Again, a man so gracious and in high favour with the Emperor, as Augustus often called him his witty manling (for the littleness of his stature), and, if we may trust antiquity, had designed him for a secretary of estate, and invited him to the palace, which he modestly prayed off and refused.

There was no room left in the overheads for our luggage, our seats did not recline, and the washrooms were right behind us.

Keep going! You're hot tonight! urged Wally.

Marco Polo was right to be impressed by Huai-nan and Liang-che. By a mixture of favourable market opportunities, government support and considerably technical ingenuity at least, they recovered a lead for chien over shai in China which was not lost until the nineteenth century.