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1IN WHICH PASSEPARTOUT'S NOSE BECOMES OUTRAGEOUSLY LONG The next morning poor, jaded, famished Passepartout said to
2himself that he must get something to eat at all hazards, and the sooner he did so the better. He might, indeed, sell
3his watch; but he would have starved first. Now or never he must use the strong, if not melodious voice which nature had
4bestowed upon him. He knew several French and English songs, and resolved to try them upon the Japanese, who must be
5lovers of music, since they were for ever pounding on their cymbals, tam-tams, and tambourines, and could not but
6appreciate European talent. It was, perhaps, rather early in the morning to get up a concert, and the audience
7prematurely aroused from their slumbers, might not possibly pay their entertainer with coin bearing the Mikado's
8features. Passepartout therefore decided to wait several hours; and, as he was sauntering along, it occurred to him that
9he would seem rather too well dressed for a wandering artist. The idea struck him to change his garments for clothes
10more in harmony with his project; by which he might also get a little money to satisfy the immediate cravings of hunger.
11The resolution taken, it remained to carry it out. It was only after a long search that Passepartout discovered a native
12dealer in old clothes, to whom he applied for an exchange. The man liked the European costume, and ere long Passepartout
13issued from his shop accoutred in an old Japanese coat, and a sort of one-sided turban, faded with long use. A few small
14pieces of silver, moreover, jingled in his pocket. "Good!" thought he. "I will imagine I am at the Carnival!" His first
15care, after being thus "Japanesed," was to enter a tea-house of modest appearance, and, upon half a bird and a little
16rice, to breakfast like a man for whom dinner was as yet a problem to be solved. "Now," thought he, when he had eaten
17heartily, "I mustn't lose my head. I can't sell this costume again for one still more Japanese. I must consider how to
18leave this country of the Sun, of which I shall not retain the most delightful of memories, as quickly as possible." It
19occurred to him to visit the steamers which were about to leave for America. He would offer himself as a cook or
20servant, in payment of his passage and meals. Once at San Francisco, he would find some means of going on. The
21difficulty was, how to traverse the four thousand seven hundred miles of the Pacific which lay between Japan and the New
22World. Passepartout was not the man to let an idea go begging, and directed his steps towards the docks. But, as he
23approached them, his project, which at first had seemed so simple, began to grow more and more formidable to his mind.
24What need would they have of a cook or servant on an American steamer, and what confidence would they put in him,
25dressed as he was? What references could he give? As he was reflecting in this wise, his eyes fell upon an immense
26placard which a sort of clown was carrying through the streets. This placard, which was in English, read as follows:
27ACROBATIC JAPANESE TROUPE, HONOURABLE WILLIAM BATULCAR, PROPRIETOR, LAST REPRESENTATIONS, PRIOR TO THEIR DEPARTURE TO
28THE UNITED STATES, OF THE LONG NOSES! LONG NOSES! UNDER THE DIRECT PATRONAGE OF THE GOD TINGOU! GREAT ATTRACTION! "The
29United States!" said Passepartout; "that's just what I want!" He followed the clown, and soon found himself once more in
30the Japanese quarter. A quarter of an hour later he stopped before a large cabin, adorned with several clusters of
31streamers, the exterior walls of which were designed to represent, in violent colours and without perspective, a company
32of jugglers. This was the Honourable William Batulcar's establishment. That gentleman was a sort of Barnum, the director
33of a troupe of mountebanks, jugglers, clowns, acrobats, equilibrists, and gymnasts, who, according to the placard, was
34giving his last performances before leaving the Empire of the Sun for the States of the Union. Passepartout entered and
35asked for Mr. Batulcar, who straightway appeared in person. "What do you want?" said he to Passepartout, whom he at
36first took for a native. "Would you like a servant, sir?" asked Passepartout. "A servant!" cried Mr. Batulcar, caressing
37the thick grey beard which hung from his chin. "I already have two who are obedient and faithful, have never left me,
38and serve me for their nourishment and here they are," added he, holding out his two robust arms, furrowed with veins as
39large as the strings of a bass-viol. "So I can be of no use to you?" "None." "The devil! I should so like to cross the
40Pacific with you!" "Ah!" said the Honourable Mr. Batulcar. "You are no more a Japanese than I am a monkey! Who are you
41dressed up in that way?" "A man dresses as he can." "That's true. You are a Frenchman, aren't you?" "Yes; a Parisian of
42Paris." "Then you ought to know how to make grimaces?" "Why," replied Passepartout, a little vexed that his nationality
43should cause this question, "we Frenchmen know how to make grimaces, it is true but not any better than the Americans
44do." "True. Well, if I can't take you as a servant, I can as a clown. You see, my friend, in France they exhibit foreign
45clowns, and in foreign parts French clowns." "Ah!" "You are pretty strong, eh?" "Especially after a good meal." "And you
46can sing?" "Yes," returned Passepartout, who had formerly been wont to sing in the streets. "But can you sing standing
47on your head, with a top spinning on your left foot, and a sabre balanced on your right?" "Humph! I think so," replied
48Passepartout, recalling the exercises of his younger days. "Well, that's enough," said the Honourable William Batulcar.
49The engagement was concluded there and then. Passepartout had at last found something to do. He was engaged to act in
50the celebrated Japanese troupe. It was not a very dignified position, but within a week he would be on his way to San
51Francisco. The performance, so noisily announced by the Honourable Mr. Batulcar, was to commence at three o'clock, and
52soon the deafening instruments of a Japanese orchestra resounded at the door. Passepartout, though he had not been able
53to study or rehearse a part, was designated to lend the aid of his sturdy shoulders in the great exhibition of the
54"human pyramid," executed by the Long Noses of the god Tingou. This "great attraction" was to close the performance.
55Before three o'clock the large shed was invaded by the spectators, comprising Europeans and natives, Chinese and
56Japanese, men, women and children, who precipitated themselves upon the narrow benches and into the boxes opposite the
57stage. The musicians took up a position inside, and were vigorously performing on their gongs, tam-tams, flutes, bones,
58tambourines, and immense drums. The performance was much like all acrobatic displays; but it must be confessed that the
59Japanese are the first equilibrists in the world. One, with a fan and some bits of paper, performed the graceful trick
60of the butterflies and the flowers; another traced in the air, with the odorous smoke of his pipe, a series of blue
61words, which composed a compliment to the audience; while a third juggled with some lighted candles, which he
62extinguished successively as they passed his lips, and relit again without interrupting for an instant his juggling.
63Another reproduced the most singular combinations with a spinning-top; in his hands the revolving tops seemed to be
64animated with a life of their own in their interminable whirling; they ran over pipe-stems, the edges of sabres, wires
65and even hairs stretched across the stage; they turned around on the edges of large glasses, crossed bamboo ladders,
66dispersed into all the corners, and produced strange musical effects by the combination of their various pitches of
67tone. The jugglers tossed them in the air, threw them like shuttlecocks with wooden battledores, and yet they kept on
68spinning; they put them into their pockets, and took them out still whirling as before. It is useless to describe the
69astonishing performances of the acrobats and gymnasts. The turning on ladders, poles, balls, barrels, &c., was executed
70with wonderful precision. But the principal attraction was the exhibition of the Long Noses, a show to which Europe is
71as yet a stranger.
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