Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/408

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¬disease nor old age were to be seen, but on the contrary, above twenty well-dressed, healthy, happy people, regaling themselves with the best fare, and pledging one another in their cups; on the ringing of a bell their president told them to deliver in their accounts, and to assume their different characters for the day — the audit was soon over, and after they had been gone about a quarter of an hour, I saw all of them return, and every one of my friends amongst the rest — They were exactly the same as I had always seen them, and their real characters and descriptions were as follows — The old man of 103 had not seen 30, he had been a drummer in a re- giment, and was just returned from transporta- tion before his time.* — The woman who had lost her eyes, which were now covered again with patches, my conductor had shewn me in the room, where instead of their being obscured by lightning, they flashed lightning in every glance. ¬

  • The Armatans transport their felons, as we do, to a very distant region. ¬

—She ¬