Yet was all this their lore graven upon so uncouth, outlandish, and
antiquated tablets, that it was all but lost to the mass of their
countrymen; and some old sachem of a wise man is quoted as having
said, that their treasures were locked up after such a fashion, that
for old iron, the key was worth more than the chest and its contents.



CHAPTER XLI
Chiefly Of Sing Bello


"Now Taji," said Media, "with old Bello of the Hump whose island of
Dominora is before us, I am at variance."

"Ah! How so?"

"A dull recital, but you shall have it."

And forthwith his Highness began.

This princely quarrel originated, it seems, in a slight jostling
concerning the proprietorship of a barren islet in a very remote
quarter of the lagoon. At the outset the matter might have been easily
adjusted, had the parties but exchanged a few amicable words. But each
disdaining to visit the other, to discuss so trivial an affair, the
business of negotiating an understanding was committed to certain
plenipos, men with lengthy tongues, who scorned to utter a word short
of a polysyllable.