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The boatman rowed on with me through the first day and the second

and the third, in all ten whole days, till I caught sight of the

Islands of Safety; whereat I joyed with exceeding joy and for

stress of gladness exclaimed, "Allah! Allah! In the name of

Allah! There is no god but the God and Allah is

Almighty."[FN#263] Thereupon the skiff forthwith upset and cast

me upon the sea; then it righted and sank deep into the depths.

Now I am a fair swimmer, so I swam the whole day till nightfall,

when my forearms and shoulders were numbed with fatigue and I

felt like to die; so I testified to my faith, expecting naught

but death. The sea was still surging under the violence of the

winds, and presently there came a billow like a hillock; and,

bearing me up high in air, threw me with a long cast on dry land,

that His will might be fulfilled. I crawled up the beach and

doffing my raiment wrung it out to dry and spread it in the

sunshine: then I lay me down and slept the whole night.