“Nay, Sindbad.  Heaven forbid that I should covet your riches; I will rather add to them, for I desire that you shall not leave my kingdom without some tokens of my good-will.”  He then commanded his officers to provide me with a suitable lodging at his expense, and sent slaves to wait upon me and carry my raft and my bales to my new dwelling-place.  You may imagine that I praised his generosity and gave him grateful thanks, nor did I fail to present myself daily in his audience-chamber, and for the rest of my time I amused myself in seeing all that was most worthy of attention in the city.  The island of Serendib being situated on the equinoctial line, the days and nights there are of equal length.  The chief city is placed at the end of a beautiful valley, formed by the highest mountain in the world, which is in the middle of the island.  I had the curiosity to ascend to its very summit, for this was the place to which Adam was banished out of Paradise.  Here are found rubies and many precious things, and rare plants grow abundantly, with cedar-trees and cocoa-palms.  On the sea-shore and at the mouths of the rivers the divers seek for pearls, and in some valleys diamonds are plentiful.  After many days I petitioned the King that I might return to my own country, to which he graciously consented.  Moreover, he loaded me with rich gifts, and when I went to take leave of him he intrusted me with a royal present and a letter to the Commander of the Faithful, our sovereign lord, saying, “I pray you give these to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid, and assure him of my friendship.”

I accepted the charge respectfully, and soon embarked upon the vessel which the King himself had chosen for me.  The King’s letter was written in blue characters upon a rare and precious skin of yellowish color, and these were the words of it:  “The King of the Indies, before whom walk a thousand elephants, who lives in a palace, of which the roof blazes with a hundred thousand rubies, and whose treasure-house contains twenty thousand diamond crowns, to the Caliph Harun-al-Rashid sends greeting.  Though the offering we present to you is unworthy of your notice, we pray you to accept it as a mark of the esteem and friendship which we cherish for you, and of which we gladly send you this token, and we ask of you a like regard if you deem us worthy of it.  Adieu, brother.”

The present consisted of a vase carved from a single ruby, six inches high and as thick as my finger; this was filled with the choicest pearls, large, and of perfect shape and lustre; secondly, a huge snake-skin, with scales as large as a sequin, which would preserve from sickness those who slept upon it.  Then quantities of aloes-wood, camphor, and pistachio-nuts; and lastly, a beautiful slave-girl, whose robes glittered with precious stones.

After a long and prosperous voyage we landed at Balsora, and I made haste to reach Bagdad, and taking the King’s letter I presented myself at the palace gate, followed by the beautiful slave, and various members of my own family, bearing the treasure.