roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xxv
no way to compare when less than two revisions
Differences
This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
— | roleplaying:munchausen:chapter_xxv [2005/11/22 18:03] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
+ | ====== TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN ====== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== CHAPTER XXV ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | //Count Gosamer thrown by Sphinx into the snow on the top of | ||
+ | Teneriffe--Gog and Magog conduct Sphinx for the rest of the voyage | ||
+ | --The Baron arrives at the Cape, and unites his former chariot, | ||
+ | &c., to his new retinue--Passes into Africa, proceeding from the | ||
+ | Cape northwards--Defeats a host of lions by a curious stratagem-- | ||
+ | Travels through an immense desert--His whole company, chariot, | ||
+ | &c., overwhelmed by a whirlwind of sand--Extricates them, and | ||
+ | arrives in a fertile country.// | ||
+ | |||
+ | The brave Count Gosamer, with a pair of hell-fire spurs on, riding | ||
+ | upon Sphinx, directed the whole retinue towards the Madeiras. But the | ||
+ | Count had no small share of an amiable vanity, and perceiving great | ||
+ | multitudes of people, Gascons, &c., assembled upon the French coast, | ||
+ | he could not refrain from showing some singular capers, such as they | ||
+ | had never seen before: but especially when he observed all the members | ||
+ | of the National Assembly extend themselves along the shore, as a piece | ||
+ | of French politeness, to honour this expedition, with Rousseau, | ||
+ | Voltaire, and Beelzebub at their head; he set spurs to Sphinx, and at | ||
+ | the same time cut and cracked away as hard as he could, holding in the | ||
+ | reins with all his might, striving to make the creature plunge and | ||
+ | show some uncommon diversion. But sulky and ill-tempered was Sphinx at | ||
+ | the time: she plunged indeed--such a devil of a plunge, that she | ||
+ | dashed him in one jerk over her head, and he fell precipitately into | ||
+ | the water before her. It was in the Bay of Biscay, all the world knows | ||
+ | a very boisterous sea, and Sphinx, fearing he would be drowned, never | ||
+ | turned to the left or the right out of her way, but advancing furious, | ||
+ | just stooped her head a little, and supped the poor count off the | ||
+ | water, into her mouth, together with the quantity of two or three tuns | ||
+ | of water, which she must have taken in along with him, but which were, | ||
+ | to such an enormous creature as Sphinx, nothing more than a spoonful | ||
+ | would be to any of you or me. She swallowed him, but when she had got | ||
+ | him in her stomach, his long spurs so scratched and tickled her, that | ||
+ | they produced the effect of an emetic. No sooner was he in, but out he | ||
+ | was squirted with the most horrible impetuosity, | ||
+ | shell from the calibre of a mortar. Sphinx was at this time quite sea- | ||
+ | sick, and the unfortunate count was driven forth like a sky-rocket, | ||
+ | and landed upon the peak of Teneriffe, plunged over head and ears in | ||
+ | the snow--// | ||
+ | |||
+ | I perceived all this mischief from my seat in the ark, but was in such | ||
+ | a convulsion of laughter that I could not utter an intelligible word. | ||
+ | And now Sphinx, deprived of her postillion, went on in a zigzag | ||
+ | direction, and gambolled away after a most dreadful manner. And thus | ||
+ | had everything gone to wreck, had I not given instant orders to Gog | ||
+ | and Magog to sally forth. They plunged into the water, and swimming on | ||
+ | each side, got at length right before the animal, and then seized the | ||
+ | reins. Thus they continued swimming on each side, like tritons, | ||
+ | holding the muzzle of Sphinx, while I, sallying forth astride upon the | ||
+ | creature' | ||
+ | Hope. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Arriving at the Cape, I immediately gave orders to repair my former | ||
+ | chariot and machines, which were very expeditiously performed by the | ||
+ | excellent artists I had brought with me from Europe. And now | ||
+ | everything being refitted, we launched forth upon the water: perhaps | ||
+ | there never was anything seen more glorious or more august. 'Twas | ||
+ | magnificent to behold Sphinx make her obeisance on the water, and the | ||
+ | crickets chirp upon the bulls in return of the salute; while Gog and | ||
+ | Magog, advancing, took the reins of the great John Mowmowsky, and | ||
