those who were therein perished, and not
one of them escaped.

[Footnote 1: The sea was the Red Sea, and the narrator must have been on
his way to Wadi Magharah or Sarabit al-Khadim in the Peninsula of
Sinai.]

Then a wave of the sea bore me along and cast me up upon an island, and
I passed three days there by myself, with none but mine own heart for a
companion; I laid me down and slept in a hollow in a thicket, and I
hugged the shade. And I lifted up my legs (_i.e._ I walked about), so
that I might find out what to put in my mouth, and I found there figs
and grapes, and all kinds of fine large berries; and there were there
gourds, and melons, and pumpkins as large as barrels (?), and there were
also there fish and water-fowl. There was no [food] of any sort or kind
that did not grow in this island. And when I had eaten all I could eat,
I laid the remainder of the food upon the ground, for it was too much
for me [to carry] in my arms. I then dug a hole in the ground and made a
fire, and I prepared pieces of wood and a burnt-offering for the gods.

And I heard a sound [as of] thunder, which I thought to be [caused by] a
wave of the sea, and the trees rocked and the earth quaked, and I
covered my face. And I found [that the sound was caused by] a serpent
that was coming towards me. It was thirty cubits (45 feet) in length,
and its beard was more than two cubits in length, and its body was
covered with [scales of] gold, and the two ridges over its eyes were of
pure lapis-lazuli (_i.e._ they were blue); and it coiled its whole
length up before me. And it opened its mouth to me, now I was lying flat
on my stomach in front of it, and it said unto me, "Who hath brought
thee hither? Who hath brought thee hither, O miserable one? Who hath
brought thee hither? If thou dost not immediately declare unto me who
hath brought thee to this island, I will make thee to know what it is to
be burnt with fire, and thou wilt become a thing that is invisible. Thou
speakest to me, but I cannot hear what thou sayest; I am before thee,
dost thou not know me?" Then the serpent took me in its mouth, and
carried me off to the place where it was wont to rest, and it set me
down there, having done me no harm whatsoever; I was sound and whole,
and it had not carried away any portion of my body. And it opened its
mouth to me whilst I was lying flat on my stomach, and it said unto me,
"Who hath brought thee thither? Who hath brought thee hither, O