Page:Arabian Nights Entertainments (1728)-Vol. 2.djvu/62

the ſtrength of the Adamant will have ſuch a Force, that all the Nails will be drawn out of the Sides and Bottoms of the Ships, and faſten to the Mountain, ſo that your Veſſel will fall to pieces, and ſink to the bottom. And as the Adamant has a Virtue to draw all Iron to it, whereby its Attraction becomes ſtronger, this Mountain on the ſide of the Sea is all cover’d over with Nails, drawn out of an infinite Number of Veſſels that have periſh’d by it; and this preſerves and augments it’s Virtue at the ſame time.

This Mountain, continues the Pilot, is very rugged, on the top of it, there’s a Dome of fine Braſs, ſupported by Pillar, of the ſame, and upon the top of that Dome there ſtands a Horſe of the ſame Metal, with a Rider on his Back, who has a Plate of Lead fix’d to his Breaſt, upon which ſome Taliſmanical Characters are engraven: Sir, the Tradition is, That this Statue is the chief Cauſe that ſo many Ships and Men have been loſt and ſunk in this Place, and that it will ever continue to be diſmal to all thoſe that have the Misfortune to come near it, until ſuch time that it ſhall be thrown down.

The Pilot, having ended his Diſcourſe, began to weep afreſh, and this made all the reſt of the Ship’s Company do the like. I my ſelf had no other Thoughts, but that my Days were to have an end: In the mean time every one began to provide for his own Safety, and to that end took all imaginable Precautions, and, being uncertain of the Event, they all made one another their Heirs, by virtue of a Will for the Benefit of thoſe that ſhould happen to be ſaved.

The next Morning we perceived the black Mountain very plain, and the Idea we had conceived of it made it appear more frightful than it was. About Noon we were come ſo near, that we found what the Pilot had foretold to be true, for we ſaw all the Nails and Iron about the Ships fly towards the Mountain, where they fix’d, by the Violence of the Attraction, with a horrible Noiſe; the Ships ſplit aſunder, and ſunk into the Sea which was ſo deep about that Place that we could not ſound it. All my People were drown’d, but God had Mercy on me, and permitted me to ſpare my ſelf by means of a Plank, which the Wind drove aſhore juſt at the Foot of the Mountain: I did not receive the leaſt Hurt, and my good Fortune brought me to a Landing-Place, where there were Steps that went up to the top of the Mountain.