The pleasures I took after my third voyage had not charms enough to
divert me from another. I was again prevailed upon by my passion
for traffic and curiosity to see new things. I therefore settled my
affairs, and having provided a stock of goods fit for the places
where I designed to trade, I set out on my journey. I took the way
of Persia, of which I travelled over several provinces, and then
arrived at a port, where I embarked. We set sail, and having
touched at several ports of the mainland and some of the eastern
islands, we put out to sea, and were overtaken by a sudden gust of
wind that obliged the captain to furl his sails, and to take all
other necessary precautions to prevent the danger that threatened
us. But all was in vain; our endeavours had no effect, the sails
were torn into a thousand pieces, and the ship was stranded; so
that a great many of the merchants and seamen were drowned, and the
cargo lost.
I had the good fortune, with several of the merchants and mariners,
to get a plank, and we were carried by the current to an island
which lay before us: there we found fruit and spring water, which
preserved our lives. We stayed all night near the place where the
sea cast us ashore, without consulting what we should do, our
misfortune had dispirited us so much.
Next morning, as soon as the sun was up, we walked from the shore,
and advancing into the island, saw some houses, to which we went;
and as soon as we came thither we were encompassed by a great
number of black men, who seized us, shared us among them, and
carried us to their respective habitations.
I and five of my comrades were carried to one place; they made us
sit down immediately, and gave us a certain herb, which they made
signs to us to eat. My comrades, not taking notice that the black
men ate none of it themselves, consulted only the satisfying of
their own hunger, and fell to eating with greediness: but I,
suspecting some trick, would not so much as taste it, which
happened well for me; for in a little time I perceived my
companions had lost their senses, and that when they spoke to me
they knew not what they said.
The black men fed us afterwards with rice, prepared with oil of
cocoanuts, and my comrades, who had lost their reason, ate of it
greedily. I ate of it also, but very sparingly. The black men gave
us that herb at first on purpose to deprive us of our senses, that
we might not be aware of the sad destiny prepared for us; and they
gave us rice on purpose to fatten us, for, being cannibals, their
design was to eat us as soon as we grew fat. They did accordingly
eat my comrades, who were not aware of their condition; but my
senses being entire, you may easily guess that instead of growing
fat, as the rest did, I grew leaner every day. The fear of death
under which I laboured turned all my food into poison. I fell into
a languishing illness which proved my safety, for the black men
having killed and eaten up my companions, seeing me to be withered,
lean, and sick, deferred my death till another time.
Meanwhile, I had a great deal of liberty, so that there was
scarcely any notice taken of what I did, and this gave me an
opportunity one day to get at a distance from the houses, and to
make my escape. An old man who saw me, and suspected my design,
called to me as loud as he could to return, but instead of obeying
him, I redoubled my pace, and quickly got out of sight. At that
time there was none but the old man about the houses, the rest
being away, and not to come home till night, which was pretty usual
with them; therefore, being sure that they could not come in time
to pursue me, I went on till night, when I stopped to rest a
little, and to eat some of the provisions I had taken care to
bring; but I speedily set forward again, and travelled seven days,
avoiding those places which seemed to be inhabited, and living for
the most part upon cocoanuts, which served me for both meat and
drink. On the eighth day I came near the sea, and all of a sudden
saw white people like myself, gathering pepper, of which there was
great plenty in that place. This I took to be a good omen, and went
to them without any scruple.
The people who gathered pepper came to meet me as soon as they saw
me, and asked me in Arabic who I was, and whence I came. I was
overjoyed to hear them speak in my own language, and satisfied
their curiosity by giving them an account of my shipwreck, and how
I fell into the hands of the black men. 'Those black men,' replied
they, 'are cannibals, and by what miracle did you escape their
cruelty?' I told them the same story I now tell you, at which they
were wonderfully surprised.
I stayed with them till they had gathered their quantity of pepper,
and then sailed with them to the island from whence they came. They
presented me to their king, who was a good prince. He had the
patience to hear the relation of my adventures, which surprised
him, and he afterwards gave me clothes, and commanded care to be
taken of me.
The island was very well peopled, plentiful in everything, and the
capital was a place of great trade. This agreeable retreat was very
comfortable to me after my misfortune, and the kindness of this
generous prince towards me completed my satisfaction. In a word,
there was not a person more in favour with him than myself; and, in
consequence, every man in court and city sought to oblige me, so
that in a very little time I was looked upon rather as a native
than a stranger.
I observed one thing which to me appeared very extraordinary. All
the people, the king himself not excepted, rode their horses
without bridle or stirrups. This made me one day take the liberty
to ask the king how that came to pass. His majesty answered, that I
talked to him of things which nobody knew the use of in his
dominions. I went immediately to a workman, and gave him a model
for making the stock of a saddle. When that was done, I covered it
myself with velvet and leather, and embroidered it with gold. I
afterwards went to a locksmith, who made me a bridle according to
the pattern I showed him, and then he made me also some stirrups.
