; each
one was more valuable than another in weight, shape and brilliancy;
and the whole apartment was illuminated with variegated colours, from
the reflection of their different coloured rays. When the young man
had eaten something, and drank a cup of wine, his senses returned;
I then asked him, 'where did you get these stones?' He answered,
'My native country is _Azurbaijan_; [345] Having separated from my
home and parents in my infancy, I have undergone many hardships;
I was for a long while buried alive, and have often escaped from the
claws of the angel of death.' I said, 'pray, young man, give me the
details that I may fully comprehend [your story].' Then he began
to relate his adventures as follows:--'My father was a merchant,
and he used to travel constantly to _Hindustan_, China, _Khata,
Rum,_ and Europe. When I was ten years of age, my father set out for
_Hindustan_, and wished to take me with him. Although my mother and
various aunts remarked that I was yet a child, and not old enough to
travel; my father did not mind them, and said, "I am now old; if he
is not instructed under my own eye, I will carry the regret with me
to my grave; he is the son of a man, and if he does not learn now,
when will he learn?"

"'Saying this, he took me with him, in spite of their entreaties,
and we set out. The journey was performed in health and safety, and
when we arrived in _Hindustan_, we sold some of our goods there,
and taking some rarities with us from thence, we set out for the
country of _Zerbad_. This journey was likewise performed in safety;
there also we sold and bought goods, and embarked on board a ship,
to return the quicker to our country. One day, about a month after,
we were overtaken by a storm and hurricane, and the rain began to fall
in torrents; the whole earth and sky became dark as a mass of smoke,
and the rudder broke; the pilot and master began to beat their heads;
for ten days the winds and waves carried us where they pleased; the
eleventh day the ship having struck against a rock, went to pieces. I
did not know what became of my father, our servants and our goods.

"'I found myself on a plank, which floated for three days and nights
beyond any control [of mine]. On the fourth day it reached the shore. I
had just life enough remaining. I got off the plank, crawled along on
my knees. I some how or other reached the dry land. I saw some fields
at a distance, and many people were assembled there; but t