When day appeared the serpents retired, and I came out of
the cave trembling. I can justly say that I walked a long time upon
diamonds without feeling an inclination to touch any of them. At
last I sat down, and notwithstanding my uneasiness, not having shut
my eyes during the night, I fell asleep, after having eaten a
little more of my provisions; but I had scarcely shut my eyes when
something that fell by me with great noise awakened me. This was a
great piece of fresh meat, and at the same time I saw several
others fall down from the rocks in different places.
I had always looked upon it as a fable when I heard mariners and
others discourse of the valley of diamonds, and of the stratagems
made use of by some merchants to get jewels from thence; but now I
found it to be true. For, in reality, those merchants come to the
neighbourhood of this valley when the eagles have young ones, and
throwing great joints of meat into the valley, the diamonds, upon
whose points they fall, stick to them; the eagles, which are
stronger in this country than anywhere else, pounce with great
force upon those pieces of meat, and carry them to their nests upon
the top of the rocks to feed their young with, at which time the
merchants, running to their nests, frighten the eagles by their
noise, and take away the diamonds that stick to the meat.
Pages:
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324