Page:History of Sindbad the sailor.pdf/8

8 very smooth. I went round to see if it was open on any side, but saw it was not and that there was no climbing up to the top of it, it was so smooth. It was at least 50 paces round.

By this time the sun was ready to set and all of a sudden the sky became as dark as if it had been covered with a thick cloud. I was much astonished at this sudden darkness, but much more when I found it was occasioned by a bird of a size, that came flying towards me. I remembered a fowl called Roc, that I had often heard mariners speak of, and conceived that the great fowl, which I so much admired, must needs be its egg. In short, the bird lighted, and sat over the egg to hatch it. As I perceived her coming, I crept close to the egg, so that I had before me one of the eggs of the bird, that was as big as the trunk of a tree; I tied myself strongly to it with the cloth that went round my turban, in hopes that when the roc flew away the next morning, she would take me with her out of this desart island. And after having passed the night in this condition, the bird flew away next morning, as soon as it was day, and carried me so high, that I could not see the earth; she afterwards descended all of a sudden with so much rapidity, that I lost my senses. But when the rock was sat, and that I found myself on the ground, I speedily untied the knot, when the bird, having taken up a serpent of a monstrous length in her bill straight flew away.

The place where it left me was a very deep valley, encompassed on all sides with mountains so high that they seemed to reach above the clouds, and so full of steep rocks, that there was no possibility to get out of the valley.

As I walked through this valley, I perceived it was with diamonds, some of which were of a surprising bigness.