Page 70 - erewhon

ey for having led me so much astray; but I soon discovered
that I had misinterpreted the expression on the magistrate’s
face, and that it was one not of fear, but hatred. He spoke
to me solemnly and sternly for two or three minutes. Then,
reflecting that this was of no use, he caused me to be con-
ducted through several passages into a large room, which I
afterwards found was the museum of the town, and where-
in I beheld a sight which astonished me more than anything
that I had yet seen.
It was filled with cases containing all manner of curiosi-
ties—such as skeletons, stuffed birds and animals, carvings
in stone (whereof I saw several that were like those on the
saddle, only smaller), but the greater part of the room was
occupied by broken machinery of all descriptions. The larg-
er specimens had a case to themselves, and tickets with
writing on them in a character which I could not under-
stand. There were fragments of steam engines, all broken
and rusted; among them I saw a cylinder and piston, a bro-
ken fly-wheel, and part of a crank, which was laid on the
ground by their side. Again, there was a very old carriage
whose wheels in spite of rust and decay, I could see, had
been designed originally for iron rails. Indeed, there were
fragments of a great many of our own most advanced in-
ventions; but they seemed all to be several hundred years
old, and to be placed where they were, not for instruction,
but curiosity. As I said before, all were marred and broken.
We passed many cases, and at last came to one in which
there were several clocks and two or three old watches.
Here the magistrate stopped, and opening the case began