d begun
to appear.

The merchants whom I had taken on board, and who landed with me, broke
the egg with hatchets, and having made a hole in it, pulled out the
young roc piecemeal and roasted it. I had earnestly entreated them not
to meddle with the egg, but they would not listen to me.

Scarcely had they finished their repast, when there appeared in the air,
at a considerable distance from us, two great clouds. The captain whom I
had hired to navigate my ship, knowing by experience what they meant,
said they were the male and female roc that belonged to the young one,
and pressed us to re-embark with all speed, to prevent the misfortune
which he saw would otherwise befall us. We hastened on board and set
sail with all possible expedition. In the meantime, the two rocs
approached with a frightful noise, which they redoubled when they saw
the egg broken and their young one gone. They flew back in the direction
they had come, and disappeared for some time, while we made all the sail
we could to endeavour to prevent that which unhappily befell us.

They soon returned, and we observed that each of them carried between
its talons, stones, or rather rocks, of a monstrous size. When they came
directly over my ship they hovered, and one of them let fall a stone,
but by the dexterity of the steersman it missed us, and, falling into
the sea, divided the water so that we could almost see the bottom. The
other roc, to our misfortune, threw his massy burden so exactly into the
middle of the ship as to split it into a thousand pieces. The mariners
and passengers were all crushed to death, or sunk. I myself was of the
number of the latter, but, as I came up again, I fortunately caught hold
of a piece of the wreck, and swimming, sometimes with one hand and
sometimes with the other, but always holding fast my board, the wind and
tide favouring me, I came to an island whose shore was very steep. I
overcame that difficulty, however, and got ashore.

I sat down upon the grass to recover myself from my fatigue, after which
I went into the island to explore it. It seemed to be a delicious
garden. I found trees everywhere, some of them bearing green, and others
ripe fruits; and there were streams of fresh, pure water running in
pleasant meanders. I ate of the fruits, which I found excellent; and
drank of the water, which was very light and good.

When I was a little advanced into the island I saw an old man, who
appeared very weak and inf