18. Mason & Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon, pp. 554-596

Two: America; 56-60

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In his field journal, Mason notes that "Cycles, or if you like, Segments of eleven Days recur again and again," which he ascribes to "the famous Eleven Missing Days of the Calendar Reform of '52." And to Dixon he tells a fantastic tale about being caught up in a time vortex, "finding myself in September third, 1752, a date that for all the rest of England, did not exist."

During their winter break, Dixon and Mason swap the direction they took on their previous break, Dixon going north to New York, where he encounters the same crew that abducted Mason on the last trip, this time more open about their revolutionary activities. In fact, he meets them "at Montagne's Tavern, upon Broad-Way, near Murray Street, which proves to be Head-quarters of the local Sons of Liberty, as well as thick with Intrigue, regardless of the Hour." He also meets up with some who figured earlier in the novel: "Foretopman Bodine, once of the Seahorse," and Philip Dimdown, who is no longer a fop but now "a serious young man upon a Mission whose end may not be predicted." Dixon is questioned by Dimdown as to his sympathies as a Quaker toward the Americans' impending struggle for independence.

"''Tis not how British treat Americans,' Dixon amiably rubescent, ''tis how both of You treat the American Slaves, and the Indians Native here, that engages the Friends more closely, -- an old and melancholy History.... My allegiance, as a Quaker born, would lie, above all, with Christ, -- withal, as a Geordie, for reasons unarguably Tribal, I can have no sympathy for any British King, -- not even one who's paid my wages, bless 'im.'" 

Mason's journey southward takes him to Williamsburg, while along the way he finds an equivalent nascent rebelliousness. In Williamsburg he is invited to play billiards with Col. Washington. The tavern is filled with smoke, and Mason and Washington overhear an argument over someone's use of the word "nigger," in which Washington is surprised to hear the voice of Gershom. "Half the Company seem to believe this is a white Customer, impersonating an African. Others, having caught Gershom's act before, recognize him right away." They began asking him for particular jokes they've heard him tell.

Then Mason recognizes another voice in the crowd, that of "Baby-Phiz Nathe McClean, or I'm a Sailor." McClean has returned to his studies at William and Mary. He tells Mason that he left the surveying party "just in time.... I should have been crazy as Captain Zhang, had I remained a week more." But he also says that "the Captain wasn't just Pipe-Smoaking in the Article of that Sha. We all felt it, as, to Appearance, did you and Mr. Dixon. Surveying a Property Line, that may be one thing, -- clearing and marking a Right Line of an Hundred Leagues, into the Lands of Others, cannot be a kindly Act."

At the end of March, the surveyors go back to work, where they find an uproar over "the great Scandal over the winter involving Tom Hynes, Catherine Wheat, and their Baby." The story of the scandal, which takes up a chapter, owes as much to Mark Twain as it does to the 18th-century novelists like Smollett and Sterne who inform the rest of Pynchon's novel.

Returning to work, Dixon encounters a suspicion that the surveyors may be spies by saying, "'Tis a gormless Spy indeed, who'd lurk where there are no more Secrets to steal. ... What is there that has not been visited, intentionally and not, an hundred times?" Captain Shelby, with whom they left the instruments for the winter, observes that "There is a love of complexity, here in America, ... pur Space waits the Surveyor, -- no previous Lines, no fences, no streets to constrain polygony however extravagant."

Dixon begins trying to learn how to use Zhang's luopan, and notes that Britain is in "the Terrestrial Sign of Draco, the Dragon." But he explains to Zhang that where he comes from, in Durham, dragons "are not at all the Chinese Variety. Some, like the Lambton Worm, lacking Wings and a fire-breathing Capacity, may indeed be of a distinct Species." And he proceeds to tell his version of the legend of the Lambton Worm. Afterward, Captain Shelby alludes to a serpentine mound on the other side of the Ohio which the Indians claim predate their inhabiting the region. He proposes that they investigate some mounds nearer to where they are.

1. Mason & Dixon, by Thomas Pynchon, pp. 1-29

One: Latitudes and Departures; 1-3

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The narrative begins in a large house in or near Philadelphia at Christmastime (or a "snowy Advent") in 1786. It's not clear yet who the narrator is at this point in the novel, but he (or she) will relinquish it to another voice after the scene is set.

