Chapter 15 - Page 2

present, viz.,
forty. The substance of their labors was, to say that the vessel in
sight was a strange vessel; that it came to a strange country, on a
strange errand, being manned by strangers; and that its objects were
more likely to be peaceful than warlike, since the glasses of the
academy did not enable them to discover any means of annoyance, with
the exception of certain wild beasts, who appeared, however, to be
peaceably occupied in working the ship. All this was sententiously
expressed in the purest monikin language. The effect of the report
was, to cause all hostile preparations to be abandoned.

No sooner did the boat of the port-captain return to the shore with
the news that the strange ship had arrived with my Lord Chatterino,
my Lady Chatterissa and Dr. Reasono than there was a general burst
of joy along the strand. In a very short time the king--alias his
eldest first cousin of the male gender--ordered the usual
compliments to be paid to his distinguished subjects. A deputation
of young lords the hopes of Leaphigh came off to receive their
colleague; whilst a bevy of beautiful maidens of noble birth crowded
around the smiling and graceful Chatterissa, gladdening her heart
with their caressing manners and felicitations. The noble pair left
us in separate boats, each attended by an appropriate escort. We
overlooked the little neglect of forgetting to take leave of us, for
joy had quite set them both beside themselves. Next came a long
procession composed of high numbers, all of the "brown-study color."
These learned and dignified persons were a deputation from the
academy, which had sent forth no less than forty of its number to
receive Dr. Reasono. The meeting between these loving friends of
monikinity and of knowledge, was conducted on the most approved
principles of reason. Each section (there are forty in the academy
of Leaphigh) made an address, to all of which the Doctor returned
suitable replies, always using exactly the same sentiments, but
varying the subject by transpositions, as dictionaries are known to
be composed by the ingenious combinations of the twenty-six letters
of the alphabet. Dr. Reasono withdrew with his coadjutors, to my
surprise paying not a whit more attention to Captain Poke and
myself, than would be paid in any highly-civilized country of
Christendom, on a similar occasion, by a collection of the learned,
to the accidental presence of two monkeys. I thought this augured
badly, and began to feel as became Sir John Goldencalf, Bart., of
Householder Hall, in the kingdom of Great Britain, when my
sensations were nipped in the bud by the arrival of the officers of
registration and circulation. It was the duty of the latter to give
us the proper