an amalgamation of unhappiness which is
altogether intolerable.

Yes, were this arrangement once carried out,
a great portion of the trouble and annoyance
inseparable from a journey to the other side of the
Channel would be removed. With this magic
seal upon his luggage, and his bunch of keys
reposing in peace within the recesses of his
pocket, the traveller would be able better to
support all the different troubles which locomotive
flesh is heir to. "It is true," he would
say to himself, "that I am very sick, or very
hot, or very cold; I am utterly exhausted and
worn out; I have been cheated by the cabmen;
I have been subjected to extortion by
commissionnaires; my hands are black, so is my face,
so is my linen; I shall never feel fresh or wholesome,
nor will my clothes ever feel easy on me,
again; I am swollen and distorted; my wife is
by no means the good-looking person I imagined
her to be yesterday; my children are stained,
and damp, and common; and Eliza, my servant,
is passing through a country that is new to her,
and is not taking the slightest interest in
anything, and wears a look of injury that is fast
maddening me—yes, all these things are so, and
I feel that they always will be so, and I am very
unhappy and uncomfortable indeed, but, thank
goodness—yes, a thousand and a million times
thank goodness— that my bulgy portmanteau,
which can only be locked by putting it into a
corner and kneeling upon it, and the children's
bath, and Eliza's corded box, have not got to
pass through a Douanier's examination, for upon
all these things the government stamp has been
impressed, and THE CUSTOM-HOUSE SEARCH IS
OVER.

THE KING OF THE PIGEONS.

ON the banks of the Bhagiratha there is a
city called Patatipulta, and in it there dwelt a
king endowed with every princely virtue; his
name was Sudarsana. He had two sons, but
they were inattentive to learning, and unread in
the sacred books, and ever following wrong
courses.

One day he heard some one recite the following
verses: "The resolver of many doubts, the
exhibition of many objects, the eye of all— is
learning: he who hath it not is blind." The
king thereupon made many reflections, and
inquired of himself how his sons might be made
accomplished.

Having come to the end of his reflections, he
called an assembly of learned men, and said:

"O pundits, be it heard: is any now so
learned who is able, by instruction in books of
policy, to effect the new birth of my sons, ever
following wrong courses, and unread in the
learned writings?"

Upon this, a great pundit named Vishnu
Sarman said:

"O king, these princes, sprung from a great
family, are capable of being made to understand
policy by me; any labour bestowed upon a
worthless thing cannot be productive of fruit:
even by a hundred efforts a crane cannot be
made to talk like a parrot. But in this family,
offspring without virtuous principle is never
born. In the period of six months, therefore,
I will make your majesty's sons versed in
policy."

To this the rajah replied courteously and with
much deference, after which he gave his sons in
charge to Vishnu Barman, who, as the princes
sat at ease on the terrace of the palace, said
pleasantly:

"For the amusement of your highnesses I
will relate a story."

The sons of the rajah said,

"Sir, let it be told."

Vishnu Sarinan said,

"Attend now:

"ACQUISITION OF FRIENDS.

"Those without means and without wealth,
if wise and very friendly, speedily effect their
purpose.

"On the banks of the Godavery there stood a
silk-cotton-tree, where birds from all quarters
and countries roost for the night.

"Now once upon a time, night being ended,
as the divinity the moon, the friend of the
lotuses, was reclining on the summit of the western
mountains, where a crow named Light-Falling,
being awake, espied a fowler, snare in hand,
approaching, like a second angel of death.
Afterwards, the fowler having scattered grains
of rice, spread a net, and ran and concealed
himself.

"At that moment the King of the Pigeons,
called Speckled-Neck, with his retinue gliding
in the air, noticed these grains of rice. He said
to the other pigeons, who were greedy of the
grains:

"'This is a lonely forest: how do the grains
of rice come here? Let it be seen into a little.
I do not regard this as fortunate; if we are
greedy of the grains of rice, we may become like
the Traveller, and the Tiger, and the Golden
Bracelet.'

"'What was that?' said all the pigeons.

"Speckled-Neck related the following story:

One day, whilst feeding in the southern
forest I saw an old Tiger, who having bathed
with Kusa grass on his paw on the brink of a
pond was calling out,

"Ho, ho! traveller, come and take this bracelet
of gold."

Whereupon a certain traveller passing by,
thought within himself,

"This is good luck. We ought never to
undertake a doubtful matter, for even if we
obtain a thing we desire from an odious quarter
no good comes with it. I will therefore examine
a little."

He then said to the Tiger,

"Where is the bracelet?"

The Tiger put out his paw and displayed it.

"But," said the traveller," who may dare to
put any trust in thee?"