[Illustration]

_The spot where she left me was encompassed on all sides by mountains
that seemed to reach above the clouds, and so steep that there was no
possibility of getting out of the valley._

Thus Sinbad ended his relation, gave Hindbad another hundred sequins,
and invited him to come the next day to hear the account of the third
voyage.

THE THIRD VOYAGE

"I soon lost the remembrance of the perils I had encountered in my two
former voyages," said Sinbad, "and being in the flower of my age, I grew
weary of living without business, and went from Bagdad to Bussorah with
the richest commodities of the country. There I embarked again with some
merchants. We made a long voyage and touched at several ports, where we
carried on a considerable trade. One day, being out in the main ocean,
we were overtaken by a dreadful tempest, which drove us from our course.
The tempest continued several days, and brought us before the port of an
island, which the captain was very unwilling to enter, but we were
obliged to cast anchor. When we had furled our sails, the captain told
us that this, and some other neighbouring islands, were inhabited by
hairy savages, who would speedily attack us; and, though they were but
dwarfs, yet we must make no resistance, for they were more in number
than the locusts; and if we happened to kill one of them they would all
fall upon us and destroy us.

"We soon found that what he had told us was but too true; an innumerable
multitude of frightful savages, about two feet high, covered all over
with red hair, came swimming towards us, and encompassed our ship. They
spoke to us as they came near, but we understood not their language and
they climbed up the sides of the ship with such agility as surprised us.
They took down our sails, cut the cables, and hauling to the shore, made
us all get out, and afterward carried the ship into another island, from
whence they had come.

"We went forward into the island, where we gathered some fruits and
herbs to prolong our lives as long as we could; but we expected nothing
but death. As we advanced, we perceived at a distance a vast pile of
buildings, and made toward it. We found it to be a palace, elegantly
built, and very lofty, with a gate of ebony, which we forced open. We
entered the court, where we saw before us a large apartment, with a
porch, having on one side a heap of human bones, and on the other a vast
number of roasting spits. We trembled