亲爱的小文：
爸爸坐牢前一年（1970），太平洋（Pacific Ocean）里有一个小国独立了，……（编辑略）名字叫飞枝（Fiji），她原是英国的，所以国旗里头有四分之一的地方是英国国旗。
飞枝有两个大岛，八百个小岛，加在一块儿叫飞枝群岛（Fiji Islands）。
飞枝共有五十万人，里头有中国人。
飞枝的国都叫Suva（Capital and Commercial Center of the Fiji Islands is Suva. Banks，offices，and stores are located in central Suva.）。
飞枝的警察若跑到台湾来，一定被台湾的警察抓起来，罪名是“有伤风化”（harmful to public morals）——因为飞枝的警察穿裙子，这种裙子叫sulu，裙子很瘦，下面是锯齿（teeth of a saw）状的，怪里怪气，台湾的警察一看一定大生气特生气，于是就抓起来了。
所以大概飞枝警察不敢到台湾来。
飞枝的男人也有裙子穿，这种裙子叫tapa skirts，比较短上面有花。他们当然也“有伤风化”，所以也不敢到台湾来。
现代的飞枝人虽然怕台湾警察，胆子很小，但他们以前胆子可不小，他们是吃人肉的（cannibals——A human being that eats human flesh吃人肉的人；by extension，any animal that eats its own kind，广义来说，吃同类的动物），还是猎头的（head-hunters. head-hunting n. The custom，characteristic sp. of heathen Malayan peoples，of decapitating enemies and preserving their heads as trophies. 奉异教的马来民族所特有的斩敌人头留作战胜纪念品的习俗）。
世界上土人有的吃人肉不猎头，有的猎头不吃人肉，飞枝的土人两样全来，真凶来兮（兮，an adjunct with no independent meaning，roughly equivalent to “Oh”or“Ah”in English）。
以前台湾的土人，除兰屿的雅美族以外，都猎头，不吃肉。他们猎到一个最有名的头就是吴凤的（吴凤，Wu Feng，an official who，when head hunting was still common among the aborigines of Taiwan，ended the practice at the cost of his own life in 1768）。
这样看来，台湾的警察大概也不敢到飞枝去，因为搞不好，飞枝人发起疯来，野蛮复兴，两样来一样，台湾的警察都吃不消（cannot stand or bear；too much to take or endure）。
Fijians once wre cannibals and head-hunters. Most of them are now Christians，but they still observe local customs. They make outrigger canoes from hollowed logs. They also manufacture pottery and personal ornaments of shell，bone，and boar’s tusks. A small clan living near Viti Levu still practices the ancient custom of fire walking. Performers do not walk on fire，but on hot stones. Fijans drink kava（yanggona in Fijian），a strong but nonintoxicating drink made from the root of a pepper plant. The drink partially numbs the tongue and lips. Fijians use it as part of most ceremonies. They celebrate every occasion with dancing.
Most Fijians grow crops or catch fish for a living，but many work for the Europeans as clerks，carpenters，and police. People of Indian descent grow most of the islands’ sugarcane，and they also keep dairy cattle. Miners take gold，copper，and iron from the rocks of the larger islands. The Fiji Islands produce coconuts，sugar，gold，timber，and tobacco. They ship tropical fruits to Australia and New Zealand. Most eastern Fiji Islands are volcanic. The only industry there is making copra（dried coconut meat.）
爸爸1975年9月7日
〔后记〕这封信中所引有关吴凤的英文解说，当然是从“神话”立论的。事实上，吴凤是因背约、骂人、与曹族格斗下被杀的。详见连横《吴凤列传》。
古国神游
亲爱的小文：
埃及（Egypt）是非洲国家。但她伸了一只胳臂到亚洲，这胳臂就是西奈半岛（Sinai）。胳肢窝（armpit）那里开了条一百miles长的苏伊士运河（the Suez Canal）。苏伊士运河缩短了从英国到印度的距离，缩短了六千miles。
苏伊士运河挖了十年才挖成，现在已经一百零六岁了。挖它的人是法国外交家李希普（De Lesseps），他在六十四岁那年挖成。他有挖运河的瘾，又去挖巴拿马运河（the Panama Canal），结果公司倒闭，差点坐牢，因为他八十四岁了，所以免了。
中国的隋炀帝，也喜欢挖运河，后来也倒了霉。大概土地神不喜欢人家挖他。
埃及的棉花最有名。
埃及的首都是开罗（Cairo），已经有一千三百三十五年历史（A. D. 640年就有了）。
Cairo bazzars很有名，bazzar是东方的小工艺品商店〔1.?In the East，an exchange，market place，or assemblage of shops，市场、商场（东方的）。2.?A spacious hall or suite of rooms for the sale of goods，as at a fair，百货商场。also，a fair for the sale of fancy wares，toys etc.，commonly for a charitable object，又指售卖珍玩以充善举的市场〕。
埃及最有名的是三十五座金字塔（pyramid）。
金字塔有十个足球场那么大。
金字塔是埃及国王（埃及叫法老Pharaoh）的坟，里面有金银财宝，所以老是被偷。所以以后的埃及国王就不盖金字塔了。
金字塔要四十万人盖二十年。古时候人对修坟可真有耐心，小文你记得爸爸跟你谈过的印度那座大坟Taj Mahal吗？那坟也盖了二十多年才盖好。
金字塔前面的狮身人面像，叫Sphinx（the“Strangler”）。最有名的Sphinx 故事是叫人猜谜语的故事。
谜语是什么东西又四只脚又两只脚三只脚，后来Oedipus猜出来了。
（SPHINX，in Greek mythology，a winged monster with the body of a lion and the head and breast of a woman. According to the myth，the Sphinx destroyed the passersby from the Greek city of Thebes when they failed to guess her riddle.“What is four-footed in the morning，two-footed at noon，three-footed in the evening？”Oedipus solved the riddle by replying：“Man，who in childhood creeps on hands and knees，in manhood walks erect，and in old age uses a staff.”The Sphinx，heating this，threw herself from a rock and perished，and Oedipus thus became the liberator of Thebes and was made its king.）
