CAMARALZAMAN AND BADOURA. 291

any stranger of distinction, and above all, with what his vessel
was laden.

The captain gave satisfactory answers to all these questions ;
as for the passengers, he assured her there were none besides
the merchants who were accustomed to trade thither ; and that
they brought very rich stuffs from different countries, linens of
the finest texture, painted as well as plain, precious stones, musk,
ambergris, camphor, civet, spices, medicinal drugs, olives, and
several other articles.

The Princess Badoura happened to be passionately fond of
olives. She had no sooner heard them mentioned, than she
said to the captain, “J will take all you have on board; order
them to be unladen immediately, that I-:may bargain for them.”

“ Sire,” replied the captain, who took her for the king of the
Isle of Ebony, “there are fifty large jars of olives; but they
belong to a merchant who remained behind. I had informed
him of my departure, and even waited for him some time; but
as I found he did not come, and that his delay prevented my
profiting by a favourable wind, I lost all patience, and set sail.”

The captain sent his boat to the ship, and it soon returned,
bringing the jars of olives. The princess inquired what the
value of the fifty jars might be in the Isle of Ebony. “Sire,”
replied the captain, “the merchant is very poor; your majesty
will confer a great obligation on him by giving him a thousand
pieces of silver.” ‘That he may be perfectly satisfied,” said the
princess, “and in consideration of his great poverty, you shall
have a thousand pieces of gold counted out to you, which you
will take care to give him.” She gave orders for the payment
of this sum, and after she had desired the jars to be taken
away, she returned to the palace.

As night approached, the Princess Badoura retired to the
interior palace, and went to the apartment of the Princess
Haiatalnefous, where she had the fitty jars of olives brought to
her. She had opened one, to taste them, and to eat of them
herself, and poured some into a dish, when. conceive her asto-
nishment at finding the olives mixed with gold dust. “What
a wonderful adventure!” exclaimed she. She immediately
ordered the other jars to be opened, and emptied in her presence,
by the women of Haiatalnefous ; and her surprise increased, as
she perceived that the olives in each jar were mixed with the gold
dust. But when that was emptied in which Camaralzaman