The Last American | Page 7

and women walking arm in arm, the women in rich attire of
unfamiliar fashion and sparkling with precious stones. The men were
clad like the servants.
They ate and drank and laughed, and formed a brilliant scene.
Lev-el-Hedyd rose to his feet, and moved by a curiosity he made no

effort to resist,--for he is a reckless fellow and knows no fear--he
hobbled out into the room.
They looked upon him in surprise, and seemed much amused at his
presence. One of the guests, a tall youth with yellow mustaches,
approached him, offering a delicate crystal vessel filled with a
sparkling fluid.
Lev-el-Hedyd took it.
The youth raised another from the table and with a slight gesture as if
in salutation, he said in words which my comrade understood, though
he swears it was a language unknown to him,
"We may meet again the fourth of next month."
He then drank the wine, and so did Lev-el-Hedyd.
Hereupon the others smiled as if at their comrade's wit, all save the
women, whose tender faces spoke more of pity than of mirth. The wine
flew to his brain as he drank it, and things about him seemed to reel and
spin. Strains of fantastic music burst upon his ears: then, all in rhythm,
the women joined their partners and whirled about him with a
lightsome step. And, moving with it, his throbbing brain seemed
dancing from his head. The room itself, a ll swaying and quivering with
the melody, grew dim and stole from view. The music softly died
away.
Again was silence, the moon above looking calmly down upon the
ivied walls.
He fell like a drunken man upon the floor, and did not wake till our
voices called him.
Such his tale.
He has a clear head and is no liar, but so many grapes upon an empty
stomach with the fever from his swollen limb might well explain it.
* * * * *
Bear's meat for dinner.
This morning toward noon Kuzundam, the second officer, wandered on
ahead of us, and entered a large building in pursuit of a rabbit. He was
about descending to the basement below, when he saw, close before
him, a bear leisurely mounting the marble stairs. Kuzundam is no
coward, but he turned and ran as he never ran before. The bear, who
seemed of a sportive nature, also ran, and in close pursuit. Luckily for
my friend we happened to be near, otherwise instead of our eating

bear's meat, the bear might have lunched quietly off Kuzundam in the
shady corridors of the "FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL."

17th May

To-day a scorching heat that burns the lungs. We started in the morning
prepared to spend the night ashore, and explore the northern end of the
city. It was a pleasant walk through the soft grass of the shady streets,
but in those places unsheltered from the sun we were as fish upon a
frying-pan. Other dwellings we saw, even larger and more imposing
than the one we entered yesterday. We were tempted to explore them,
but Lev-el-Hedyd wisely dissuaded us, saying the day was waxing
hotter each hour and it could be done on our return.
In the northern part of the town are many religious temples, with their
tall towers like slender pyramids, tapering to a point. They are curious
things, and surprisingly well preserved. The interiors of these temples
are uninteresting. Nofuhl says the religious rites of the Mehrikans were
devoid of character. There were many religious beliefs, all complicated
and insignificant variations one from another, each sect having its own
temples and refusing to believe as the others. This is amusing to a
Persian, but mayhap was a serious matter with them. One day in each
week they assembled, the priests reading long moral lectures written by
themselves, with music by hired singers. They then separated, taking
no thought of temple or priest for another seven days. Nofuhl says they
were not a religious people. That the temples were filled mostly with
women.
In the afternoon we found it necessary to traverse a vast
pleasure-ground, now a wild forest, but with traces still visible of broad
promenades and winding drive-ways. (Olbaldeh thinks this must be the
Centralpahk sometimes alluded to in Mehrikan literature.) There
remains an avenue of bronze statues, most of them yet upright and in
good condition, but very comic. Lev-el-Hedyd and I still think them
caricatures, but Nofuhl is positive they were serious efforts, and says
the Mehrikans were easily pleased in matters of art.
We lost our way in this park, having nothing to guide us as in the
streets of the city. This was most happy, as otherwise we should have
missed a surprising discovery.

It occurred in this wise.
Being somewhat overcome by the