Symzonia: Voyage of Discovery

After stating these and many other charges against the externals, he added, that many of his council seriously apprehended that it was only our inordinate thirst for gain, that had induced me and my people to hazard our lives in an unknown region, and that it had not escaped their notice, that my vessel was provided with terrific engines of destruction, no doubt to enforce our will where our purposes required it: Wherefore he, the Best Man, in council, had come to a resolution, that the safety and happiness of his people would be endangered by permitting any further intercourse with so corrupt and depraved a race. He therefore required that I should repair forthwith to my vessel, and there remain until the season of bright light was sufficiently advanced to enable me to return to my country in safety; and ordered that all necessary supplies of food, and whatever was wanted to refit my vessel, should be furnished at the expense of the state; but that I should not be permitted to take away any of the products of the country which I esteemed valuable for traffic, lest the cupidity of my countrymen should lead them to send an armed force to obtain such things. They were fully aware, he said, of the articles which were most coveted by the externals; for my books had described them, and the purposes to which they were applied; and Efficients would therefore be appointed to examine my vessel, and see that I took away none of those articles. He felt confident that they had additional security for a strict compliance with this prohibitory order, in my integrity, of which he had formed a favourable estimate, notwithstanding the corruption of my nature, and did not apprehend that I would break through his injunctions, after partaking so largely of the hospitality of the country.