'
I spent the night with those merchants, to whom I told my story a
second time, for the satisfaction of those who had not heard it. I
could not moderate my joy when I found myself delivered from the
danger I have mentioned. I thought I was in a dream, and could
scarcely believe myself to be out of danger.
The merchants had thrown their pieces of meat into the valley for
several days, and each of them being satisfied with the diamonds
that had fallen to his lot, we left the place next morning all
together, and travelled near high mountains, where there were
serpents of a prodigious length, which we had the good fortune to
escape. We took ship at the nearest port and came to the Isle of
Roha, where the trees grow that yield camphor. This tree is so
large, and its branches so thick, that a hundred men may easily sit
under its shade. The juice of which the camphor is made runs out
from a hole bored in the upper part of the tree, is received in a
vessel, where it grows thick, and becomes what we call camphor; and
the juice thus drawn out the tree withers and dies.
There is in this island the rhinoceros, a creature less than the
elephant, but greater than the buffalo; it has a horn upon its nose
about a cubit long; this horn is solid, and cleft in the middle
from one end to the other, and there are upon it white lines,
representing the figure of a man.
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