Page 68 - erewhon

much curiosity.
The chief magistrate was a venerable-looking man, with
white hair and beard and a face of great sagacity. He looked
me all over for about five minutes, letting his eyes wander
from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, up and
down, and down and up; neither did his mind seem in the
least clearer when he had done looking than when he be-
gan. He at length asked me a single short question, which
I supposed meant ‘Who are you?’ I answered in English
quite composedly as though he would understand me, and
endeavoured to be my very most natural self as well as I
could. He appeared more and more puzzled, and then re-
tired, returning with two others much like himself. Then
they took me into an inner room, and the two fresh arrivals
stripped me, while the chief looked on. They felt my pulse,
they looked at my tongue, they listened at my chest, they
felt all my muscles; and at the end of each operation they
looked at the chief and nodded, and said something in a
tone quite pleasant, as though I were all right. They even
pulled down my eyelids, and looked, I suppose, to see if they
were bloodshot; but it was not so. At length they gave up;
and I think that all were satisfied of my being in the most
perfect health, and very robust to boot. At last the old mag-
istrate made me a speech of about five minutes long, which
the other two appeared to think greatly to the point, but
from which I gathered nothing. As soon as it was ended,
they proceeded to overhaul my swag and the contents of my
pockets. This gave me little uneasiness, for I had no money
with me, nor anything which they were at all likely to want,