dventures to be written in letters of gold
and laid up in the archives of his kingdom.

Presently my raft was brought in and the bales opened in his presence,
and the king declared that in all his treasury there were no such rubies
and emeralds as those which lay in great heaps before him. Seeing that
he looked at them with interest, I ventured to say that I myself and all
that I had were at his disposal, but he answered me smiling:--

"Nay, Sindbad. Heaven forbid that I should covet your riches; I will
rather add to them, for I desire that you shall not leave my kingdom
without some tokens of my good-will." He then commanded his officers to
provide me with a suitable lodging at his expense, and sent slaves to
wait upon me and carry my raft and my bales to my new dwelling-place.
You may imagine that I praised his generosity and gave him grateful
thanks, nor did I fail to present myself daily in his audience-chamber,
and for the rest of my time I amused myself in seeing all that was most
worthy of attention in the city. The island of Serendib being situated
on the equinoctial line, the days and nights there are of equal length.
The chief city is placed at the end of a beautiful valley, formed by the
highest mountain in the world, which is in the middle of the island. I
had the curiosity to ascend to its very summit, for this was the place
to which Adam was banished out of Paradise. Here are found rubies and
many precious things, and rare plants grow abundantly, with cedar-trees
and cocoa-palms. On the sea-shore and at the mouths of the rivers the
divers seek for pearls, and in some valleys diamonds are plentiful.
After many days I petitioned the King that I might return to my own
country, to which he graciously consented. Moreover, he loaded me with
rich gifts, and when I went to take leave of him he intrusted me with a
royal present and a letter to the Commander of the Faithful, our
sovereign lord, saying, "I pray you give these to the Caliph
Harun-al-Rashid, and assure him of my friendship."

I accepted the charge respectfully, and soon embarked upon the vessel
which the King himself had chosen for me. The King's letter was written
in blue characters upon a rare and precious skin of yellowish color, and
these were the words of it: "The King of the Indies, before whom walk a
thousand elephants, who lives in a palace, of which the roof blazes with
a hundred thousand rubies, and whose treasure-house contains twenty
thou