The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen
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CHAPTER XXII
_Preparations for the Baron's expedition into Africa--Description of hischariot; the beauties of its interior decorations; the animals that drewit, and the mechanism of the wheels._
Everything being concluded, and having received my instructions for thevoyage, I was conducted by the illustrious Hilaro Frosticos, the LadyFragrantia, and a prodigious crowd of nobility, and placed sitting uponthe summit of the whale's bones at the palace; and having remained inthis situation for three days and three nights, as a trial ordeal, anda specimen of my perseverance and resolution, the third hour aftermidnight they seated me in the chariot of Queen Mab. It was a prodigiousdimension, large enough to contain more stowage than the tun ofHeidelberg, and globular like a hazel-nut: in fact, it seemed to bereally a hazel-nut grown to a most extravagant dimension, and that agreat worm of proportionable enormity had bored a hole in the shell.Through this same entrance I was ushered. It was as large as acoach-door, and I took my seat in the centre, a kind of chairself-balanced without touching anything, like the fancied tomb ofMahomet. The whole interior surface of the nutshell appeared a luminousrepresentation of all the stars of heaven, the fixed stars, theplanets, and a comet. The stars were as large as those worn by our firstnobility, and the comet, excessively brilliant, seemed as if you hadassembled all the eyes of the beautiful girls in the kingdom, andcombined them, like a peacock's plumage, into the form of a comet--thatis, a globe, and a bearded tail to it, diminishing gradually to a point.This beautiful constellation seemed very sportive and delightful. Itwas much in the form of a tadpole! and, without ceasing, went, fullof playful giddiness, up and down, all over the heaven on the concavesurface of the nutshell. One time it would be at that part of theheavens under my feet, and in the next minute would be over my head. Itwas never at rest, but for ever going east, west, north, or south, andpaid no more respect to the different worlds than if they were so manylanterns without reflectors. Some of them he would dash against and pushout of their places; others he would burn up and consume to ashes: andothers again he would split into fritters, and their fragments wouldinstantly take a globular form, like spilled quicksilver, and becomesatellites to whatever other worlds they should happen to meet with intheir career. In short, the whole seemed an epitome of the creation,past, present, and future; and all that passes among the stars duringone 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 tookthe reins in my hand. But before I proceed on my adventures, I shallmention the rest of my attendant furniture. The chariot was drawn by ateam of nine bulls harnessed to it, three after three. In the first rankwas a most tremendous bull named John Mowmowsky; the rest were calledJacks in general, but not dignified by any particular denomination. Theywere all shod for the journey, not indeed like horses, with iron, oras bullocks commonly are, to drag on a cart; but were shod with men'sskulls. 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 orpaste, so that the skull seemed to be a part of the foot and hoof of theanimal. With these skull-shoes the creatures could perform astonishingjourneys, and slide upon the water, or upon the ocean, with greatvelocity. The harnesses were fastened with golden buckles, and deckedwith studs in a superb style, and the creatures were ridden by ninepostillions, crickets of a great size, as large as monkeys, who satsquat upon the heads of the bulls, and were continually chirping at amost 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 weremore complex than a dozen clocks like that of Strasburgh. The externalof the chariot was adorned with banners, and a superb festoon of laurelthat formerly shaded me on horseback. And now, having given you a veryconcise description of my machine for travelling into Africa, which youmust allow to be far superior to the apparatus of Monsieur Vaillant, Ishall proceed to relate the exploits of my voyage.