126 THE FIFTH VOYAGE OF

saw that we had put forth to sea, they absented
themselves from us for a while. We proceeded
and made speed, desiring to escape from them,
and to quit their country; but, lo, they had followed
us, and they now approached us, each of them
having in its claws a huge mass of rock from a
mountain ; and the male bird threw the rock that
he had brought upon us. The master, however,
-Steered away the ship, and the mass of rock
missed her by a little space. It descended into
the sea by the ship, and the ship went up with us,
and down, by reason of the mighty plunging of the
rock, and we beheld the bottom of the sea in conse-
quence of its vehement force. Then the mate of
the male rukh’ threw upon us the rock that she
had brought, which was smaller than the former
one, and, as destiny had ordained, it fell upon the
stern of the ship, and crushed it, making the rudder
fly into twenty pieces, and all that was in the ship
became submerged in the sea.

I strove to save myself, impelled by the sweet-
ness of life, and God (whose name be exalted !)
placed within my reach one of the planks of the-
ship ; so I caught hold of it, and having got upon
it, began to row upon it with my feet, and the wind
and the waves helped me forward. The vessel
had sunk near an island in the midst of the sea,