The Mehrage Is Sovereign Over All These Islands; And That Of Zapage, In Which He Resides, Is Extremely Fertile, And So Populous, That The Towns Almost Touch Each Other, No Part Of The Land Being Uncultivated.

The palace of the king or Mehrage, stands on a river as broad as the Tigris at Bagdat or Bassora; but the sea intercepts its course, and drives its waters back with the tide; yet during the ebb the fresh water flows out a good way into the sea.

The river water is let into a small pond, close to the king's palace, and every morning the master of the household brings an ingot of gold, wrought in a particular manner, and throws it into the pond, in presence of the king. When the king dies, his successor causes all these ingots, which have been accumulating during the reign of his predecessor, to be taken out; and the sums arising from this great quantity of gold are distributed among the royal household, in certain proportions, according to their respective ranks, and the surplus is given to the poor.

Komar is the country whence the aloes wood, which we call Hud al Komari, is brought; and it is a very populous kingdom, of which the inhabitants are very courageous. In this country, the boundless commerce with women is forbidden, and indeed it has no wine. The kingdoms of Zapage and Komar are about ten or twenty days easy sail from each other, and the kingdoms were in peace with other when the following event is said, in their ancient histories, to have occurred. The young and high-spirited king of Komar was one day in his palace, which looks upon a river much like the Euphrates, at the entrance, and is only a day's journey from the sea. One day, in a discourse with his prime minister, the conversation turned upon the glory and population of the kingdom of the Mehrage, and the multitude of its dependent islands, when the king of Komar expressed a wish to see the head of the Mehrage of Zapage on a dish before him. The minister endeavoured to dissuade him from so unjust and rash an attempt; but the king afterwards proposed the same exploit to the other officers of his court. Intelligence of this project was conveyed to the Mehrage, who was a wise and active prince, of consummate experience, and in the flower of his age; and who immediately ordered a thousand small ships to be fitted out, with all necessary arms and provisions, and manned with as many of his best troops as they were able to transport; carefully concealing the purpose of this armament, but giving out that he meant to visit the different islands under his authority, and even caused letters to be written to the tributary kings of these islands to prepare for his reception. When every thing was in readiness, he sailed over to the kingdom of Komar, the king of which, and all his courtiers, were a set of effeminate creatures, who did nothing all day long but view their faces in mirrors, and pick their teeth.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 70 of 425
Words from 35805 to 36330 of 222093