_Preparations for the Baron's expedition into Africa--Description of his
chariot; the beauties of its interior decorations; the animals that drew
it, and the mechanism of the wheels._
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.