triumph; raising such obstreperous peans, that they gave themselves
hoarse throats; insomuch, that according to Mohi, some of the present
generation are fain to speak through their noses.



CHAPTER XLII
Dominora And Vivenza


The three canoes still gliding on, some further particulars were
narrated concerning Dominora; and incidentally, of other isles.

It seems that his love of wide dominion sometimes led the otherwise
sagacious Bello into the most extravagant actions. If the chance
accumulation of soil and drift-wood about any detached shelf of coral
in the lagoon held forth the remotest possibility of the eventual
existence of an islet there, with all haste he dispatched canoes to
the spot, to take prospective possession of the as yet nearly
submarine territory; and if possible, eject the zoophytes.

During an unusually low tide, here and there baring the outer reef of
the Archipelago, Bello caused his royal spear to be planted upon every
place thus exposed, in token of his supreme claim thereto.

Another anecdote was this: that to Dominora there came a rumor, that
in a distant island dwelt a man with an uncommonly large nose; of most
portentous dimensions, indeed; by the soothsayers supposed to
foreshadow some dreadful calamity. But disregarding these
superstitious conceits, Bello forthwith dispatched an agent, to