It appears, moreover, that Cain and Abel lived in Central America, and that the mausoleum of Abel is still to be seen in Yucatan, with all the inscriptions complete. Somehow or other a migration to Egypt then took place, and the Sphinx was erected by Abel's widow as a monument to her murdered husband. All this has been discovered by M. le Plongeon; and, to confirm the truth of the story, Mr. W. T. Stead is to publish it, bound in buckram, of course. "Julia's" share in this discovery is not stated, but there can be no doubt that she must have been hovering round.
* * *
I am told that Cheshire cheese is in a bad way; that the price of it has fallen so much as to make the total disappearance of Cheshire cheese extremely likely. At the same time it is said that Cheshire cheese is going down because the farmers wilfully produce an inferior article. It may be so, though I hope it is not. But if it is, why delay the punishment? To produce inferior cheese is as bad as robbery with violence; and a dozen or so with a Cheshire cat ought to prove an effective deterrent to the most hardened offender.
TRAVELLER'S CONVERSATION BOOK.
(For English Tourists visiting Sebastopol.) I can assure you that I had no idea of treating Russia with disrespect. I was not born at the time of the Crimean War, and know nothing whatever of the battles of the Alma, Inkermann, and Balaclava. I really only require breakfast, and have no intention of sketching the walls of that fortress. I was asking the waiter to clean my boots, and not for information concerning the strength of the garrison. I was not aware that the place had been declared a naval port, and was therefore sacred from foreign invasion.
As a matter of fact, I was not searching for torpedoes, but only taking a sea bath.
I was as innocent in thought and intention as a baigneuse at Margate.
I am sorry that it has been necessary to confiscate my Gladstone bag, as it contains my linen and toilet requisites.