From all these men there rose a deafening gabble.
I pressed farther, although the crowd now around me was immense, and so
I reached the heart of the fair. Here were enormous merry-go-rounds, and
I had never seen such glittering things. They were from China, Japan,
where you will. They were hung in shining, gleaming colours, covered
with tinsel and silver, and, as they went tossing round, emitting from
their hearts a wild barbaric wail that may have been, in some far
Eastern city, the great song of all the lovers of the world for all I
know, the colours flashed and wheeled and dazzled, and the light
glittered from stem to stem of the brown silent trees. Here was the very
soul of the East. Near me a Chinaman, squatting on his haunches, was
showing before a gaping crowd the exploits of his trained mice, who
walked up and down little crimson ladders, poked their trembling noses
through holes of purple silk, and ran shivering down precipices of
golden embroidery. Near to him two Japanese were catching swords in
their mouths, and beyond them again a great number of Chinese were
tumbling and wrestling, and near to them again some Japanese children
did little tricks, catching coloured balls in wooden cups and turning
somersaults.
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