e utmost good
will. A long time afterward, when I had learned the language of the
country, he explained that he had recognized me as an American pigmy, a
race of which he had some little knowledge through a letter from a
brother, who had been in my country. He showed me the letter, of which the
chief part is here presented in translation:

"You ask me, my dear Tgnagogu, to relate my adventures among the
Americans, as they call themselves. My adventures were very brief, lasting
altogether not more than three _gumkas_, and most of the time was passed
in taking measures for my own safety.

"My skyship, which had been driven for six moons before an irresistible
gale, passed over a great city just at daylight one morning, and rather
than continue the voyage with a lost reckoning I demanded that I be
permitted to disembark. My wish was respected, and my companions soared
away without me. Before night I had escaped from the city, by what means
you know, and with my remarkable experiences in returning to civilization
all Batrugia is familiar. The description of the strange city I have
reserved for you, by whom only could I hope to be believed. Nyork, as its
inhabitants call it, is a city of inconceivable extent--not less, I should
judge, than seven square _glepkeps_! Of the number of its inhabitants I
can only say that they are as the sands of the desert. They wear
clothing--of a hideous kind, 'tis true--speak an apparently copious though
harsh language, and seem to have a certain limited intelligence. They are
puny in stature, the tallest of them being hardly higher than my breast.

"Nevertheless, Nyork is a city of giants. The magnitude of all things
artificial there is astounding! My dear Tgnagogu, words can give you no
conception of it. Many of the buildings, I assure you, are as many as
fifty _sprugas_ in height, and shelter five thousand persons each. And
these stupendous structures are so crowded together that to the spectator
in the narrow streets below they seem utterly devoid of design and
symmetry--mere monstrous aggregations of brick, stone and metal--mountains
of masonry, cliffs and crags of architecture hanging in the sky!

"A city of giants inhabited by pigmies! For you must know, oh friend of my
liver, that the rearing of these mighty structures could not be the work
of the puny folk that swarm in ceaseless activity about their bases. These
fierce little savages invaded the island in numbers so overwhelming th