hey
were surprised to see me, but more so at hearing the particulars
of my adventures. "You fell," said they, "into the hands of the
old man of the sea, and are the first who ever escaped strangling
by his malicious tricks. He never quitted those he had once made
himself master of, till he had destroyed them, and he has made
this island notorious by the number of men he has slain; so that
the merchants and mariners who landed upon it, durst not advance
into the island but in numbers at a time."

After having informed me of these things, they carried me with
them to the ship; the captain received me with great kindness,
when they told him what had befallen me. He put out again to sea,
and after some days' sail, we arrived at the harbour of a great
city, the houses of which were built with hewn stone.

One of the merchants who had taken me into his friendship invited
me to go along with him, and carried me to a place appointed for
the accommodation of foreign merchants. He gave me a large bag,
and having recommended me to some people of the town, who used to
gather cocoa-nuts, desired them to take me with them. "Go," said
he, "follow them, and act as you see them do, but do not separate
from them, otherwise you may endanger your life." Having thus
spoken, he gave me provisions for the journey, and I went with
them.

We came to a thick forest of cocoa-trees, very lofty, with trunks
so smooth that it was not possible to climb to the branches that
bore the fruit. When we entered the forest we saw a great number
of apes of several sizes, who fled as soon as they perceived us,
and climbed up to the top of the trees with surprising swiftness.

The merchants with whom I was, gathered stones and threw them at
the apes on the trees. I did the same, and the apes out of
revenge threw cocoa-nuts at us so fast, and with such gestures,
as sufficiently testified their anger and resentment. We gathered
up the cocoa-nuts, and from time to time threw stones to provoke
the apes; so that by this stratagem we filled our bags with
cocoa-nuts, which it had been impossible otherwise to have done.

When we had gathered our number, we returned to the city, where
the merchant, who had sent me to the forest, gave me the value of
the cocoas I brought: "Go on," said he, "and do the like every
day, until you have got money enough to carry you home." I
thanked him for his advice, and gradually collected as many
cocoa-nuts as produced me a consid