Chapter 183 Chapter Thirty-Four

How the Giant Whale Was Killed by the Pagoda The giant whale broke into the crooked fleet and sprayed a large amount of seawater on the first few ships it encountered. It was really like the torrent of the Nile pouring on the land of Ethiopia.In an instant, arrows and feathers were fired, javelins, short spears, clubs, and long forks flew towards the sea monster from all directions.Brother John used his whole body martial arts.Banuzhi was frightened to death.The sound of the cannons was rumbling, like heavy thunder. Although they kept attacking, they had little effect, because the iron and copper bullets sent out penetrated into the skin of the sea monster. Looking from a distance, they looked like tiles under the sun, without any impact. use.Seeing the urgency of the moment, Paiguguet stretched out his arms, and displayed his skill.

You have said, and it is recorded in the annals, that the able Roman Emperor Commodus was so good at archery that he could shoot an arrow from a distance, and pass through the raised fingers of a child in the distance without touching A child's hand①. You also said that when Alexander the Great came to India, there was an archer in India who was good at archery. He could shoot arrows into a ring from a long distance, and all of them were iron arrows more than three cubits long. You can penetrate steel blades, thick shields, and steel breastplates, as long as you let him shoot, no matter how strong, firm, hard and tough you are, you must be penetrated by him②.

You also told us that the ancient French were shrewd and strong, and they also loved archery. When hunting black and brown beasts, they often smeared black veratrum on the arrows, so that the poison on the arrows could make the meat of the beasts It is more tender, fresher, tastier, and more delicious. Of course, the surrounding parts of the arrow must be dug out①. You also speak of the Baldians, who can shoot their arrows backwards from the back better than any other country can shoot from the front.You also praised the archery of the Scythians; once upon a time they sent messengers to Darius king of Persia with a bird, a frog, a mouse, and five arrows, without any written explanation.

When asked what his intention was for this gift and whether it contained a message, he replied no.Darius was amazed at the moment, at a loss as to what he meant. It was only when one of his seven generals, a man named Gobrias, killed him and explained it clearly to him, did he understand.Gobrias put it this way: "The Scythian things are trying to let us know by hinting that if the Persians cannot fly to the sky like a bird, hide in the center of the earth like a mouse, and go deep into ponds and lakes like a frog, they will be killed by the West." The weapons and bows and arrows of the Tiya people were wiped out.

The venerable Pagoda is invincible against the essence of archery.With his mighty javelins and fletchers (length, thickness, weight, and iron heads), they are perfectly compatible with the thick pillars supporting the bridges of Nantes, Saumur, Bergerac, and the Pont de la Bourse and Pont de la Millers in Paris. He can shoot an oyster a thousand paces away without hurting the edge of the oyster shell; he can shoot a candle flower and keep it burning; he can shoot a magpie in the eye; he can shoot the sole of a boot without breaking it ; can shoot off the leather edge of a helmet without destroying the helmet; can shoot through the pages of Friar John's scriptures without breaking the paper.

① This is the Roman Emperor Domician, not Commodus, see Chapter XIX, Section 4 of Suetonius's "Biography of Domicianus". ② For the story, see Chapter 16 of Arrian's "On India". ① See Sections 131 and 132 of Volume IV of Herodotus' History. ② See Sections 67 to 80 of the third volume of Herodotus' History. ③Bairgerac Bridge: The name of the bridge on the Dordoni River. The author once crossed this bridge when he went to Caduan and Cahusac with Geoffroy de Etisac. ④ Mogong Bridge: At that time, there were three bridges on the Seine River in Paris, the Mogong Bridge was in the west, and the Exchange Bridge was in the middle.

There were many such arrows in the boat on which Pagogruet was traveling. It was seen that his first arrow hit the head of the giant whale, piercing its upper and lower jawbones and tongue, so that it could no longer I can't open my mouth, and I can neither absorb nor spray water.The second arrow blinded its right eye, and the third blinded its left eye.Amidst all the cheers, we saw the giant whale with three horns on its head, drooping forward, forming an equilateral triangle, swinging from side to side, it was invisible, and its body was very heavy, as if it was not far from death Shaking, staring in confusion.

Still not satisfied, Pagoda shot another arrow at its tail, which likewise drooped backwards; then three more arrows were shot straight at its spine, dividing it into exactly three sections from head to tail, each The distances are the same size. Finally he shot fifty arrows on each side of the sea whale, so that the fish looked exactly like the hull of a three-masted ship, with neat and tight beams, and what seemed to be straps on the ropes. The iron rings and the cables attached to the hull look really nice. This giant whale turned over on its belly and died, just like other dead fish; when turning over, the arrows on its body fell into the sea together, looking like a centipede. The so-called centipede was described by the ancient sage Nikandra. Centipede ①.

① Nicendra: An ancient Greek natural scientist in the second century BC, see the twelfth category of his "Antidotes" for the citation here.