402 TEAVEL, ADVENTUEE, AND SPOET. 



sistent with the nature of his transgression ; second- 

 ly, a commission was appointed for the examination 

 of the spurious wares. The articles that had been 

 bought were produced one after the other, their 

 quality and value investigated, and then they were 

 either condemned and thrown overboard, or their 

 sale was confirmed. The tea and coffee pots were 

 almost, without exception, pronounced worthless ; for 

 although well enough calculated for a long voyage on 

 the Mississippi, they could never have been meant to 

 hold boiling Mississippi water. The wonderful Pal- 

 myra salve proved to be neither more nor less than 

 a compound of hog's lard and gunpowder, with the 

 juice of tobacco and walnut leaves a mixture that 

 might perhaps have been useful for the destruction of 

 vermin, but the efficacy of which as an antidote to 

 freckles and lockjaw was at least problematical. The 

 teapots, the ointment, and some spices, amongst which 

 wooden nutmegs cut an important figure, were duly con- 

 signed to the keeping of the Mississippi kelpies ; while 

 the dollars that had been paid for them were retrans- 

 ferred from the pockets of the Yankee to those of 

 the credulous purchasers. Finally, Mr Bundle him- 

 self, in consideration of the truly republican stoic- 

 ism with which he witnessed the execution of the 

 judgment pronounced on his wares, was invited with 

 much ceremony to regale himself with a "go-the- 

 whole-hog-cocktail," an honour which he accepted 

 and replied to in a set speech, at the conclusion of 



