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They are filthy beasts that love to stand and wallow in the mire, and they do not in the least resemble those unicorns which are said to be found in some other parts of the world, which allow themselves to be taken by maids . In this country, there are many apes of different kinds, some of them, being black with faces like men, which they put into boxes, preserved with spices; these they sell to merchants, who carry them to various parts of the world, and pass them for pigmies or little men.

The Dutch pushed their new commerce with great vigour and zeal. In the year 1600 eight ships entered their ports laden with cinnamon, pepper, cloves, nutmegs, and mace: the pepper they obtained at Java, the other spices at the Moluccas, where they were permitted by the natives, who had driven out the Portuguese, to establish factories.

Here is a tiny steam-tug panting and toiling in front of a majestic three-master with her great black hulk towering out of the water and her masts shooting up until the topmast rigging looks like the delicate web of some Titanic spider. She is from Canton, with tea, and coffee, and spices, and all good things from the land of small feet and almond eyes.

Then Peter and John ran, and John the loving ran faster than Peter the believing, and was the first to reach the tomb. The other women also had gone to the tomb early bearing their spices for the embalming, wondering on the way who should roll away for them the great stone that stood at the door of the tomb.

Heat slowly and boil until tender, then remove them with a perforated skimmer, and spread upon dishes to cool. Skim the boiling syrup and boil fifteen minutes longer. Put the pears in glass jars or a large earthen jar, the former being preferable, and pour the syrup and spices boiling hot over the fruit. When cold seal. Let these stand together overnight.

Here the violent spices of the woolly milk mushroom disappear; the flesh has a pleasant taste when eaten raw. No matter: the vermin devour the mild milk mushroom with the same zest with which they devour the horribly peppered one. To them the delicate and the strong, the insipid and the peppery are all alike.

Taking in a supply of wood and water, the squadron sailed the same evening to the south, where the Admiral expected to discover Cipango. As the Indians told him there were upwards of a hundred islands in the neighbourhood, he was confirmed in his belief that they must be those described by Marco Polo, abounding with gold, silver, drugs, and spices.

On each side of the great building, in the aisles and wings, among the polished pillars of marble thronged the serving-men, bearing ever fresh spices and flowers and fruits, wherewith to deck the feast, whispering together in a dozen Indian, Persian and Egyptian dialects, or in the rich speech of those nobler captives whose pale faces and eagle eyes stood forth everywhere in strong contrast with the coarser features and duskier skins of their fellows in servitude, the race not born to dominate, but born to endure even to the end.

They have wine and spices and fair bread; and we oat-cake and straw, and water to drink. They have leisure and fine houses; we have pain and labour, the rain and the wind in the fields. And yet it is of us and of our toil that these men hold their state." It was the tyranny of property that then as ever roused the defiance of socialism.

The letter has its practical side; the requisitions are made with good sense and a grasp of the economic situation; but they have a deeper significance than that. Columbus fills his Sovereigns' ears with this clamour so that he shall not hear those embarrassing questions that will inevitably be asked about the gold and the spices.