When the foolish BROKAH heard these things he cried, “Justice, O Aga of the BROKAHS,—­justice and the fulfilment of my bond!  Let the prince deliver unto me the STOKH.  Here are my fifty thousand sequins.”  But the prince said, “Have I not told that my godmother is dying, and that my STOKH is valueless?” At this the BROKAH only clamored the more for justice and the fulfilment of his bond.  Then the Aga of the BROKAHS said, “Since the bond is destroyed, behold thou hast no claim.  Go thy ways!” But the BROKAH again cried, “Justice, my lord Aga!  Behold, I offer the prince seventy thousand sequins for his STOKH!” But the prince said, “It is not worth one sequin!” Then the Aga said, “Bismillah!  I cannot understand this.  Whether thy godmother be dead, or dying, or immortal, does not seem to signify.  Therefore, O prince, by the laws of biz and of Allah, thou art released.  Give the BROKAH thy STOKH for seventy thousand sequins, and bid him depart in peace.  On his own head be it!” When the prince heard this command, he handed his STOKH to the BROKAH, who counted out to him seventy thousand sequins.  But the heart of the virtuous prince did not rejoice, nor did the BROKAH, when he found his STOKH was valueless; but the merchants lifted their hands in wonder at the sagacity and wisdom of the famous Prince BULLEBOYE.  For none would believe that it was the law of Allah that the prince followed, and not the rules of biz.

THE RUINS OF SAN FRANCISCO

Towards the close of the nineteenth century the city of San Francisco was totally ingulfed by an earthquake.  Although the whole coast-line must have been much shaken, the accident seems to have been purely local, and even the city of Oakland escaped.  Schwappelfurt, the celebrated German geologist, has endeavored to explain this singular fact by suggesting that there are some things the earth cannot swallow,—­a statement that should be received with some caution, as exceeding the latitude of ordinary geological speculation.

Historians disagree in the exact date of the calamity.  Tulu Krish, the well-known New-Zealander, whose admirable speculations on the ruins of St. Paul as seen from London Bridge have won for him the attentive consideration of the scientific world, fixes the occurrence in A. D. 1880.  This, supposing the city to have been actually founded in 1850, as asserted, would give but thirty years for it to have assumed the size and proportions it had evidently attained at the time of its destruction.  It is not our purpose, however, to question the conclusions of the justly famed Maorian philosopher.  Our present business lies with the excavations that are now being prosecuted by order of the Hawaiian government upon the site of the lost city.