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Here and there stood censers of aloes-wood and ambergris and sweet-scented musk, and at the upper end was a couch covered with brocade, on which he seated himself, marvelling at the exceeding magnificence of the place and knowing not what was appointed to him in the secret purpose of God.
So he landed and, finding himself in a great and pleasant island, paced about it and saw with admiration that its dust was saffron and its gravel carnelian and precious minerals; its hedges were of jessamine, its vegetation was of the goodliest of trees and of the brightest of odoriferous shrubs; its brushwood was of Comorin and Sumatran aloes-wood and its reeds were sugar-canes.
Here I exchanged my nuts for pepper and good aloes-wood, and went a-fishing for pearls with some of the other merchants, and my divers were so lucky that very soon I had an immense number, and those very large and perfect.
It is impossible not to recall the words of the Humpback, in the Thousand and One Nights, as we see the pyramids and glistening minarets of the Oriental city coming into view; "He who hath not seen Cairo hath not seen the world; its soil is golden; its Nile is a wonder; its women are like the black-eyed virgins of Paradise; its houses are palaces; and its air is soft, its odor surpassing that of aloes-wood and cheering the heart, and how can Cairo be otherwise, when it is the Mother of the world?"
Presently, she called for wine and drank a cup, after which she filled another and gave it to me, saying, 'Now is the time for converse and story-telling. So I bethought myself and began to say, 'It hath reached me that such and such things happened and there was a man who said so and so, till I had told her a number of pleasing tales and adventures with which she was delighted and cried, ''Tis marvellous that a merchant should bear in memory such store of stories like these, for they are fit for Kings. Quoth I, 'I had a neighbour who used to consort with Kings and carouse with them; so, when he was at leisure, I visited his house and he hath often told me what thou hast heard. Thereupon she exclaimed 'By my life, but thou hast a good memory! So we continued to converse thus, and as often as I was silent, she would begin, till in this way we passed the most part of the night, whilst the burning aloes-wood diffused its fragrance and I was in such case that if Al-Maamun had suspected it, he would have flown like a bird with longing for it.
II. PERFUMES. Before, however, the hair received its final arrangement from the hands of the waiting maid, it was held open and dishevelled to receive the fumes of frankincense, aloes-wood, cassia, costmary and other odorous woods, gums, balsams, and spices of India, Arabia, or Palestine placed upon glowing embers, in vessels of golden fretwork.
Over one of his shoulders hung a cloak of yellow brocade, and on the other was a green silk bag full of Sumatran aloes-wood, with which he fed the cresset by way of firewood.
After he had sold his other goods, he could not find any one to take the aloes-wood off his hands, for the people who live there are not acquainted with that article of commerce. Then seeing people buying charcoal from the woodmen, he burnt his stock of aloes-wood and reduced it to charcoal.
Not very far from Almansur there is a famous idol called Multan, to which the Indians resort in pilgrimage, from the remotest parts. Some of the pilgrims bring the odoriferous wood called Hud ul Camruni, so called from Camrun, where there is excellent aloes-wood. Some of this is worth 200 dinars the mawn, and is commonly marked with a seal, to distinguish it from another kind of less value.
Let us join the night to the day, and to-morrow we will each go our own way. 'My life on you! said the cateress, 'let him pass the night with us, that we may laugh at him, for he is a pleasant rogue; and we may never again chance upon the like of him. So the mistress of the house said to the porter, 'Thou shalt pass the night with us on condition that thou submit to our authority and that, whatever thou seest, thou ask no questions about it nor enquire the reason of it. 'It is well, answered he; and they said, 'Go and read what is written over the door. So he went to the door and found the following words written thereon in letters of gold, 'He who speaks of what concerns him not, shall hear what will not please him. And he said, 'Be ye witness against me that I will not speak of what concerns me not. Then rose the cateress and prepared food, and they ate: after which they lighted the lamps and candles and strewed on the latter ambergris and aloes-wood; then changed the service and set on fresh fruits and flowers and wine and so forth and sat down again to drink.
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