MD3PAD 247-249

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason reminds Dixon of the day they set off from Plymouth to
witness the Transit of Venus, and how Bradley kept apart for everyone
and did not speak.  Mason regrets not talking to Bradley on that day as
it would have been their last conversation. Mason is saddened by the fact
that "The business of the World is Trade and Death, and you must engage
with that unpleasantness, as the price of your not-at-all-assur'd Moment
of Purity."

        Dixon refers to the waiter in the pub as a "dodman," which means
snail.

        Mason and Dixon debate the question of whether the Americans are
British.  Dixon says they are no more British than the Cape Dutch are
Dutch.

        They both regret that they are going to another place that
practices slavery. Dixon also says that the Americans are inclined to
kill off the people already living where they wish to settle.

        They look back over their adventures together and argue over who
was more scared and who was the braver of the two.

Toby