70 _THE THIRD VOYAGE OF

and her who was with him, more horrible than
he in appearance, we were in the utmost fear.
As soon as the female saw us, we hastily loosed
the rafts that we had constructed, and embarked
on them, and pushed them forth into the sea.
But each of the two blacks had a mass of rock,
and they cast at us until the greater number of
us died from the casting, there remaining of us
only three persons, I and two others; and the
raft conveyed us to another island.

We walked forward upon that island until
the close of the day, and the night overtook us
in this state; so we slept a little; and we awoke
from our sleep, and, lo, a serpent of enormous
size, of large body and wide belly, had surrounded
us. It approached one of us, and swallowed
him to his shoulders: then it swallowed the rest
of him, and we heard his ribs break in pieces
in its belly; after which it went its way. At
this we wondered extremely, and we mourned
for our companion, and were in the utmost fear
for ourselves, saying, “By Allah, this is a won-
derful thing! Every death that we witness is
more horrible than the preceding one! We were
rejoiced at our escape from the black ; but our
joy is not complete! There is no strength nor
power but in God! By Allah, we have escaped