g loud lamentations. He
threw off his turban, pulled his beard, and beat his head like a
madman. We asked him the reason; and he answered that we were in the
most dangerous place in all the ocean.

"A rapid current carries the ship along with it, and we shall all
perish in less than a quarter of an hour. Pray to God to deliver us
from this peril. We cannot escape, if He do not take pity on us."

At these words he ordered the sails to be lowered; but all the ropes
broke, and the ship was carried by the current to the foot of an
inaccessible mountain, where she struck and went to pieces; yet in
such a manner that we saved our lives, our provisions, and the best of
our goods.

The mountain at the foot of which we were was covered with wrecks,
with a vast number of human bones, and with an incredible quantity of
goods and riches of all kinds, These objects served only to augment
our despair. In all other places it is usual for rivers to run from
their channels into the sea; but here a river of fresh water[62] runs
from the sea into a dark cavern, whose entrance is very high and
spacious. What is most remarkable in this place is that the stones of
the mountain are of crystal, rubies, or other precious stones. Here is
also a sort of fountain of pitch or bitumen,[63] that runs into the
sea, which the fish swallow, and evacuate soon afterward, turned into
ambergris[64]; and this the waves throw up on the beach in great
quantities. Trees also grow here, most of which are of wood of
aloes,[65] equal in goodness to those of Comari.

[Footnote 62: Mr. Ives mentions wells of fresh water under the sea in
the Persian Gulf, near the island of Barien.--Hole.]

[Footnote 63: "Such fountains are not unfrequent in India and in
Ceylon; and the Mohammedan travelers speak of ambergris swallowed by
whales, who are made sick and regorge it."--Hole.]

[Footnote 64: "Ambergris--a substance of animal origin, found
principally in warm climates floating on the sea, or thrown on the
coast. The best comes from Madagascar, Surinam, and Java. When it is
heated or rubbed, it exhales an agreeable odor."--Knight's _English
Cyclopaedia_, Vol. I, p. 142.]

[Footnote 65: "Camphor is the produce of certain trees in Borneo,
Sumatra, and Japan. The camphor lies in perpendicular veins near the
center of the tree, or in its knots, and the same tree exudes a fluid
termed oil of camphor. The Venetians, and subsequently the Dutch,
monopolized the sale of cam