Others, again, were carrying little young bears, all woolly, comfortable-looking creatures, while the parent bears, adult bears at any rate, were brought along, chained, in the rear.  My guards, or adorers, or whatever the young men who looked after me really were, led me forward, and made signs to me that I was to bring up the rear of the procession—­behind the bears, which made no attempt (as in the case of the prophet) to take the part of a Minister of the Bungletonian Connection.  What a position for one who would fain have been opening the eyes of this darkened people to better things!  But, till I had acquired some knowledge of their language, I felt my only chance was to acquiesce in everything not positively sinful.  The entrance of a menagerie and horticultural exhibition into the town—­for thus I explained to myself what was going on before my eyes—­could not be severely censured by the harshest critic, and I prepared to show my affability by joining in an innocent diversion and popular entertainment.

Soon I found that, after all, I was not to be absolutely last in the advance of this miscellaneous exhibition, nor were the intentions of the people so harmless as I had imagined.  This was no affair of cottage window gardens, and a distribution of prizes.

The crowd which had collected in front of the chief’s house opened suddenly, and, in the throng of people, I detected a movement of excitement and alarm.  Next I saw the horns of animals mixed with the heads and shoulders of the multitude, and then an extraordinary spectacle burst, at full speed, upon my gaze.  Four great wild stags, plunging, rearing, and kicking, rushed by, dragging a small vehicle of unusual shape, in which stood, to my horror, the chief’s beautiful daughter, Doto.  The vehicle passed me like a flash of horns, in spite of the attempts of four resolute men, who clung at the stags’ heads to restrain the impetuosity of these coursers.  The car, I should explain—­though I can hardly expect to be believed—­was not unlike the floor of a hansom cab, from which the seat, the roof, the driver’s perch, and everything else should have been removed, except the basis, the wheels, and the splashboard, the part on which we generally find the advertisements of Messrs. Mappin and Webb.  On this floor, then, Doto stood erect, holding the reins; her yellow hair had become unbound, and was floating like a flag behind her, and her beautiful face, far from displaying any alarm, was flushed with pleasure and pride.  She was dressed in splendid and glittering attire, over which was fastened—­so strange were the manners of these islanders—­the newly-stripped skin of a great black bear.  Thus dragged by the wild deer, Doto passed like a flash through the midst of the men and women, her stags being maddened to fresh excitement by the sight and smell of the bears, and other wild animals.  But, eager as were the brutes that dragged the precarious carriage, they were somewhat tamed by the great steepness