Page 91 - erewhon

mental and physical diseases, and they do it even here as
by an avowed legal fiction. I became uneasy when I remem-
bered about my watch; but they comforted me with the
assurance that transgression in this matter was now so un-
heard of, that the law could afford to be lenient towards an
utter stranger, especially towards one who had such a good
character (they meant physique), and such beautiful light
hair. Moreover the watch was a real curiosity, and would be
a welcome addition to the metropolitan collection; so they
did not think I need let it trouble me seriously.
I will write, however, more fully upon this subject when
I deal with the Colleges of Unreason, and the Book of the
Machines.
In about a month from the time of our starting I was
told that our journey was nearly over. The bandage was now
dispensed with, for it seemed impossible that I should ever
be able to find my way back without being captured. Then
we rolled merrily along through the streets of a handsome
town, and got on to a long, broad, and level road, with pop-
lar trees on either side. The road was raised slightly above
the surrounding country, and had formerly been a railway;
the fields on either side were in the highest conceivable
cultivation, but the harvest and also the vintage had been
already gathered. The weather had got cooler more rapidly
than could be quite accounted for by the progress of the
season; so I rather thought that we must have been mak-
ing away from the sun, and were some degrees farther from
the equator than when we started. Even here the vegeta-
tion showed that the climate was a hot one, yet there was

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