Surui having furnished me with a good chart of the internal seas, as far as Token Island, I determined to put to sea immediately, and proceed to that island, where I could employ my people in collecting tortoise-shell, until the sun should attain sufficient south declination to light our way back to Seaborn’s Land. I accordingly called a council of officers, and laid before them the state of affairs, as far as I saw fit to disclose them, and the alternatives which were open to our selection.
In the first place, we might be able to find Belzubia, if we went in search of it, and if the people of that country retained their ancient habits, there would be no difficulty in opening a trade with them. On the other hand, if they continued to be a warlike and unjust people, they might have power and inclination to take our vessel, and subject us all to slavery.
In the second place, Mr. Boneto’s party would undoubtedly have a full cargo of seal skins ready for us against our return to Seaborn’s Land, which would give us all money enough to make us comfortable at home; and it must not be forgotten that if we should go in search of Belzubia and be lost, Boneto and all his party must perish, and be lost to their country.
On the whole, I was willing to consider the discoveries I had made sufficient for one voyage, and to leave Belzubia for a subsequent expedition.
Slim’s eyes glistened when I described the heaps of pearls I had seen, and he immediately proposed that we should possess ourselves of them by force, having no doubt that, with our fire arms, we should be able to contend with any number of these delicate little beings, and thinking it of no manner of importance how many of them we might destroy, provided we got the pearls. But when I described to him their engines of defence, before which an army would disappear like a nest of caterpillars subjected to the flames of burning straw, his eyeballs swelled with fright, and he was anxious to put to sea with all practicable haste.
Albicore endeavoured to account for the circumstance of the oysters sent on board having all been opened, and the soft part taken off by the Symzonians, by supposing that they did it to preserve the pearls for their own use; but it appeared to me to have been done because the impure part is not considered by them fit for food.
On the 13th of August, we put to sea. Surui accompanied us until we were quite out of sight of land, with a vessel in company to take him back. On parting with this excellent Symzonian, I presented him with a handsome gold watch, and a number of instruments and useful articles. He exhorted me to improve the instruction I had received while in his country, and to endeavour to imitate the morals and habits of the internals, as the only course by which I could advance my own happiness, and render myself better, and more capable of promoting the real welfare of my fellow-mortals. He also earnestly entreated me to warn my countrymen not to approach the coasts of Symzonia in expectation of being allowed any intercourse or traffic, whilst they remained besotted in vice and iniquity, the Best Man in council having decided, out of regard to the purity of the nation, that the engines of defence should be used to prevent such contamination.
We found no difficulty in making our passage to Token Island in twenty-one days, Surui having given me a particular account of the prevailing winds and currents, and the course to take to reach that island with the greatest expedition.
Here it may be well to explain the cause of the astonishing velocity of the Symzonian vessels, which enabled the one we had seen on approaching the coast to avoid us so easily. It appears that the Symzonians, in ancient times, apprehensive that the Belzubians might send armed ships to the coast to capture their vessels and carry away their people, devised a plan for accelerating their motion, by means of a number of tubes which perforated the after part of the vessel under water, through which air was forced with extreme violence by the agency of a curious engine, of which I could not obtain a particular description. This rush of air against the water forces the vessel forward with amazing rapidity. Every vessel going far from the coast must be furnished with one of these engines, but they are used only on emergencies.
The wreck of the vessel I had seen on Token Island was not of Symzonian construction, and the metal with which it was fastened was unknown in that country. It was the opinion of the Wise men that it must have been of Belzubian origin, for that people sometimes extended their voyages to Token Island to obtain turtles, which they eat.