the place of viceregent to His Prophet, after his ancestors of happy memory, to the potent and esteemed Raja of Serendib.
“We received your letter with joy, and send you this from our imperial residence, the garden of superior wits. We hope, when you look upon it, you will perceive our good intention, and be pleased with it. Farewell.”The caliph’s present was a complete suit of cloth of gold, valued at one thousand sequins; fifty robes of rich stuff, a hundred of white cloth, the finest of Cairo, Suez, and Alexandria; a vessel of agate, more broad than deep, an inch thick, and half a foot wide, the bottom of which represented in bass-relief a man with one knee on the ground, who held a bow and an arrow, ready to discharge at a lion. He sent him also a tablet, which, according to tradition, belonged to the great Solomon.
The King of Serendib was highly gratified at the caliph’s acknowledgment of his friendship. A little time after this audience, I solicited leave to depart, and with difficulty obtained it. The king, when he dismissed me, made me a very considerable present. I embarked immediately to return to Bagdad, but had not the good fortune to arrive there so speedily as I had hoped. God ordered it otherwise.
Three or four days after my departure, we were attacked by pirates, who easily seized upon our ship, because it was not a vessel of war. Some of the crew offered resistance, which cost them their lives. But for myself and the rest, who
302
