42 THE SECOND VOYAGE OF

attentively, I saw that it was a bird, of enormous
size, bulky body, and wide wings, flying in the
air; and this it was that concealed the body of
the sun, and veiled it from view upon the island.
At this my wonder increased, and I remembered
a story which travellers and voyagers had told
me long before, that there is, in certain of the
islands, a bird of enormous size, called the rukh’,
that feedeth its young ones with elephants. I
was convinced, therefore, that the dome which
I had seen was one of the eggs of the rukh’. I
wondered at the works of God (whose name be
exalted !); and while I was in this state, lo, that
bird alighted upon the dome, and brooded over
it with its wings, stretching out its legs behind
upon the ground; and it slept over it.—Extolled
be the perfection of Him who sleepeth not !—
Thereupon I arose, and unwound my turban from
my head, and folded it and twisted it so. that it
became like a rope; and I girded myself with it,
binding it tightly round my waist, and tied myself
by it to one of the feet of that bird, and made the
knot fast, saying within myself, “‘ Perhaps this bird
will convey me to a land of cities and inhabitants,
and that will be better than my remaining in this
island.” I passed the night sleepless, fearing that,
if I slept, the bird would fly away with me when I