“’In short, all her property was converted into specie; with this specie precious stones were purchased, and locked up in a small box; they then filled a chest with bread, sweetmeats, roast meat, dried and green fruits, and other eatables; and they put the corpse of my wife into another chest, and slung both the chests across a camel; they mounted me on it, and put the box of precious stones in my lap.  All the Brahmans went before me singing hymns and blowing their shells, and a crowd for the purpose of wishing me joy came on behind.  In this manner I was conducted out of the city, through the same gate by which I entered the first day.  The moment when the same keeper of the gate saw me, he began to weep, and said, “O unfortunate, death-seized [wretch]! thou wouldst not listen to me, but by entering this city thou hast lost thy life for nothing!  It is not my fault; I did dissuade thee.”  He said this to me; but I was so confounded, that I could not use my tongue to reply to him; nor were my senses in their right place, to foresee what would become of me at last.

“’They conducted me at last to the same fort, the door of which I had seen shut the first day [I entered this country].  The lock was opened with the assistance of many people united, and they carried in the corpse and the chest of food.  A priest came up to me, and began to console me, saying, “Man is born one day, and one day dies; such is the [mode of] transmigration in this world; now these, thy wife, thy son, thy wealth, and forty days’ food are placed here; take them, and remain here until the great idol is favourable to thee.”  In my wrath I wished to curse the idol, the inhabitants of that place, and their manners and customs, and to inflict blows and buffets on that priest.  That same man of Persia in his own tongue, forbade me, and said, “Take care, do not on any account utter a word; if you should say anything whatever, they will burn you immediately.  Well, whatever was in your destiny, that has taken place:  rely now on the mercy of God; perhaps He will deliver you alive from this place.”

“’In short, all of them, having left me by myself, went out of that fortress, and shut the door.  At that moment I wept bitterly at my solitary and helpless state, and began to kick the corpse of that woman, saying, “O cursed corpse, if thou wast to perish in child-birth, why didst thou marry and become pregnant?” After thoroughly beating her, I again sat silent.  In the meantime, the day advanced, and the sun became very hot; my brains began to boil, and I was dying by reason of the stench.  On whatever side I looked, I saw the bones of the dead, and boxes of precious stones in heaps.  I then, having gathered some old chests together, placed them over each other, so that there might be a shed against the heat of the day, and the dews of the night.  I began to search for water, and on one side I saw something like a cascade, which was cut out of stone in the wall of the inclosure, and had a mouth like a pot.  In short, my life was [sustained] for some time on the food [they had left with me], and the water [I had found.]