Were I to attempt a description of these
island festivities in faraway Hili-liland, perhaps, inadvertently--the
facts being meagre--I might say something bordering on untruth; and,
rather than untruth--a thousand times rather--silence.
"I will close for this evening by saying that the wedding-party arrived
at the island of Hili-li about February 1st--the year being 1829. Some
time before starting on the tour, Lilama had begun the construction of a
new home; and by the time of her return it was completed. Her new
residence was not large, but it was elegant. Here the happy couple
dwelt, Peters having an apartment to himself which was enough to set a
sailor wild with joy. Peters says that he grew to like very much what he
calls 'volcano tobacco;' that it was 'good and strong'--to his taste all
the better for that. The only mistake that Lilama's architect made in
his plan for her new home was in not having Peters' apartment either on
the roof, or else next door. Peters now smokes American tobacco; and
even now--but let the past go; I did not sit on the edge of the old
sailor's bed for thirty hours for nothing. Tomorrow evening I shall tell
you of the great catastrophe which occurred on the island of Hili-li
during the visit of Pym and Peters.
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