Dohili!" he replied, pointing to a continent in the southwest. The
southwest in the interior world, it should be stated, corresponds to
the southeast on the outer earth. Atvatabar, then, lay underneath the
Atlantic Ocean.

"Yohod ec dohi moni ar dohi miolicd gliod sedi?" (What is the name of
the nearest great city?) we asked.

"Kioram," replied Plothoy. "Dohili ed ec fequi ohymtlit neric tyi
caydoh docd." (There it is, five hundred miles due southeast.)

We looked in the direction indicated with our glasses and plainly saw
the white marble buildings of a large city not three degrees above the
plane of our position. Further off, in the haze of distance, a mighty
continent unrolled its landscapes, until it was merged in the
brightness of the sunlight above us.

All this time Plothoy's companion circumnavigated the ship on his
swift wings. We inquired his name.

"Lecholt," said Plothoy, "omt ohi orca ec o wayleal." (And he also is
a wayleal.)

"What is the name of the sun above us?" we inquired.

"Swang," said Plothoy.

Good! we would sail direct to Kioram, the principal port of Atvatabar.

I assured Plothoy that as long as he was detained by us he would
receive the greatest consideration at our hands. We would do him no
injury, but, on the contrary, amply reward him for his services. He
could understand that, being strangers in an unknown world, it was
absolutely necessary for us to have a pilot, or guide, not merely to
advise how to direct the ship, but to inform us regarding the laws,
manners, and customs of the people we proposed visiting, that we might
accommodate ourselves to such novel experiences as we were certain to
undergo. We told him we had come to Bilbimtesirol as pioneers of the
outer planet, as heralds of the intercourse that would undoubtedly
take place between two worlds separated for ages until now. We assured
Plothoy how indebted we were to him for the information he had already
given, and his great importance to us in a voyage that would affect
the interests of thousands of millions of men ought to reconcile him
to his brief captivity. We could not afford to lose him, and therefore
asked him to remain with us for the remainder of the voyag