under Government why the fiction of a monarchical constitution was not done away with when the monarchical power was abrogated.
"Well," he said, "we Colymbians do things gradually. We were ripe for the abrogation of the monarchical power, but we are not yet ripe for the doing away with the monarchical name. We all see, of course, as well as you do, that monarchy is a pure fiction, but we are so attached to old names after the thing is gone, that it would probably create a rebellion if a chief of the state were to attempt to do away with the name. Our people are eager for substantial changes in the constitution of the country; but they are so attached to old names and formulas of government that it is only long after the substance is gone that the shadow takes its departure. No doubt when the time comes the name will be abolished, but at present we would feel it strange if our edicts and Government appointments were not made in the name of the king, even though that king is but a turtle."
The hereditary representative of the dethroned human dynasty was a young man of intelligence, passionately fond of sports, and he often made one of our hunting expeditions. He did not seem to regret his exclusion from the throne, in fact, he spoke rather contemptuously of his predecessors who had been contented to occupy the position of royal puppets so long, and said he infinitely preferred the liberty and independence of his own life to the gilded slavery of theirs. He always spoke of the reforming minister who had founded the turtle dynasty with the highest respect, and in a way that showed me he was grateful to him for what he had done. "For," he said, "had I been born in the purple, I should perhaps have
