and thereupon delivered to the emperor a letter of the following contents:
"We, Niels Klim, ambassador of the sun, emperor in Quama, king of Tanaqui, Arctonia, and Alectoria, and duke of Kispusianania, salute the emperor of Mezendore, Miklopolata. We humbly make known, that it is concluded in the unchangeable councils of heaven, that all the empires and kingdoms of the world must surrender themselves to the power of Quama; and as the will of providence is irrevocable, your kingdom must necessarily submit to fate. We therefore advise you to surrender voluntarily yourself and your dominions, rather than foolishly resist our invincible phalanx, and thereby experience all the bloody horrors of war.
"Given from our fleet, the third day in the month Rimat."
In a few days our ambassadors returned with a bold and haughty answer. I made a descent upon the coast, placed my army in battle array, and sent spies to examine the condition of the enemy. The spies came back in great haste, and related that an immense army, of sixty thousand in number, consisting of lions, tigers, elephants, bears and birds of prey, was drawing towards us. We were soon apprised of their near approach, by roars, shrieks and terrific cries, commingling a devilish tumult. The combat soon commenced, and truly, 'twas one of the hottest and most contumaceous, in which I ever engaged: at last we put them to flight.
In this engagement fell thirty-three thousand Mezendarians, and about four thousand were made prisoners. We followed our victory, and drew before the capital city; this we besieged both by land and sea. So energetic was our blockade, that the enemy quickly proposed a parley, and sent ambassadors to ask for peace on reasonable conditions. The emperor offered to me his daughter, the handsomest of the lionesses, in marriage, and the half of his empire as a dowry. These conditions, although very honorable, were very displeasing to me, for I considered it both unsafe and illicit to forsake my wife, whom I left behind in pregnancy, and marry a lioness. I therefore sent back the ambassadors without answer.
I now ordered my cannon to be directed against the wall, which, although built of stone, was soon rent. The emperor lost all hope and surrendered himself together with all his lands. After putting a garrison in the capital, I took the emperor on board my own ship, and laid my course for Martinia, the coast of which we reached after a long but fortunate voyage.
We obtained here the same success as elsewhere. When the Martinians submitted, I determined to include their neighbors under the same yoke. As I was preparing to effect this, ambassadors from four adjacent countries arrived, and voluntarily acknowledged allegiance to me. I now possessed so many kingdoms, that I did not deem it worth my trouble to ascertain the names of these; but included them all under the title of the Martinianic "dominion."
