Then it struck me that this view was quite as likely to be taken as the
other by a people who had no experience of European civilisation, and I
was a little piqued with Paley for having led me so much astray; but I
soon discovered that I had misinterpreted the expression on the
magistrate's face, and that it was one not of fear, but hatred. He spoke
to me solemnly and sternly for two or three minutes. Then, reflecting
that this was of no use, he caused me to be conducted through several
passages into a large room, which I afterwards found was the museum of
the town, and wherein I beheld a sight which astonished me more than
anything that I had yet seen.
It was filled with cases containing all manner of curiosities--such as
skeletons, stuffed birds and animals, carvings in stone (whereof I saw
several that were like those on the saddle, only smaller), but the
greater part of the room was occupied by broken machinery of all
descriptions. The larger specimens had a case to themselves, and tickets
with writing on them in a character which I could not understand. There
were fragments of steam engines, all broken and rusted; among them I saw
a cylinder and piston, a broken fly-wheel, and part of a crank, which was
laid on the ground by their side.
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