ae 8 ie e The Sixth Voyage .of

 

The present consisted first, of one single ruby made into a cup,
about half a foot high, an inch thick, and. filled with round pearls.
Secondly, 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. Thirdly, fifty thousand drachms of the best
wood of aloes, with thirty grains of camphor as big as pistachios.
And fourthly, a she-slave of ravishing beauty, whose apparel was
covered all over with jewels. i

The ship set sail, and after a very long and successful voyage,
we landed. at Balsora; from thence I went to Bagdad, where the
first thing I did was to acquit myself. of my commission.

I took the King of Sérendib’s letter, and went to. present
myself at the gate of the Commander of the Faithful, followed by
the beautiful slave and such of my own family as carried the
presents. I gave an account of the reason of. my coming, and
was immediately conducted to the throne of the caliph. I made
my reverence, and after a short speech gave him the letter and
present. When he had read what the King of Serendib wrote
to him, he asked me if that prince were really so rich and potent
as he had said in this letter. I prostrated myself a second time,
and rising again, ‘Commander of the Faithful, said I, ‘I can assure
your majesty he doth not exceed the truth on that head: I am
witness of it. There is nothing more capable of raising a man’s
admiration than the magnificence of his palace. When the prince
appears in public, he has a throne fixed on the back of an elephant,

: and marches betwixt two ranks of his ministers, favourites, ‘and
‘other people of his court ; before him, upon the same elephant, an
officer carries a golden lance in his hand, and behind the throne
there is another, who stands upright with’ a column of gold, on
the top of which there is an emerald half a foot long and an inch
thick ; before him march a guard of a thousand men, clad in cloth
of gold and silk, and mounted on elephants richly caparisoned.