We marched thus altogether, till we came to the city of Serendib,
[42] for it was in that island I landed. The blacks presented me to
their king; I approached his throne, and saluted him as I used to do
the kings of the Indies; that is to say, I prostrated myself at his
feet, and kissed the earth. The prince ordered me to rise up,
received me with an obliging air, and made me come up, and sit down
near him. He first asked me my name, and I answered, They call me
Sindbad the sailor, because of the many voyages I had undertaken,
and I am a citizen of Bagdad. But, replied he, how came you into my
dominions, and from whence came you last?
I concealed nothing from the king; I told him all that I have now
told you, and his majesty was so surprised and charmed with it, that
he commanded my adventure to be written in letters of gold, and laid
up in the archives of his kingdom. At last my float was brought in,
and the bales opened in his presence: he admired the quantity of
wood of aloes and ambergris; but, above all, the rubies and
emeralds, for he had none in his treasury that came near them.
Observing that he looked on my jewels with pleasure, and viewed the
most remarkable among them one after another, I fell prostrate at
his feet, and took the liberty to say to him, Sir, not only my
person is at your majesty’s service, but the cargo of the float,
and I would beg of you to dispose of it as your own. He answered me
with a smile, Sindbad, I will take care not to covet any thing of
yours, nor take any thing from you that God has given you; far from
lessening your wealth, I design to augment it, and will not let you
go out of my dominions without marks of my liberality. All the
answer I returned, was prayers for the prosperity of that prince,
and commendations of his generosity and bounty. He charged one of
his officers to take care of me, and ordered people to serve me at
his own charge. The officer was very faithful in the execution of
his orders, and caused all the goods to be carried to the lodgings
provided for me.
I went every day, at a set hour, to make my court to the king, and
spent the rest of my time in seeing the city, and what was most
worthy of notice.
The isle of Serendib is situated just under the equinoctial line;
[43] so that the days and nights there are always of twelve hours
each, and the island is eighty parasangs [44] in length, and as many
in breadth.
The capital city stands in the end of a fine valley, formed by a
mountain in the middle of the island, which is the highest in the
world. [45] It is seen three days sail off at sea. There are rubies
and several sorts of minerals in it, and all the rocks are for the
most part emery, a metalline stone made use of to cut and smooth
other precious stones. There grow all sorts of rare plants and
trees, especially cedars and cocoa-trees. There is also a pearl
fishery in the mouth of its river, and in some of its valleys there
are found diamonds. I made, by way of devotion, a pilgrimage to the
place where Adam was confined after his banishment from paradise,
and had the curiosity to go to the top of it.
When I came back to the city, I prayed the king to allow me to
return to my country, which he granted me in the most obliging and
most honourable manner. He would needs force a rich present upon me;
and when I went to take my leave of him, he gave me one much more
considerable, and at the same time charged me with a letter for the
commander of the faithful, our sovereign, saying to me, I pray you
give this present from me, and this letter, to Caliph Haroun
Alraschid, and assure him of my friendship. I took the present and
letter in a very respectful manner, and promised his majesty
punctually to execute the commission with which he was pleased to
honour me. Before I embarked, this prince sent for the captain and
the merchants who were to go with me, and ordered them to treat me
with all possible respect.
The letter from the king of Serendib was written on the skin of a
certain animal, of great value, because of its being so scarce, and
of a yellowish colour. [46] The characters of the letters were of
azure, and the contents as follows:
‘The king of the Indies, before whom march a hundred elephants,
who lives in a palace that shines with a hundred thousand rubies,
and who has in his treasury twenty thousand crowns, enriched with
diamonds, to Caliph Haroun Alraschid:
‘Though the present we send you be inconsiderable, receive it
however as a brother and a friend, in consideration of the hearty
friendship which we bear for you, and of which we are willing to
give you proof. We desire the same part in your friendship,
considering that we believe it to be our merit being of the same
dignity with yourself. We conjure you this in quality of a brother.
Adieu.’
The present consisted, first, of one single ruby [47] made into a
cup, about half a foot high, an inch thick, and filled with round
pearls of half a dram each. Second, the skin of a serpent, whose
scales were as large as an ordinary piece of gold, and had the
virtue to preserve from sickness those who lay upon it. [48] Third,
fifty thousand drams of the best wood of aloes, with thirty grains
of camphire as big as pistachios. And fourth, a she slave of
ravishing beauty, whose apparel was all covered over with jewels.
The ship set sail, and after a very long and successful navigation,
we landed at Balsora; from thence I went to Bagdad, where the first
thing I did was to acquit myself of my commission. Scheherazade
stopt because day appeared, and next night proceeded thus: