At noon he arrived at Pisa.
A unique reception had been arranged.

The mayor and all the authorities were out to meet him in those peculiar looking boats that are seen nowhere else in the world, called Lancia Pisana.

Those boats are of ancient make; none of them being manufactured at the present day.
They are about thirty feet long, richly carved and gaudily painted.
Under the escort of these gay boats, containing the notabilities, Paul landed and again great crowds tendered him an ovation.
Under the impression that Boyton could neither speak nor understand the Italian tongue, the officials had engaged a man who was supposed to be a great English scholar, to act as interpreter for him at the feast to be given in the evening.

The fellow was a burr, sticking to the outer skirts of respectable society, and when he was engaged to act as interpreter on such an occasion, he felt himself to be a great man.

He was over weighted with his importance.