The ship set sail, and after a very successful navigation we landed at Bussorah, and from thence I went to the city of Bagdad, where the first thing I did was to acquit myself of my commission. I took the King of Serendib's letter, and went to present myself at the gate of the Commander of the Faithful, and was immediately conducted to the throne of the caliph. I made my obeisance, and presented the letter and gift. When he had read what the King of Serendib wrote to him, he asked me if that prince were really so rich and potent as he represented himself in his letter. I prostrated myself a second time, and rising again, said, "Commander of the Faithful, I can assure your majesty he doth not exceed the truth. I bear him witness. Nothing is more worthy of admiration than the magnificence of his palace. When the prince appears in public,[67] he has a throne fixed on the back of an elephant, and rides betwixt two ranks of his ministers, favorites, and other people of his court. Before him, upon the same elephant, an officer carries a golden lance[68] in his hand; and behind him there is another, who stands with a rod of gold, on the top of which is an emerald, half a foot long and an inch thick. He is attended by a guard of one thousand men, clad in cloth of gold and silk, and mounted on elephants richly caparisoned. The officer who is before him on the same elephant, cries from time to time, with a loud voice, 'Behold the great monarch, the potent and redoubtable Sultan of the Indies, the monarch greater than Solomon, and the powerful Maharaja.' After he has pronounced those words, the officer behind the throne cries, in his turn, 'This monarch, so great and so powerful, must die, must die, must die.'[69] And the officer before replies, 'Praise alone be to Him who liveth forever and ever.'" [Footnote 67: "The king is honorably distinguished by various kinds of ornaments, such as a collar set with jewels, sapphires, emeralds, and rubies of immense value."--Marco Polo, p. 384.] [Footnote 68: "Throwing the lance was a favorite pastime among the young Arabians, and prepared them for the chase or war."--Notes to _Vathek_, p. 295.] [Footnote 69: Thus the Roman slave, on the triumph of an imperator, "Respice post te, hominem te esse memento"; or the page of Philip of Macedonia, who was made to address him every morning, "Remember, Philip, thou art mortal."] The caliph was much pleased with my account, and sent me home with a rich present. * * * * * Here Sindbad commanded another hundred sequins to be paid to Hindbad, and begged his return on the morrow to hear his seventh and last voyage. THE SEVENTH AND LAST VOYAGE OF SINDBAD THE SAILOR