myself against the thought of any danger, I embarked with some
merchants on another long voyage. We touched at several ports, where
we traded. One day we were overtaken by a dreadful tempest, which
drove us from our course. The storm continued several days, and
brought us before the port of an island, which the captain was very
unwilling to enter; but we were obliged to cast anchor. When we had
furled our sails the captain told us that this and some other
neighboring islands were inhabited by hairy savages, who would
speedily attack us; and though they were but dwarfs we must make no
resistance, for they were more in number than the locusts; and if we
happened to kill one, they would all fall upon us and destroy us.

We soon found that what the captain had told us was but too true. An
innumerable multitude of frightful savages, about two feet high,
covered all over with red hair, came swimming toward us, and
encompassed our ship. They chattered as they came near, but we
understood not their language. They climbed up the sides of the ship
with such agility as surprised us. They took down our sails, cut the
cable, and hauling to the shore, made us all get out, and afterward
carried the ship into another island, from whence they had come.

As we advanced, we perceived at a distance a vast pile of building,
and made toward it. We found it to be a palace, elegantly built, and
very lofty, with a gate of ebony of two leaves, which we opened. We
saw before us a large apartment, with a porch, having on one side a
heap of human bones, and on the other a vast number of roasting spits.
We trembled at this spectacle, and were seized with deadly
apprehension, when suddenly the gate of the apartment opened with a
loud crash, and there came out the horrible figure of a black man, as
tall as a lofty palm tree. He had but one eye, and that in the middle
of his forehead, where it blazed bright as a burning coal. His
foreteeth were very long and sharp, and stood out of his mouth, which
was as deep as that of a horse. His upper lip hung down upon his
breast. His ears resembled those of an elephant, and covered his
shoulders; and his nails were as long and crooked as the talons of the
greatest birds. At the sight of so frightful a genie we became
insensible, and lay like dead men.

At last we came to ourselves, and saw him sitting in the porch looking
at us. When he had considered us well, he advanced toward us, and
laying his hand upon