In the left,
there was a sort of engine, from the back of which were extended twenty
long poles, resembling the palisadoes before your majesty's court;
wherewith we conjecture the man-mountain combs his head, for we did not
always trouble him with questions, because we found it a great
difficulty to make him understand us. In the large pocket on the right
side of his middle cover (so I translate the word _ranfu-lo_, by which
they meant my breeches), we saw a hollow pillar of iron, about the
length of a man, fastened to a strong piece of timber, larger than the
pillar; and upon one side of the pillar were huge pieces of iron
sticking out, cut into strange figures, which we know not what to make
of. In the left pocket, another engine of the same kind. In the smaller
pocket on the right side were several round flat pieces of white and red
metal, of different bulk; some of the white, which seemed to be silver,
were so large and so heavy, that my comrade and I could hardly lift
them. In the left pocket, were two black pillars irregularly shaped; we
could not without difficulty reach the top of them, as we stood at the
bottom of his pocket. One of them was covered, and seemed all of a
piece; but at the upper end of the other, there appeared a white and
round substance, about twice the bigness of our heads.
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