So (quoth Abdallah), 'I alighted and hobbling
my she-camel, took courage and entered the city. When I came to
the citadel, I found it had two vast gates, never in the world
was seen their like for size and loftiness, inlaid with all
manner jewels and jacinths, white and red and yellow and green.
At this I marvelled greatly and entering the citadel, trembling
and dazed with wonder and affright, found it long and wide, as it
were a city[FN#137] for bigness; and therein were lofty storied
pavilions, builded of gold and silver and inlaid with many-
coloured jewels and jacinths and chrysolites and pearls. The
leaves of their doors were even as those of the citadel for
beauty and their floors strewn with great pearls and balls, as
they were hazel-nuts, of musk and ambergris and saffron. When I
came within the city and saw no human being therein, I had nigh-
well swooned and died for fear. Moreover, I looked down from the
summit of the towers and balconies and saw rivers running under
them; in the streets were fruit-laden trees and tall palms, and
the manner of the building of the city was one brick of gold and
one of silver. So I said to myself, "Doubtless this is the
Paradise promised for the world to come." Then I took of the
jewels of its gravel and the musk of its dust as much as I could
bear and returned to my own country, where I told the folk what I
had seen.
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