any thing from you that God has given you; far from lessening your wealth, I design to augment it, and will not let you go out of my dominions without marks of my liberality.  All the answer I returned was by praying for the prosperity of the prince, and commendations of his generosity and bounty.  He charged one of his officers to take care of me, and ordered people to serve me at his own charge.  The officer was very faithful in the execution of his orders, and made all the goods to be carried to the lodgings provided for me.  I went every day at a set hour to make my court to the king, and spent the rest of my time in seeing the city, and what was most worthy of my curiosity.

The isle of Serendib[Footnote:  Geographers place it on this side of the line, in the first climate.] is situate just under the equinoctial line; so that the days and nights there are always twelve hours each, and the island is eighty[Footnote:  The eastern geographers make a parasang longer than a French league.] parasangs in length, and as many in breadth.  The capital city stands in the middle of a fine valley formed by a mountain, in the middle of the island, which is the highest in the world.  It is seen three days sail off at sea.  There are rubies and several sorts of minerals in it, and all the rocks for the most part emerald, a metal line stone made use of to cut and smooth other precious stones.  Here grow all kinds of rare plants and trees, especially cedars and cocoas.  There is also pearl-fishing in the mouth of its river, and in some of its vallies there are found diamonds.  I made, by way of devotion, a pilgrimage to the place where Adam was confined after his banishment from Paradise, and had the curiosity to go to the top of it.

When I came back to the city, I prayed the king to allow me to return to my country, which he granted me in the most obliging and honourable manner.  He would needs force a rich present upon me; and when I went to take leave of him, he gave me one much more considerable, at the same time charging me with a letter for the commander of the faithful, our sovereign, and said, I pray you give this present from me, and this letter, to Caliph Haroun Alraschid, and assure him of my friendship.  I took the present and letter in a very respectful manner, and promised his majesty punctually to execute the commission with which he was pleased to honour me.  Before I embarked, this prince sent to seek for the captain and the merchants who were to go with me, and ordered them to treat me with all possible respect.

The letter from the king of Serendib was written on the skin of a certain animal of great value, because of its being so scarce, and of a yellowish colour.  The characters of this letter were of azure, and the contents thus:  “The King of the Indies, before whom march 100 elephants, who lives in a palace that shines with 100,000 rubies, and who has in his treasury 20,000 crowns enriched with diamonds, to