In those days his sight and his memory were far more clear than now.

But by degrees, since my arrival, he has grown dull and stupid.

The natives tell me that fifty years ago, while he was already old, he was still bright and lively, and would recite the whole poem whenever anybody presented him with his greatest dainty, the claw of a moora-crab.

Nowadays, however, when he can hardly eat, and hardly mumble, he is much less persistent and less coherent than formerly.

To say the truth, I have discouraged him in his efforts, because his pertinacity annoyed me.