breathe over it the name
'Haschanascha.' Do not allow it to be taken away from thee, either by
force or by stratagem; nor give it willingly as a present to any
stranger's hand. If thou shouldst wish to make an experiment, throw it
behind thee over thy head."

Jussuf thanked his master for the present, and hid the talisman in his
bosom; he then took leave of his master in an absent spirit and
hastened home. He immediately gave his slaves the necessary charges,
committed the care of his house to an old faithful servant, locked up
his warehouse in the bazaar, and proceeded in the evening of the same
day, with a train of twenty armed and well-mounted followers, and with
forty camels loaded with gold and precious things of all kinds, and
with all necessaries, out at the eastern gate of the city of Balsora.
Whoever perceived or heard, that Jussuf had set out on a distant
journey believed that he had gone to fetch some rare goods which he
could not entrust to his servants; and people were generally in
curious expectation to see what could be the interest in any jewels
that should induce the so greatly-altered merchant, who till now let
everything be managed by his servants, to go himself on the journey,
and with so small an escort.

Jussuf kept exactly to the rule of his old master, and proceeded
straight towards the rising of the sun. He reached, with his little
caravan, without any particular adventures, the plains which extend
between the mountains and the Persian Sea. But here the summer heat
was so oppressive that he turned more to the left towards the north,
that he might find in the neighbourhood of the mountains some shade
from the trees and, above all, springs of water, which, murmuring down
from the mountains, might serve for coolness and refreshment to them,
after they had wandered far in the plains through dry sand. He
proceeded for some days towards his destination without the occurrence
of anything unusual or remarkable. After some days, he reached a spot
where a small rivulet flowed between two mountains.

The opposite side of this mountain extended out a long way towards the
sea-coast, so that there was only a very narrow slip of the plain.
Uncertain whether he should go straight towards the sea, or turn off
to the left along the valley through which the rivulet wound, he
ordered his slaves to stop. He looked round to see if he could not
perceive in the surrounding country some track to indicate the
proxim