I took the King of Serendib’s letter, with the presents to the gate of the palace of the Commander of the Faithful, and was immediately conducted to the throne of the caliph. I made my obeisance, and presented the letter and gifts. When he had read what the King of Serendib wrote to him, he asked me if that prince were really so rich and potent as he represented himself in his letter. I prostrated myself a second time, and rising again, said, “Commander of the Faithful, I can assure your majesty he doth not exceed the truth. I bear him witness. Nothing is more worthy of admiration than the magnificence of his palace. When the prince appears in public, he has a throne fixed on the back of an elephant, and rides betwixt two ranks of his ministers, favorites, and other people of his court. Before him, seated upon the same elephant, an officer carries a golden lance, in his hand; and behind him there is another, who stands with a rod of gold, on the top of which is an emerald, half a foot long and an inch thick. He is also attended by a guard of one thousand men, clad in cloth of gold and silk, and mounted on elephants richly caparisoned. The officer who is before him on the same elephant, cries from time to time, with a loud voice, ‘Behold the great monarch, the potent and redoubtable Sultan of Serendib, the monarch greater than Solomon, and the powerful Maharaja.’ After he has pronounced those words, the officer behind the throne cries, in his turn, ‘This monarch, so great and so powerful, must die,
