Then, as if he were not desirous of resting
his claim on its mere legal merits, he would remind them of the
superiority of his grain, and the impossibility of a scarcity, in the
event of which calamity an insular people could always find a plentiful
though temporary resource in sea-weed. He then clearly proved to them
that, if ever they had the imprudence to change any of their old laws,
they would necessarily never have more than one meal a day as long as
they lived. Finally, he recalled to their recollection that he had made
the island what it was, that he was their mainstay, and that his counsel
and exertions had rendered them the wonder of the world. Thus, between
force, and fear, and flattery, the Vraibleusians paid for their corn
nearly its weight in gold; but what did that signify to a nation with so
many pink shells!
CHAPTER 9
The third day after his drive with his friend Skindeep, Popanilla was
waited upon by the most eminent bookseller in Hubbabub, who begged to
have the honour of introducing to the public a Narrative of Captain
Popanilla's Voyage.
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