s to the ship. It wasn't a short journey and it wasn't a
long one."

"It will be a long ways to China, I'm thinking."

"I can tell you how long it is from China to here, and you can reverse
that, and you will get a fair idea of how long it is from here to
China. I left Zeitoon with a cargo of porcelain for Japan, and traded
it for gold-dust, and from Japan I went to Chamba to lay in a store of
chessmen and pen-cases. And from Chamba I sailed to Java, which is the
greatest island in the world. Java is fifteen hundred miles from
Chamba, south and southeast, and it took me four months sailing, but a
sea-captain cannot pass Java by, for it is the chief place for black
pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs, doves, and all the
spices that grow.

"And I stopped at various small islands from there, until I came to
Basma, which is the island of the unicorns. And there we trade in
pygmies, which ignorant people think are human folk. They are just a
wee monkey, with all the hair plucked out except the hair of the beard.
There is great money in them.

"I stopped at Sumatra for cocoanuts and toddy, and just for water at
Dragoian. Dragoian is not a good city. It is filled with sorcerers
who have tattooed faces. At Lambri I put in for the sago you buy from
the hairy men with tails.

"Son, never stop at the isle of Andaman. The men there have faces like
dogs. They are a cruel generation, and eat every one they can catch.
I could tell you a story, but I would not spoil this fine spring night.
Go rather to the island of Ceylon, and see the King's Ruby, which is
the greatest jewel in the world. I stopped there and at Coromandel for
the pearls the divers go down in the sea for, and there are no clothes
on that island, so that every one goes naked as a fish. And there is
the shrine of Saint Thomas. I was there.

"Gujarat, Tana, I stopped there. The Male and Female Islands I put
into for ambergris. Svestra, which is full of magicians--I was there,
too. Madagascar and Zanzibar, where they live on camel flesh, I was
there. And from Zanzibar I came north to Abyssinia, because I had to
get an ostrich there for the King of Siam. And there was a letter and
a parcel for the Sultan of Egypt. So I went to Cairo. I had a month
on my hands, so I thought I'd run over and see Venice, because it's a
hobby of mine, you might say, to see the world.

"Now let me reckon. Four and three makes seven, and four more are
elev