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himself. So the Erewhonians take a flogging once a week,
and a diet of bread and water for two or three months to-
gether, whenever their straightener recommends it.
I do not suppose that even my host, on having swindled
a confiding widow out of the whole of her property, was put
to more actual suffering than a man will readily undergo at
the hands of an English doctor. And yet he must have had
a very bad time of it. The sounds I heard were sufficient to
show that his pain was exquisite, but he never shrank from
undergoing it. He was quite sure that it did him good; and I
think he was right. I cannot believe that that man will ever
embezzle money again. He may—but it will be a long time
before he does so.
During my confinement in prison, and on my journey, I
had already discovered a great deal of the above; but it still
seemed surpassingly strange, and I was in constant fear of
committing some piece of rudeness, through my inability
to look at things from the same stand-point as my neigh-
bours; but after a few weeks’ stay with the Nosnibors, I got
to understand things better, especially on having heard all
about my host’s illness, of which he told me fully and re-
peatedly.
It seemed that he had been on the Stock Exchange of
the city for many years and had amassed enormous wealth,
without exceeding the limits of what was generally con-
sidered justifiable, or at any rate, permissible dealing; but
at length on several occasions he had become aware of a
desire to make money by fraudulent representations, and
had actually dealt with two or three sums in a way which

10 Erewhon