ed.

'And so, good Beltran,' said he, 'you have actually hunted this bird,
whose height is gigantic, whose cry at a distance resembles the lion's,
and which is to be found in parched and desolate tracts, deserted even
by antelopes and beasts of prey.'

'In truth have I,' replied Beltran.

'I envy you,' said Walter; 'nothing would please me more than such an
enterprise.'

'Nevertheless,' rejoined the renegade, 'it is somewhat irksome, and
requires much patience. But the Arabs have a proverb, that patience is
the price that must be paid for all success, and act accordingly. They
have horses trained for the purpose; and, when they first start the
ostrich, they go off at an easy gallop, so as to keep the bird in view,
without going so near as to alarm it. On discovering that it is pursued,
the ostrich begins to move away, gently at first, but gradually
increasing its speed, running with wings extended, as if flying, and
keeps doubling. It generally takes two days to run one down; but the
hunter gets the best of the race at last; and, when the ostrich finds
itself exhausted and beaten, it buries its head in the sand; and the
hunters, coming up, kill it with their clubs, taking care not to spoil
the feathers.'

'On my faith,' said Walter, 'I do own that such a pursuit would be
irksome; and I hardly think that my patience would brook so much delay.'

'However,' said Beltran, suddenly raising his hand and pointing forward,
'there lies before you the city of the caliph.'

Bagdad, as the reader may be aware, is situated on the Tigris, at the
distance of two hundred miles above the junction of that river with the
Euphrates, and the Tigris is here about six hundred feet in breadth. The
city, which is of an oblong shape, and of which the streets are so
narrow that not more than two horsemen can ride abreast, is surrounded
with a high wall, flanked with towers, some of an immense size, built by
the early caliphs; and several old buildings remain to attest its
ancient magnificence--such as the Gate of the Talisman, a lofty
minaret, built in 785; the tomb of Zobeida, the most beloved of the
wives of Haroun Alraschid; and the famous Madressa College, founded in
1233 by the Caliph Mustenatser.

No traces, however, are left of the palace so long inhabited by the
caliphs; nor does anything mark the place where, though its glory was
about to depart, it still stood in all its pride, with the black banner
of the Abassides floating o