Page:Artabanzanus (Ferrar, 1896).djvu/225

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THE PARLIAMENT OF PANDAPOLIS
217

miles in circumference, and has all around it abundance of room for a splendid metropolis. There was an inexhaustible supply of the sweetest water in the universe. There were rivers flowing in different directions; forests for their fires; rocky hills and mountains for their fortified castles, open fields for, if necessary, their battles, to which purpose he hoped they would never be devoted; and sheep and cattle all round them to which they could help themselves when they pleased. Added to all these advantages would be the pleasures of society, and closer and more intimate relations with the people of the island, of the plains below the lakes, and of the distant cities near the sea. A very sweet and refreshing intercourse might be established by means of a mountain railway from north to south, for which the inhabitants would gladly pay. Iron and metal roads would no doubt be cheerfully constructed; and multitudes of delighted visitors would fly in crowded carriages from one city to another. He believed there was a glorious future in store for the Great Lake of Tasmania. Other important measures would be laid before them for their consideration, particularly one to effect the Federation of the World; one for the reconstruction and better organization of the Larrikin Guards; one for establishing a close season of one hundred years for fleas, rats, rabbits, vindictive official tyrants, rogues, fools, snakes, and all other vermin, most useful assistants to them in their moral government of mankind: he trusted that these and many more desirable Acts of this honourable house would become law; and he would now thank them from the bottom of his heart for their devotion to his person, and for their warm and generous support in all seasons of trial and difficulty.

His Majesty then saluted the assembly, who all bowed profoundly to the ground, and marched away, the fifes and drums again striking up a flourish. I watched Bellagranda