cave, where there were several other people, no less amazed to see me than I to see them.
I partook of some provisions which they offered me. I then asked them what they did in such a desert place; to which they answered, that they were grooms belonging to the maharaja, sovereign of the island, and that every year they brought thither the king’s horses for pasturage. They added that they were to return home on the morrow, and had I been one day later I must have perished, because the inhabited part of the island was a great distance off, and it would have been impossible for me to have reached it without a guide.
Next morning they returned to the capital of the island, took me with them, and presented me to the maharaja. He asked me who I was, and by what adventure I had come into his dominions. After I had explained he told me he was sorry for my misfortune, and at the same time ordered that I should want for nothing; which command his officers were careful to see exactly fulfilled.
Being a merchant, I frequented men of my own profession, and particularly inquired for those who were strangers, that perchance I might hear news from Bagdad, or find an opportunity to return. For the maharaja’s capital is situated on the seacoast, and has a fine harbor, where ships arrive daily from the different quarters of the world.
As I was one day at the port, the ship arrived in which I had embarked at Bussorah. I at once knew the captain, and
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