the diamonds that had fallen to his lot, we left the place the next morning, and traveled through high mountains, where there were serpents of a prodigious length, which we had the good fortune to escape. We took shipping at the first port we reached, and touched at the isle of Roha, where grow trees that yield camphor. This tree is so large, and its branches so thick, that one hundred men may easily sit under its shade. The juice of which the camphor is made exudes from a hole bored in the upper part of the tree, and is received in a vessel, where it thickens and becomes what we call camphor. After the juice is thus drawn out, the tree withers and dies.
I pass over many other things peculiar to this island, lest I should weary you. Here I exchanged some of my diamonds for merchandise. We went to other islands, and at last, having touched at several trading towns of the continent, we landed at Bussorah and I returned to Bagdad. There I immediately gave large presents to the poor, and lived honorably upon the vast riches I had brought back gained with so much fatigue.
Thus Sindbad ended the relation of the second voyage, gave Hindbad another hundred sequins, and invited him to come the next day to hear the account of the third voyage. This he gladly did and was received as before, and, dinner over, Sindbad took up the tale of his adventures as follows.
271