When I had all things completed, I presented them to the king, and
put them upon one of his horses. His majesty mounted immediately,
and was so pleased with them, that he testified his satisfaction by
large presents to me. I could not avoid making several others for
his ministers and the principal officers of his household, who all
of them made me presents that enriched me in a little time. I also
made some for the people of best quality in the city, which gained
me great reputation and regard.
As I paid court very constantly to the king, he said to me one day,
'Sinbad, I love thee; and all my subjects who know thee treat thee
according to my example. I have one thing to demand of thee, which
thou must grant.'
'Sir,' answered I, 'there is nothing but I will do, as a mark of my
obedience to your majesty, whose power over me is absolute.'
'I have a mind thou shouldst marry,' replied he, 'that so thou
mayst stay in my dominion, and think no more of thy own country.'
I dared not resist the prince's will, and so he gave me one of the
ladies of his court, a noble, beautiful, and rich lady. The
ceremonies of marriage being over, I went and dwelt with the lady,
and for some time we lived together in perfect harmony. I was not,
however, very well satisfied with my condition, and therefore
designed to make my escape on the first occasion, and to return to
Bagdad, which my present settlement, how advantageous soever, could
not make me forget.
While I was thinking on this, the wife of one of my neighbours,
with whom I had contracted a very close friendship, fell sick and
died. I went to see and comfort him in his affliction, and finding
him swallowed up with sorrow, I said to him as soon as I saw him,
'God preserve you and grant you a long life.'
'Alas!' replied he, 'how do you think I should obtain that favour
you wish me? I have not above an hour to live.'
'Pray,' said I, 'do not entertain such a melancholy thought; I hope
it will not be so, but that I shall enjoy your company for many
years.'
'I wish you,' said he, 'a long life; but for me my days are at an
end, for I must be buried this day with my wife. This is a law
which our ancestors established in this island, and always observed
inviolably. The living husband is interred with the dead wife, and
the living wife with the dead husband. Nothing can save me; every
one must submit to this law.'
While he was entertaining me with an account of this barbarous
custom, the very hearing of which frightened me cruelly, his
kindred, friends and neighbours came in a body to assist at the
funerals. They put on the corpse the woman's richest apparel, as if
it had been her wedding-day, and dressed her with all her jewels;
then they put her into an open coffin, and lifting it up, began
their march to the place of burial. The husband walked at the head
of the company, and followed the corpse. They went up to a high
mountain, and when they came thither, took up a great stone, which
covered the mouth of a very deep pit, and let down the corpse, with
all its apparel and jewels. Then the husband, embracing his kindred
and friends, suffered himself to be put into another open coffin
without resistance, with a pot of water, and seven little loaves,
and was let down in the same manner as they let down his wife. The
mountain was pretty long, and reached to the sea. The ceremony
being over, they covered the hole again with the stone, and
returned.
It is needless to say that I was the only melancholy spectator of
this funeral, whereas the rest were scarcely moved at it, the
practice was so customary to them. I could not forbear speaking my
thoughts on this matter to the king. 'Sir,' said I, 'I cannot but
wonder at the strange custom in this country of burying the living
with the dead. I have been a great traveller, and seen many
countries, but never heard of so cruel a law.'
'What do you mean, Sinbad?' said the king; 'it is a common law. I
shall be interred with the queen, my wife, if she die first.'
'But, sir,' said I, 'may I presume to ask your majesty if strangers
be obliged to observe this law?'
'Without doubt,' replied the king, smiling at my question; 'they
are not exempted, if they are married in this island.'
I went home very melancholy at this answer, for the fear of my wife
dying first, and my being interred alive with her, occasioned me
very mortifying reflections. But there was no remedy: I must have
patience, and submit to the will of God. I trembled, however, at
every little indisposition of my wife; but alas! in a little time
my fears came upon me all at once, for she fell ill, and died in a
few days.
You may judge of my sorrow; to be interred alive seemed to me as
deplorable an end as to be devoured by cannibals. But I must
submit; the king and all his court would honour the funeral with
their presence, and the most considerable people of the city would
do the like. When all was ready for the ceremony, the corpse was
put into a coffin, with all her jewels and magnificent apparel. The
cavalcade began, and, as second actor in this doleful tragedy, I
went next to the corpse, with my eyes full of tears, bewailing my
deplorable fate. Before I came to the mountain, I addressed myself
to the king, in the first place, and then to all those who were
round me, and bowing before them to the earth to kiss the border of
their garments, I prayed them to have compassion upon me.
'Consider,' said I, 'that I am a stranger, and ought not to be
subject to this rigorous law, and that I have another wife and
child in my own country.' It was to no purpose for me to speak
thus, no soul was moved at it; on the contrary, they made haste to
let down my wife's corpse into the pit, and put me down the next
moment in an open coffin, with a vessel full of water and seven
loaves. In short, the fatal ceremony being performed, they covered
up the mouth of the pit, notwithstanding the excess of my grief and
my lamentable cries.
