256 wh PE: .. : The Sixth Voyage of

 

‘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 raft 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 raft, and_
I would beg of you to dispose of it as your own.’

_ He-answered me with a smile, ‘Sinbad, I will take care not
to covet anything of yours, nor to take anything 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
this 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 pay 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, so that the days and nights there are always: of twelve hours _
each, and the island is eighty paesanigs in length, and as many
in breadth. : :

The pee city tends at the end of a fine valley formed :