+ | leading towards us chariot and all, instantly disposed of them to the | ||
+ | forepart of the ark by hooks and eyes, and tackled Sphinx before all | ||
+ | the bulls. Thus the whole had a most tremendous and triumphal | ||
+ | appearance. In front floated forwards the mighty Sphinx, with Gog and | ||
+ | Magog on each side; next followed in order the bulls with crickets | ||
+ | upon their heads; and then advanced the chariot of Queen Mab, | ||
+ | containing the curious seat and orrery of heaven; after which appeared | ||
+ | the boat and ark of council, overtopped with two balloons, which gave | ||
+ | an air of greater lightness and elegance to the whole. I placed in the | ||
+ | galleries under the balloons, and on the backs of the bulls, a number | ||
+ | of excellent vocal performers, with martial music of clarionets and | ||
+ | trumpets. They sung the " | ||
+ | Cerulean!" | ||
+ | advanced toward the land, under five hundred arches of ice, | ||
+ | illuminated with coloured lights, and adorned in the most grotesque | ||
+ | and fanciful style with sea-weed, elegant festoons, and shells of | ||
+ | every kind; while a thousand water-spouts danced eternally before and | ||
+ | after us, attracting the water from the sea in a kind of cone, and | ||
+ | suddenly uniting with the most fantastical thunder and lightning. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Having landed our whole retinue, we immediately began to proceed | ||
+ | toward the heart of Africa, but first thought it expedient to place a | ||
+ | number of wheels under the ark for its greater facility of advancing. | ||
+ | We journeyed nearly due north for several days, and met with nothing | ||
+ | remarkable except the astonishment of the savage natives to behold our | ||
+ | equipage. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The Dutch Government at the Cape, to do them justice, gave us every | ||
+ | possible assistance for the expedition. I presume they had received | ||
+ | instruction on that head from their High Mightinesses in Holland. | ||
+ | However, they presented us with a specimen of some of the most | ||
+ | excellent of their Cape wine, and showed us every politeness in their | ||
+ | power. As to the face of the country, as we advanced, it appeared in | ||
+ | many places capable of every cultivation, | ||
+ | The natives and Hottentots of this part of Africa have been frequently | ||
+ | described by travellers, and therefore it is not necessary to say any | ||
+ | more about them. But in the more interior parts of Africa the | ||
+ | appearance, manners, and genius of the people are totally different. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We directed our course by the compass and the stars, getting every day | ||
+ | prodigious quantities of game in the woods, and at night encamping | ||
+ | within a proper enclosure for fear of the wild beasts. One whole day | ||
+ | in particular we heard on every side, among the hills, the horrible | ||
+ | roaring of lions, resounding from rock to rock like broken thunder. It | ||
+ | seemed as if there was a general rendezvous of all these savage | ||
+ | animals to fall upon our party. That whole day we advanced with | ||
+ | caution, our hunters scarcely venturing beyond pistol shot from the | ||
+ | caravan for fear of dissolution. At night we encamped as usual, and | ||
+ | threw up a circular entrenchment round our tents. We had scarce | ||
+ | retired to repose when we found ourselves serenaded by at least one | ||
+ | thousand lions, approaching equally on every side, and within a | ||
+ | hundred paces. Our cattle showed the most horrible symptoms of fear, | ||
+ | all trembling, and in cold perspiration. I directly ordered the whole | ||
+ | company to stand to their arms, and not to make any noise by firing | ||
+ | till I should command them. I then took a large quantity of tar, which | ||
+ | I had brought with our caravan for that purpose, and strewed it in a | ||
+ | continued stream round the encampment, within which circle of tar I | ||
+ | immediately placed another train or circle of gunpowder, and having | ||
+ | taken this precaution, I anxiously waited the lions' approach. These | ||
+ | dreadful animals, knowing, I presume, the force of our troop, advanced | ||
+ | very slowly, and with caution, approaching on every side of us with an | ||
+ | equal pace, and growling in hideous concert, so as to resemble an | ||
+ | earthquake, or some similar convulsion of the world. When they had at | ||
+ | length advanced and steeped all their paws in the tar, they put their | ||
