ion. I
wondered how it came to pass that he should be the only living
creature in a town where all the people were turned into stones,
and I did not doubt but there was something in the circumstance
very extraordinary.

The door being only half shut, I opened it, went in, and standing
upright before the niche, I repeated this prayer aloud: "Praise
be to God, who has favoured us with a happy voyage, and may he be
graciously pleased to protect us in the same manner, until we
arrive again in our own country. Hear me, O Lord, and grant my
request."

The young man turned his eyes towards me, and said, "My good
lady, pray let me know who you are, and what has brought you to
this desolate city? And, in return, I will you who I am, what has
happened to me, why the inhabitants of this city are reduced to
the state you see them in, and why I alone am safe in the midst
of such a terrible disaster."

I told him in a few words whence I had come, what had made me
undertake the voyage, and how I safely arrived at the port after
twenty days' sailing; when I had done, I prayed him to perform
his promise, and told him how much I was struck by the frightful
desolation which I had seen in the city.

"Lady," said the young man, "have patience for a moment." At
these words he shut the Koraun, put it into a rich case, and laid
it in the niche. I took that opportunity to observe him, and
perceiving in him so much good nature and beauty, I felt emotions
I had never known before. He made me sit down by him, and before
he began his discourse, I could not forbear saying, with an air
that discovered the sentiments I felt, "Amiable sir, dear object
of my soul, I can scarcely have patience to wait for an account
of all these wonderful objects that I have seen since I came into
your city; and my curiosity cannot be satisfied too soon:
therefore pray, sir, let me know by what miracle you alone are
left alive among so many persons that have died in so strange a
manner."

"Madam," said the young man, "by the prayer you just now
addressed to him, you have given me to understand that you have a
knowledge of the true God. I will acquaint you with the most
remarkable effect of his greatness and power. You must know, that
this city was the metropolis of a mighty kingdom, over which the
sultan my father reigned. That prince, his whole court, the
inhabitants of the city, and all his other subjects, were magi,
worshippers of fire, and of Nardoun, the a