roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xxiii
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+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XXIII ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | //The Baron proceeds on his voyage--Convoys a squadron to Gibraltar | ||
+ | --Declines the acceptance of the island of Candia--His chariot | ||
+ | damaged by Pompey' | ||
+ | does Alexander--Breaks his chariot, and splits a great rock at the | ||
+ | Cape of Good Hope.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | Taking the reins in my hand, while the music gave a general salute, I | ||
+ | cracked my whip, away they went, and in three hours I found myself | ||
+ | just between the Isle of Wight and the main land of England. Here I | ||
+ | remained four days, until I had received part of my accompaniment, | ||
+ | which I was ordered to take under my convoy. 'Twas a squadron of men- | ||
+ | of-war that had been a long time prepared for the Baltic, but which | ||
+ | were now destined for the Mediterranean. By the assistance of large | ||
+ | hooks and eyes, exactly such as are worn in our hats, but of a greater | ||
+ | size, some hundredweight each, the men-of-war hooked themselves on to | ||
+ | the wheels of the vehicle: and, in fact, nothing could be more simple | ||
+ | or convenient, because they could be hooked or unhooked in an instant | ||
+ | with the utmost facility. In short, having given a general discharge | ||
+ | of their artillery, and three cheers, I cracked my whip, away we went, | ||
+ | helter skelter, and in six jiffies I found myself and all my retinue | ||
+ | safe and in good spirits just at the rock of Gibraltar. Here I | ||
+ | unhooked my squadron, and having taken an affectionate leave of the | ||
+ | officers, I suffered them to proceed in their ordinary manner to the | ||
+ | place of their destination. The whole garrison were highly delighted | ||
+ | with the novelty of my vehicle; and at the pressing solicitations of | ||
+ | the governor and officers I went ashore, and took a view of that | ||
+ | barren old rock, about which more powder has been fired away than | ||
+ | would purchase twice as much fertile ground in any part of the world! | ||
+ | Mounting my chariot, I took the reins, and again made forward, in mad | ||
+ | career, down the Mediterranean to the isle of Candia. Here I received | ||
+ | despatches from the Sublime Porte, entreating me to assist in the war | ||
+ | against Russia, with a reward of the whole island of Candia for my | ||
+ | alliance. At first I hesitated, thinking that the island of Candia | ||
+ | would be a most valuable acquisition to the sovereign who at that time | ||
+ | employed me, and that the most delicious wines, sugar, &c., in | ||
+ | abundance would flourish on the island; yet, when I considered the | ||
+ | trade of the East India Company, which would most probably suffer by | ||
+ | the intercourse with Persia through the Mediterranean, | ||
+ | rejected the proposal, and had afterwards the thanks of the Honourable | ||
+ | the House of Commons for my propriety and political discernment. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having been properly refreshed at Candia, I again proceeded, and in a | ||
+ | short time arrived in the land of Egypt. The land of this country, at | ||
+ | least that part of it near the sea, is very low, so that I came upon | ||
+ | it ere I was aware, and the Pillar of Pompey got entangled in the | ||
+ | various wheels of the machine, and damaged the whole considerably. | ||
+ | Still I drove on through thick and thin, till, passing over that great | ||
+ | obelisk, the Needle of Cleopatra, the work got entangled again, and | ||
+ | jolted at a miserable rate over the mud and swampy ground of all that | ||
+ | country; yet my poor bulls trotted on with astonishing labour across | ||
+ | the Isthmus of Suez into the Red Sea, and left a track, an obscure | ||
+ | channel, which has since been taken by De Tott for the remains of a | ||
+ | canal cut by some of the Ptolemies from the Red Sea to the | ||
+ | Mediterranean; | ||
+ | track of my chariot, the car of Queen Mab. | ||
+ | |||
+ | As the artists at present in that country are nothing wonderful, | ||
+ | though the ancient Egyptians, 'tis said, were most astonishing | ||
+ | fellows, I could not procure any new coach-springs, | ||
+ | possibility of setting my machine to rights in the kingdom of Egypt; | ||
+ | and as I could not presume to attempt another journey overland, and | ||
+ | the great mountains of marble beyond the source of the Nile, I thought | ||
+ | it most eligible to make the best way I could, by sea, to the Cape of | ||
+ | Good Hope, where I supposed I should get some Dutch smiths and | ||
+ | carpenters, or perhaps some English artists; and my vehicle being | ||
+ | properly repaired, it was my intention thence to proceed, overland, | ||
+ | through the heart of Africa. The surface of the water, I well knew, | ||
+ | afforded less resistance to the wheels of the machine--it passed along | ||
+ | the waves like the chariot of Neptune; and in short, having gotten | ||
+ | upon the Red Sea, we scudded away to admiration through the pass of | ||
+ | Babelmandeb to the great Western coast of Africa, where Alexander had | ||
+ | not the courage to venture. | ||
+ | |||
+ | And really, my friends, if Alexander had ventured toward the Cape of | ||
+ | Good Hope he most probably would have never returned. It is difficult | ||
+ | to determine whether there were then any inhabitants in the more | ||
+ | southern parts of Africa or not; yet, at any rate, this conqueror of | ||
+ | the world would have made but a nonsensical adventure; his miserable | ||
+ | ships, not contrived for a long voyage, would have become leaky, and | ||
+ | foundered, before he could have doubled the Cape, and left his Majesty | ||
+ | fairly beyond the limits of the then known world. Yet it would have | ||
+ | been an august exit for an Alexander, after having subdued Persia and | ||
+ | India, to be wandering the Lord knows where, to Jup or Ammon, perhaps, | ||
+ | or on a voyage to the moon, as an Indian chief once said to Captain | ||
+ | Cook. | ||
+ | |||
+ | But, for my part, I was far more successful than Alexander; I drove on | ||
+ | with the most amazing rapidity, and thinking to halt on shore at the | ||
+ | Cape, I unfortunately drove too close, and shattered the right side | ||
+ | wheels of my vehicle against the rock, now called the Table Mountain. | ||
+ | The machine went against it with such impetuosity as completely | ||
+ | shivered the rock in a horizontal direction; so that the summit of the | ||
+ | mountain, in the form of a semi-sphere, | ||
+ | the steep mountain becoming thereby flattened at the top, has since | ||
+ | received the name of the Table Mountain, from its similarity to that | ||
+ | piece of furniture. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Just as this part of the mountain was knocked off, the ghost of the | ||
+ | Cape, that tremendous sprite which cuts such a figure in the Lusiad, | ||
+ | was discovered sitting squat in an excavation formed for him in the | ||
+ | centre of the mountain. He seemed just like a young bee in his little | ||
+ | cell before he comes forth, or like a bean in a bean-pod; and when the | ||
+ | upper part of the mountain was split across and knocked off, the | ||
+ | superior half of his person was discovered. He appeared of a bottle- | ||
+ | blue colour, and started, dazzled with the unexpected glare of the | ||
+ | light: hearing the dreadful rattle of the wheels, and the loud | ||
+ | chirping of the crickets, he was thunder-struck, | ||
+ | a shriek, sunk down ten thousand fathoms into the earth, while the | ||
+ | mountain, vomiting out some smoke, silently closed up, and left not a | ||
+ | trace behind! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XXIV]] | ||
+ | |||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xxiii.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 18:00 by 127.0.0.1