As I came near the bottom, I discovered, by help of the little
light that came from above, the nature of this subterranean place;
it was a vast long cave, and might be about fifty fathoms deep. I
immediately smelt an insufferable stench proceeding from the
multitude of corpses which I saw on the right and left; nay, I
fancied that I heard some of them sigh out their last. However,
when I got down, I immediately left my coffin, and, getting at a
distance from the corpses, lay down upon the ground, where I stayed
a long time, bathed in tears. Then reflecting on my sad lot, 'It is
true,' said I, 'that God disposes all things according to the
decrees of His providence; but, poor Sinbad, art not thou thyself
the cause of thy being brought to die so strange a death? Would to
God thou hadst perished in some of those tempests which thou hast
escaped! Then thy death had not been so lingering and terrible in
all its circumstances. But thou hast drawn all this upon thyself by
thy cursed avarice. Ah! unfortunate wretch, shouldst thou not
rather have stayed at home, and quietly enjoyed the fruits of thy
labour?'
Such were the vain complaints with which I made the cave echo,
beating my head and breast out of rage and despair, and abandoning
myself to the most afflicting thoughts. Nevertheless, I must tell
you that, instead of calling death to my assistance in that
miserable condition, I felt still an inclination to live, and to do
all I could to prolong my days. I went groping about, with my nose
stopped, for the bread and water that was in my coffin, and took
some of it. Though the darkness of the cave was so great that I
could not distinguish day and night, yet I always found my coffin
again, and the cave seemed to be more spacious and fuller of
corpses than it appeared to me at first. I lived for some days upon
my bread and water, which being all used up at last I prepared for
death.
As I was thinking of death, I heard something walking, and blowing
or panting as it walked. I advanced towards that side from whence I
heard the noise, and upon my approach the thing puffed and blew
harder, as if it had been running away from me. I followed the
noise, and the thing seemed to stop sometimes, but always fled and
blew as I approached. I followed it so long and so far that at last
I perceived a light resembling a star; I went on towards that
light, and sometimes lost sight of it, but always found it again,
and at last discovered that it came through a hole in the rock
large enough for a man to get out at.
Upon this I stopped some time to rest myself, being much fatigued
with pursuing this discovery so fast. Afterwards coming up to the
hole I went out at it, and found myself upon the shore of the sea.
I leave you to guess the excess of my joy; it was such that I could
scarce persuade myself of its being real.
But when I had recovered from my surprise, and was convinced of the
truth of the matter, I found that the thing which I had followed
and heard puff and blow was a creature which came out of the sea,
and was accustomed to enter at that hole to feed upon the dead
carcasses.
I examined the mountain, and perceived it to be situated betwixt
the sea and the town, but without any passage or way to communicate
with the latter, the rocks on the side of the sea were so rugged
and steep. I fell down upon the shore to thank God for this mercy,
and afterwards entered the cave again to fetch bread and water,
which I did by daylight, with a better appetite than I had done
since my interment in the dark hole.
I returned thither again, and groped about among the biers for all
the diamonds, rubies, pearls, gold bracelets, and rich stuffs I
could find. These I brought to the shore, and, tying them up neatly
into bales with the cords that let down the coffins, I laid them
together upon the bank to wait till some ship passed by, without
fear of rain, for it was not then the season.
After two or three days I perceived a ship that had but just come
out of the harbour and passed near the place where I was. I made a
sign with the linen of my turban, and called to them as loud as I
could. They heard me, and sent a boat to bring me on board, when
the mariners asked by what misfortune I came thither. I told them
that I had suffered shipwreck two days ago, and made shift to get
ashore with the goods they saw. It was happy for me that those
people did not consider the place where I was, nor inquire into the
probability of what I told them; but without any more ado took me
on board with my goods. When I came to the ship, the captain was so
well pleased to have saved me, and so much taken up with his own
affairs, that he also took the story of my pretended shipwreck upon
trust, and generously refused some jewels which I offered him.
We passed with a regular wind by several islands, among others the
one called the Isle of Bells, about ten days' sail from Serendib,
and six from that of Kela, where we landed. This island produces
lead from its mines, Indian canes, and excellent camphor.
The king of the Isle of Kela is very rich and potent, and the Isle
of Bells, which is about two days' journey in extent, is also
subject to him. The inhabitants are so barbarous that they still
eat human flesh. After we had finished our commerce in that island
we put to sea again, and touched at several other ports. At last I
arrived happily at Bagdad with infinite riches, of which it is
needless to trouble you with the detail. Out of thankfulness to God
for His mercies, I gave great alms for the support of several
mosques, and for the subsistence of the poor, and employed myself
wholly in enjoying the society of my kindred and friends, and in
making merry with them.