124 CAPTAIN CART WRIGHT'S 



it a natural production) tliey were quite lost in 

 amazement. The people below, they compared to 

 mice; and insisted, that it must at least be as high 

 as Cape Charles, which is a mountain of consid- 

 erable altitude. Upon my asking them how they 

 should describe it to their countrymen on their 

 return, they replied, with a look of the utmost 

 expression, they should neither mention it, nor 

 many other things which they had seen, lest they 

 should be called liars, from the seeming impos- 

 sibility of such astonishing facts. 



Walking along Piccadilly one day with the two 

 men, I took them into a shop to shew them a col- 

 lection of animals. We had no sooner entered 

 than I observed their attention riveted on a small 

 monkey; and I could perceive horror most 

 strongly depicted in their countenances. At 

 length the old man turned to me and faltered 

 out, '* Is that an Esquimau? " I must confess, 

 that both the colour and contour of the counte- 

 nance had considerable resemblance to the people 

 of their nation; but how they could conceive it 

 possible for an Esquimau to be reduced to that 

 diminutive size, I am wholly at a loss to account 

 for; unless they had fixed their attention on the 

 countenance only, and had not adverted to any 

 other particulars. On pointing out several other 

 monkeys of different kinds, they were greatly 

 diverted at the mistake which they had made; 

 but were not well pleased to observe, that mon- 

 keys resembled their race much more than ours. 



The parrots, and other talkative birds, next at- 



