in despair. Why was I not content with the
produce of my first voyage, which would have kept me in comfort all my
life? But it was too late to repent. At last I resigned myself to the
will of God. Not knowing what to do, I climbed to the top of a lofty
tree, where I could look about on all sides for signs of hope. Towards
the sea there was nothing but sky and water. Looking over the land, I
saw something white, and, coming down, took some of the food I had
left, and went towards it, not knowing at the great distance what it
was.

As I drew near, I thought it to be a white dome of enormous size; and
when I touched it I found it to be very smooth. There was no opening
on any side, and there was no climbing to the top over the smooth
surface. It was at least fifty paces round.

By this time the sun was about to set, and all of a sudden the sky
became as dark as if it had been covered with a thick cloud. I was
amazed at this sudden darkness, but much more when I found it was
caused by a bird of monstrous size that came flying towards me. I
remembered that I had often heard mariners speak of a marvelous bird
called the roc, and felt sure that the great dome by which I stood
must be its egg. In short, the bird alighted and sat over the egg. As
I saw her coming, I crept close to the egg, so that I had before me
one of the legs of the bird, which was as big as the trunk of a tree.
I tied myself strongly to it with my turban, in hopes that the roc
next morning would carry me with her out of this desert island. After
having passed the night in this condition, the bird flew away as soon
as it was daylight, and carried me so high that I could not see the
earth. Then she descended with so much speed that I lost my senses.
But when I found myself on the ground, I quickly untied the knot, and
had scarcely done so when the roc, having taken up a serpent of
monstrous length in her bill, flew away.

The spot where I was left was surrounded on all sides by mountains,
that seemed to reach above the clouds, and so steep that I could not
possibly get out of the valley. It seemed to me that the place was no
better than the desert island from which the roc had brought me.

As I walked through the valley, I found it strewed with diamonds of a
surprising bigness. But the pleasure of looking at them was soon
destroyed by another sight, which filled me with terror, namely, a
great number of serpents, so monstrous that the least of them could