+ | noses to it, smelling it as if it were blood, and daubed their great | ||
+ | bushy hair and whiskers with it equal to their paws. At that very | ||
+ | instant, when, in concert, they were to give the mortal dart upon us, | ||
+ | I discharged a pistol at the train of gunpowder, which instantly | ||
+ | exploded on every side, made all the lions recoil in general uproar, | ||
+ | and take to flight with the utmost precipitation. In an instant we | ||
+ | could behold them scattered through the woods at some distance, | ||
+ | roaring in agony, and moving about like so many Will-o' | ||
+ | their paws and faces all on fire from the tar and the gun-powder. I | ||
+ | then ordered a general pursuit: we followed them on every side through | ||
+ | the woods, their own light serving as our guide, until, before the | ||
+ | rising of the sun, we followed into their fastnesses and shot or | ||
+ | otherwise destroyed every one of them, and during the whole of our | ||
+ | journey after we never heard the roaring of a lion, nor did any wild | ||
+ | beast presume to make another attack upon our party, which shows the | ||
+ | excellence of immediate presence of mind, and the terror inspired into | ||
+ | the savage enemies by a proper and well-timed proceeding. | ||
+ | |||
+ | We at length arrived on the confines of an immeasurable desert--an | ||
+ | immense plain, extending on every side of us like an ocean. Not a | ||
+ | tree, nor a shrub, nor a blade of grass was to be seen, but all | ||
+ | appeared an extreme fine sand, mixed with gold-dust and little | ||
+ | sparkling pearls. | ||
+ | |||
+ | The gold-dust and pearls appeared to us of little value, because we | ||
+ | could have no expectation of returning to England for a considerable | ||
+ | time. We observed, at a great distance, something like a smoke arising | ||
+ | just over the verge of the horizon, and looking with our telescopes we | ||
+ | perceived it to be a whirlwind tearing up the sand and tossing it | ||
+ | about in the heavens with frightful impetuosity. I immediately ordered | ||
+ | my company to erect a mound around us of a great size, which we did | ||
+ | with astonishing labour and perseverance, | ||
+ | certain planks and timber, which we had with us for the purpose. Our | ||
+ | labour was scarcely finished when the sand came rolling in like the | ||
+ | waves of the sea; 'twas a storm and river of sand united. It continued | ||
+ | to advance in the same direction, without intermission, | ||
+ | days, and completely covered over the mound we had erected, and buried | ||
+ | us all within. The intense heat of the place was intolerable; | ||
+ | guessing, by the cessation of the noise, that the storm was passed, we | ||
+ | set about digging a passage to the light of day again, which we | ||
+ | effected in a very short time, and ascending, perceived that the whole | ||
+ | had been so completely covered with the sand, that there appeared no | ||
+ | hills, but one continued plain, with inequalities or ridges on it like | ||
+ | the waves of the sea. We soon extricated our vehicle and retinue from | ||
+ | the burning sands, but not without great danger, as the heat was very | ||
+ | violent, and began to proceed on our voyage. Storms of sand of a | ||
+ | similar nature several times attacked us, but by using the same | ||
+ | precautions we preserved ourselves repeatedly from destruction. Having | ||
+ | travelled more than nine thousand miles over this inhospitable plain, | ||
+ | exposed to the perpendicular rays of a burning sun, without ever | ||
+ | meeting a rivulet, or a shower from heaven to refresh us, we at length | ||
+ | became almost desperate, when, to our inexpressible joy, we beheld | ||
+ | some mountains at a great distance, and on our nearer approach | ||
+ | observed them covered with a carpet of verdure and groves and woods. | ||
+ | Nothing could appear more romantic or beautiful than the rocks and | ||
+ | precipices intermingled with flowers and shrubs of every kind, and | ||
+ | palm-trees of such a prodigious size as to surpass anything ever seen | ||
+ | in Europe. Fruits of all kinds appeared growing wild in the utmost | ||
+ | abundance, and antelopes and sheep and buffaloes wandered about the | ||
+ | groves and valleys in profusion. The trees resounded with the melody | ||
+ | of birds, and everything displayed a general scene of rural happiness | ||
+ | and joy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ---- | ||
+ | Go to [[CHAPTER XXVI]] | ||
+ | |||
roleplaying/munchausen/chapter_xxv.txt · Last modified: 2005/11/22 18:03 by 127.0.0.1