88 . THE FOURTH VOYAGE OF

with my companions, and my eating so little of
it was owing to the grace of God (whose name
be exalted !), in consequence of which I have
lived to the present time. For when my com-
panions ate of that food, their minds became
stupefied, and they ate like madmen, and their
states became changed. Then the people brought
to them cocoa-nut oil, and gave them to drink
of it, and anointed them with it; and when
my companions drank of that oil, their eyes
became turned in their faces, and they proceeded
to eat of that food contrary to their usual manner.
Upon this, therefore, I was confounded respecting
their case, and grieved for them, and became
extremely anxious by reason of the violence of
my fear for myself with regard to these naked
men. I observed them attentively, and, lo, they
were a Magian people, and the King of their
city was a ghool; and every one who arrived
at their country, or whom they saw or met in
the valley or the roads, they brought to their
King, and they fed him with that food, and
anointed him with that oil, in consequence of
which his body became expanded, in order that
he might eat largely ; and his mind was stupefied,
his faculty of reflection was destroyed, and he
became like an idiot. ‘Then they gave him to