AHMED AND PARI-BANOU. 455

which is the most extraordinary, and of the most singular
nature.”

The three princes agreed to this proposal, and at once took
leave of the sultan, that they might be in readiness to set off
very early the next morning. They went out at the same gate
of the city, well mounted and equipped, dressed like merchants,
each with a confidential attendant, disguised like a slave; and
they kept together till they arrived at the first inn, where the
road separated into three, one of which each of them was to
take by himself. At night, whilst they were refreshing them-
selves with the supper they had ordered, they agreed that
they would be absent a year, and, after that time, meet again
at the same place, upon this condition, that he who came
first should wait for the other two, and that the two who
came first should wait for the third. The next morning at day-
break, after having embraced each other, and mutually wished
one another an agreeable journey, they mounted their horses,
and each took one of three roads, without at all clashing in their
choice of them.

Prince Houssain, the eldest of the three, who had often heard
of the great grandeur, strength riches, and splendour of the
kingdom of Bisnagar, took his route towards the Indian sea;
and, after a journey of three months, he arrived at Bisnagar,
a city which gives its own name to the whole country of which
it is the capital, and where the usual residence of its sovereigns
is fixed. He took up his lodgings ina khan appropriated for
the reception of foreign merchants; and as he had learnt that
‘there were four principal different divisions, where the merchants
of all descriptions had shops for their goods, he went on the very
next day to one of the three divisions.

After having walked through every street in this quarter,
Prince Houssain felt himself in want of some repose. He ex-
pressed his wishes to a merchant, who very civilly invited him
to come in and rest himself in his shop. The prince accepted
the offer, and had not been long sitting there before he saw a
crier going about with a carpet about six feet square in his
hand, which he offered to put up for sale at thirty purses. He
called the crier, and desired to see this carpet, as it seemed to
him to be a most exorbitant price for it, both on account of its
size and its quality. When he had thoroughly examincd the