cing prow) to beprepared, filled full of fine needles, but covered with rust; and planted in it trees of the Casamak and Bidara (Bér) plants; and he selected a party of old and toothless people, and ordered them on board, and directed them to sail to Tamsak. The prow set sail, and arrived at Tamsak in the course of a short time. The news was brought to Raja Suran, that a prow had arrived from China, who sent persons to enquire of the mariners how far it was to China. These persons accordingly went, and enquired of the Chinese, who replied, "When we set sail from the land of China, we were all young, about twelve years of age, or so, and we planted the seeds of these trees; but now, we have grown old and lost our teeth, and the seeds that we planted have become trees, which bore fruit before our arrival here." Then, they took out some of the rusty needles, and showed them, saying, "When we left the land of China, these bars of iron were thick as your arm; but now they have grown thus small by the corrosion of rust. We know not the number of years we have been on our journey; but, you may judge
