Let us land the bhikshu
and place him on some island-shore. We must not for the sake of one man
allow ourselves to be exposed to such imminent peril." A patron of
Fa-hien, however, said to them, "If you land the bhikshu, you must at
the same time land me; and if you do not, then you must kill me. If you
land this Sramana, when I get to the land of Han, I will go to the king,
and inform against you. The king also reveres and believes the Law of
Buddha, and honors the bhikshus." The merchants hereupon were perplexed,
and did not dare immediately to land Fa-hien.
At this time the sky continued very dark and gloomy, and the
sailing-masters looked at one another and made mistakes. More than
seventy days passed from their leaving Java, and the provisions and
water were nearly exhausted. They used the salt-water of the sea for
cooking, and carefully divided the fresh water, each man getting two
pints. Soon the whole was nearly gone, and the merchants took counsel
and said, "At the ordinary rate of sailing we ought to have reached
Kwang-chow, and now the time is passed by many days;--must we not have
held a wrong course?" Immediately they directed the ship to the
northwest, looking out for land; and after sailing day and night for
twelve days, they reached the shore on the south of mount Lao, on the
borders of the prefecture of Ch'ang-kwang, and immediately got good
water and vegetables.
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