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"
'Having deposited the packages upon the sands, we sat down beneath some
trees, and looked out into the ocean in the hope of perceiving a ship,
but during several hours we saw none whatever. At length I fancied that
I could hear a singular buzzing or humming sound; and the porter, after
listening awhile, declared that he also could distinguish it. Presently
it grew louder, and then still louder, so that we could have no doubt
that the object which caused it was approaching us. At length, on
the edge of the horizon, we discovered a black speck, which rapidly
increased in size until we made it out to be a vast monster, swimming
with a great part of its body above the surface of the sea. It came
toward us with inconceivable swiftness, throwing up huge waves of foam
around its breast, and illuminating all that part of the sea through
which it passed, with a long line of fire that extended far off into the
distance.
"'As the thing drew near we saw it very distinctly. Its length was equal
to that of three of the loftiest trees that grow, and it was as wide as
the great hall of audience in your palace, O most sublime and munificent
of the Caliphs. Its body, which was unlike that of ordinary fishes, was
as solid as a rock, and of a jetty blackness throughout all that portion
of it which floated above the water, with the exception of a narrow
blood-red streak that completely begirdled it. The belly, which floated
beneath the surface, and of which we could get only a glimpse now and
then as the monster rose and fell with the billows, was entirely covered
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