CHAPTER XXII
Everything being concluded, and having received my instructions for
the voyage, I was conducted by the illustrious Hilaro Frosticos, the
Lady Fragrantia, and a prodigious crowd of nobility, and placed
sitting upon the summit of the whale's bones at the palace; and having
remained in this situation for three days and three nights, as a trial
ordeal, and a specimen of my perseverance and resolution, the third
hour after midnight they seated me in the chariot of Queen Mab. It was
a prodigious dimension, large enough to contain more stowage than the
tun of Heidelberg, and globular like a hazel-nut: in fact, it seemed
to be really a hazel-nut grown to a most extravagant dimension, and
that a great worm of proportionable enormity had bored a hole in the
shell. Through this same entrance I was ushered. It was as large as a
coach-door, and I took my seat in the centre, a kind of chair self-
balanced without touching anything, like the fancied tomb of Mahomet.
The whole interior surface of the nutshell appeared a luminous
representation of all the stars of heaven, the fixed stars, the
planets, and a comet. The stars were as large as those worn by our
first nobility, and the comet, excessively brilliant, seemed as if you
had assembled all the eyes of the beautiful girls in the kingdom, and
combined them, like a peacock's plumage, into the form of a comet--
that is, a globe, and a bearded tail to it, diminishing gradually to a
point. This beautiful constellation seemed very sportive and
delightful. It was much in the form of a tadpole! and, without
ceasing, went, full of playful giddiness, up and down, all over the
heaven on the concave surface of the nutshell. One time it would be at
that part of the heavens under my feet, and in the next minute would
be over my head. It was never at rest, but for ever going east, west,
north, or south, and paid no more respect to the different worlds than
if they were so many lanterns without reflectors. Some of them he
would dash against and push out of their places; others he would burn
up and consume to ashes: and others again he would split into
fritters, and their fragments would instantly take a globular form,
like spilled quicksilver, and become satellites to whatever other
worlds they should happen to meet with in their career. In short, the
whole seemed an epitome of the creation, past, present, and future;
and all that passes among the stars during one thousand years was here
generally performed in as many seconds.
I surveyed all the beauties of the chariot with wonder and delight.
"Certainly," cried I, "this is heaven in miniature!" In short, I took
the reins in my hand. But before I proceed on my adventures, I shall
mention the rest of my attendant furniture. The chariot was drawn by a
team of nine bulls harnessed to it, three after three. In the first
rank was a most tremendous bull named John Mowmowsky; the rest were
called Jacks in general, but not dignified by any particular
denomination. They were all shod for the journey, not indeed like
horses, with iron, or as bullocks commonly are, to drag on a cart; but
were shod with men's skulls. Each of their feet was, hoof and all,
crammed into a man's head, cut off for the purpose, and fastened
therein with a kind of cement or paste, so that the skull seemed to be
a part of the foot and hoof of the animal. With these skull-shoes the
creatures could perform astonishing journeys, and slide upon the
water, or upon the ocean, with great velocity. The harnesses were
fastened with golden buckles, and decked with studs in a superb style,
and the creatures were ridden by nine postillions, crickets of a great
size, as large as monkeys, who sat squat upon the heads of the bulls,
and were continually chirping at a most infernal rate, loud in
proportion to their bodies.
The wheels of the chariot consisted of upwards of ten thousand
springs, formed so as to give the greater impetuosity to the vehicle,
and were more complex than a dozen clocks like that of Strasburgh. The
external of the chariot was adorned with banners, and a superb festoon
of laurel that formerly shaded me on horseback. And now, having given
you a very concise description of my machine for travelling into
Africa, which you must allow to be far superior to the apparatus of
Monsieur Vaillant, I shall proceed to relate the exploits of my
voyage.
