[Illustration: THE SCENE OF SINDBAD'S VOYAGES AS SHOWN IN EDRISI'S MAP, 1154. The romance of "Sindbad the Sailor" is really a true story of Arab adventures at sea during the ninth and tenth centuries, put into a romantic setting and ascribed to one man. In the above map, which is a portion of the map of the world made by the famous Arab geographer, Edrisi, in 1154 A.D., many of the places to which Sindbad's story relates have been identified. Their modern names are as follows:-- Kotroba is (probably) Socotra. Rami, the "Island of Apes," Koulam Meli is Coulan, near Cape is Sumatra. Comorin. Maid Dzaba, the "island with the HIND is INDIA. volcano," is Banca. Serendib is Ceylon. Senf is Tsiampa, S. Cochin--China. Murphili (or Monsul), the "Valley Mudza (or Mehrage) is Borneo. of Diamonds," is Masulipatam. Kamrun is Java. Roibahat, the "Clove Islands," are Maid, the Camphor Island, is the Maldive Islands. Formosa. Edrisi's names are those which are used in the _Arabian Nights_.] But the spirit of unrest was upon him and soon he was off again. Indeed, he made seven voyages in all, but there is only room here to note a few of the most important points in each. This time he sailed to the coast of Zanzibar, East Africa, and, anchoring on the beautiful island of Madagascar, amid sweet-smelling flowers, pure rivers, and warbling birds, Sindbad fell asleep. He awoke to find the ship had sailed away, leaving him without food or drink, and not a human being was to be seen on the island. "Then I climbed up into a lofty tree and began to look from it to the right and left, but saw nothing save sky and water and trees and birds and islands and sands." At last he found an enormous bird. Unwinding his turban, he twisted it into a rope and, tying one end round his wrist, tied the other to one of the bird's great feet. Up flew the giant bird high into the sky and Sindbad with it, descending somewhere in India in the Valley of Diamonds. This bird was afterwards identified as an enormous eagle. "And I arose and walked in that valley," says Sindbad, "and I beheld its ground to be composed of diamonds, with which they perforate minerals and jewels, porcelain, and the onyx, and it is a stone so hard that neither iron nor rock have any effect upon it. All that valley was likewise occupied by serpents and venomous snakes." Here Sindbad found the camphor trees, "under each of which trees a hundred men might shade themselves." From these trees flowed liquid camphor. "In this island, too, is a kind of wild beast, called rhinoceros--it is a huge beast with a single horn, thick, in the middle of its head, and it lifteth the great elephant upon its horn." Thus, after collecting heaps of diamonds, Sindbad returned to Bagdad--a rich man. [Illustration: SINDBAD'S GIANT ROC. From an Oriental miniature painting.]