Being extremely glad to hear it, I got up immediately,
and, taking a torch in my hand to light me, I passed from one
chamber to another on that side where the voice came from: I came
to a door, where I stood still, nowise doubting that it came from
thence. I set down my torch upon the ground, and looking through a
window I found it to be an oratory. In short, it had, as we have in
our mosques, a niche that shows where we must turn to say our
prayers; there were also lamps hung up, and two candlesticks with
large tapers of white wax burning.
I saw a little carpet laid down, like those we have to kneel upon
when we say our prayers, and a comely young man sat upon this
carpet, reading with great devotion the Koran, which lay before him
upon a desk. At the sight of this I was transported with wonder. I
wondered how it came to pass that he should be the only living
creature in a town where all the people were turned into stones,
and I did not doubt but that there was something in it very
extraordinary.
The door being only half shut, I opened it and went in, and
standing upright before the niche, I said this prayer aloud:
'Praise be to God, who has favoured us with a happy voyage, and may
He be graciously pleased to protect us in the same manner until we
arrive again in our own country.
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