"The people above-ground are exceedingly pious, and extraordinarily zealous in praying. Their prayers, however, do not arise from the impulses and emotions of their hearts; but are subdued to mere matters of form, directed by bells, clocks or sun-dials. Their devotion is entirely mechanical, founded on external signs and old customs rather than in sincere feeling.
"When I came to Italy, I fancied myself master over the whole country; for every one called himself my slave. I took a notion to test the extent of this humble obedience, and commanded my landlord to lend me his wife for a night; he became very angry, however, at this, and ordered me out of his house.
"In the north, there are many people who seek with great pains to obtain titles of offices which they do not hold; and many lose their reason in their eagerness to be on the right side. Furthermore,"
Here I lost my patience. Inflamed to the utmost fury, I threw the book on the ground, and assured Tomopoloko, who was by me, that it was the fiction of an unjust and choleric writer. When my first passion was cooled, I reviewed my sentence, and finally concluded that the author of these travels, although unfair and untrue in many particulars, had nevertheless made some good points and happy reflections.
I will now return to civil affairs. All our neighbors had kept very quiet for a long period, and during this peace I made every effort to constitute the government according to my own notions, and strengthen the army in numbers and efficiency.
Suddenly, we received information that three warlike and formidable nations, namely, the Arctonians, Kispusiananians and Alectorians, had united against the Quamites. The first named were bears gifted with reason and speech. The Kispusiananians were a nation of large cats celebrated for their cunning and ferocity. The Alectorians were cocks, armed with bows and arrows. These arrows with poisoned tips, were cast with wonderful precision, and their least touch was fatal.
These three nations had been irritated by the uncommon progress of the Quamites as well as by the fall of the Tanaquites. The allied powers sent ambassadors to Quama, to demand the liberty of the imprisoned Tanaquitians and the cession of their land, with power to declare war should the same be denied. By my advice, they were immediately dismissed with the following answer: "Since the Tanaquitians, violators of peace and alliance, have deserved the misery which they have brought upon themselves by their own folly and pride, his majesty, the emperor, is determined to defend, to the utmost, the possessions of a land, conquered in a lawful war, in spite of the threats and fearless of the strength of your unnatural alliance."
In a short time I had an army of forty thousand men ready for the coming war: among these were eight thousand horsemen and two thousand riflemen. The emperor, old as he was, determined to follow this campaign; his eagerness and ambition were so great, that neither his wife's representations nor mine were effective enough to induce him to abandon this intention.
In this state of affairs, I was made somewhat uneasy from mistrust of the Tanaquitians. I feared that, impatient of their unaccustomed slavery, they would take the first opportunity to throw off their yoke, and go over to the enemy. I did not deceive myself; for immediately after the declaration of war, we heard that full twelve thousand Tanaquitians in complete armor, had marched for the enemy's encampment. Thus were we occupied at once with four mighty foes.