MAD3PAD 31-33

[Toby G Levy]

        It appears that the man of the house, Wade LeSpark, has wandered
into the room. Pynchon takes the opportunity to say that LeSpark has
made his fortune selling arms to "French and British, Settlers and
Indians alike..." Ethelmer is morally repulsed by his uncle's actions,
but enjoys the monetary gifts and other favors his uncle bestows upon
him.

        Ethelmer accompanied his uncle to horse races in Maryland, where
he fed apples to a racehorse named Selim, who achieved legendary status
over the years. Near the end of the book Mason and Dixon remember seeing
a race involving Selim and another horse named Yorick.

        Wicks returns to the story at the point where Mason and Dixon
are dickering with Captain Smith of the Seahorse over who is going to
pay the 100 guineas apiece that it will cost to transport them to
Sumatra.  I looked it up, a pound is 20 shillings, but a guinea is 21
shillings, so 100 guineas is 105 pounds.  The captain thinks it should
come out of the astronomers' expense account, but Mason and Dixon talk to
Lord Anson, head of the British Navy, and he agrees to pay for the trip
out of Navy funds.

        One thing that confuses me is the identity of Mr. Mead and Mr.
White.  They each have one sentence of speech each on page 32 and then
are mentioned again by Mason on page 247 as being with them at the
departure from Plymouth.

        The Captain reads the letter from Lord Anson and agrees to put
the astronomers in the Lieutenant's mess. Mason explains that
astronomers are usually poverty stricken, suffering from "Rutabageous
Anemia" ( as in "you can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" (a rutabaga is
a turnip) - from the hyperarts Mason and Dixon alpha).

        On December 8th the Captain learns that Bencoolen on Sumatra has
fallen to the French, and the Captain says he can get Mason and Dixon
to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa time to view the Transit of
Venus.

Toby