It has become an afternoon habit for the Twins and their Sister, and what Friends old and young may find their way here, to gather for another Tale from their far-travel'd Uncle, the Revd Wicks Cherrycoke, who arriv'd here back in October for the funeral of a Friend of years ago, -- too late for the Burial, as it prov'd, -- and has linger'd as a Guest in the Home of his sister Elizabeth, the Wife, for many years, of Mr. J. Wade LeSpark, a respected Merchant in Town Affairs, whilst in his home yet Sultan enough to convey to the Revd, tho' without ever so stipulating, that, for as long as he can keep the children amus'd, he may remain, -- too much evidence of Juvenile Rampage at the wrong moment, however, and Boppo! 'twill be Out the Door with him, where waits the Winter's Block and Blade. 

So Cherrycoke yields to the entreaties of the twins, Pitt and Pliny, so named "that each might be term'd 'the Elder' or 'the Younger,' as might day-to-day please one, or annoy his Brother." He begins a story about the surveying expedition of Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, on which he says he took part. 

Mason is dead, and Cherrycoke, who arrived too late for the funeral, every day makes a visit to his grave. Cherrycoke himself is a rather dubious parson, and Pitt observes that his mother calls him "the Family outcast," and Pliny that "They pay you money to keep away." Cherrycoke claims that back in England he was once almost hanged for posting bills listing the names of perpetrators "of certain Crimes I had observ'd, committed by the Stronger against the Weaker." Judged to be insane, he was sent to sea on the Seahorse. 

We cut to a letter from Dixon to Mason, who is Assistant to the Astronomer Royal, in which Dixon announces himself as Mason's "Second upon the propos'd Expedition to Sumatra, to observe the Transit of Venus." 

Cherrycoke returns to the story, admitting that he wasn't there when Mason met Dixon, but that he had heard the story from them. Dixon was from Durham, in the northeast of England, and something of a bumpkin in the city. He's surprised when Mason mocks his accent, but manages to get even with a joke, which embarrasses the rather too serious Mason. Dixon is taller and "the first to catch the average Eye, often causing future strangers to remember them as Dixon and Mason." He was also raised a Quaker. 

Mason, having expected some shambling wild Country Fool, remains amiably puzzl'd before the tidied Dixon here presented, -- who, for his own part, having ... expected but another over-dress'd London climber, is amus'd  at Mason's nearly invisible Turn-out, all in Snuffs and Buffs and Grays.

They are in Portsmouth, awaiting the embarkation, and decide it's their "last chance for civiliz'd Drink." In a tavern they encounter "a somewhat dishevel'd Norfolk Terrier, with a raffish Gleam in its eye." The dog then sings a song, announcing himself as "the Learnéd English Dog," willing to answer any question. Dixon observes Mason's fascination with the dog, but when Mason starts to ask a rambling question, the dog "sighs deeply" and says, "See me later, out in back." Outside, they meet Fender-Belly Bodine, who is captain of the foretop of the Seahorse, their ship, who notes their interest in the dog. 

Mason's question of the dog is "Have you a soul, -- that is, are you a human Spirit, re-incarnate as a Dog?" The dog replies that he is not there to provide "religious Comfort":  "I may be praeternatural, but I am not supernatural." He tells them that dogs used to be kept by humans for food, so dogs, noting that cannibalism was taboo, "learn'd to act as human as possible." He is "but an extreme Expression of this Process." Bodine expresses interest in buying the dog, but his "Exhibitor," Mr. and Mrs. Jellow, say that he's not for sale. 

Dixon, "who for some while has been growing increasingly desperate for a drink," notices that they are near the Pearl of Sumatra, and Bodine invites the dog, who says, "Pray you, call me Fang," to join them. In the saloon, a vast hive of multiple vices including cock-fighting and other forms of gambling, Fang points out Dark Hepsie, the Pythoness of the Point," and tells Mason that she's the one he should consult for prophecy. Dixon quickly spots that Hepsie is actually an attractive young woman in disguise. When Hepsie notes that they plan to sail on Friday, a day of ill omen, being the day of the crucifixion, Mason suggests that they should sail on another day. 

"Mason, pray You, -- 'tis the Age of Reason," Dixon reminds him, "we're Men of Science. To huz must all days run alike, the same number of identical Seconds, each proceeding in but one Direction, irreclaimable....? If we would have Omens, why, let us recall that the Astronomer's Symbol for Friday is also that of the planet Venus herself, -- a good enough Omen, surely ...?" 

So they take their leave of Hepsie and Fang, though Mason wants to ask them more, and in the morning he can't find anyone who knows anything about them. "He will continue search, even unto scanning the short as the Seahorse gets under way at last, on Friday, 9 January 1761."