ps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my finger
frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The _hurgo_ (for
so they call a great lord, as I afterwards learned) understood me very
well. He descended from the stage, and commanded that several ladders
should be applied to my sides; on which above a hundred of the
inhabitants mounted, and walked towards my mouth, laden with baskets
full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the king's
orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me.

I observed there was the flesh of several animals, but could not
distinguish them by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins,
shaped like those of mutton, and very well dressed, but smaller than the
wings of a lark. I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and took
three loaves at a time, about the bigness of musket bullets. They
supplied me as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and
astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign that I
wanted drink.

They found by my eating that a small quantity would not suffice me; and
being a most ingenious people, they slung up with great dexterity, one
of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out
the top: I drank it off at a draught; which I might well do, for it did
not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small[9] wine of Burgundy, but
much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in
the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me.

When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced
upon my breast, repeating, several times, as they did at first, _Hekinah
degul_. They made me a sign, that I should throw down the two hogsheads,
but first warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying
aloud, _Borach nevola_; and, when they saw the vessels in the air, there
was an universal shout of _Hekinah degul_.

I confess, I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards and
forwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came in
my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what
I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the
promise of honor I made them--for so I interpreted my submissive
behavior--soon drove out those imaginations. Besides, I now considered
myself as bound, by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated
me with so much expense and magnifice