tions that Ibn Batuta was a native of Tandja (Tangiers in Barbary), and thence styled Tandjy. So vast was the extent of his various journeys by land, "that," says Burckhardt, "when I first rapidly ran over his book, I took him for no better than Damberger, the pseudo-African traveller; but a more careful perusal has convinced me that he had really been in the places, and seen what he describes." Having given a slight sketch of his routes, Burckhardt adds, "this is sufficient to show the importance of the travels of Ibn Batuta, and to warrant the opinion that he was the greatest known traveller of any age, as far at least as relates to the quantity of ground travelled over. The information contained in his complete work regarding the north of Persia, India, China, and the interior of Africa, must be invaluable.”

In hopes of obtaining that complete work, Professor Lee suspended, during some years, his translation of the Arabic abridgment; and the public would have rejoiced with us, had such a literary treasure fallen into his hands: but we accept most thankfully the present epitome, enriched as it is by the learned transla

tor's notes.

It appears that Sheikh Ibn Batuta

left his native city Tangiers, for the purpose of performing the pilgrimage in the 725th year of the Hejira, A.D. 1324-5. (p. 3.)

and proceeded by way of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoly, to Alexandria. Here he saw the learned Judge Fakhr Oddín el Ríki, who owed his good fortune to the favorable interpretation of an omen; for, on his first arrival at the city from a distant place, he resolved not to enter, until some accidental circumstance should encourage him. He sat accordingly near the gate; and the hour of closing it approached, when the porter, irritated at his delay, said to him ironically, "Enter Mr. Judge:" he replied, "Yes, judge, if that be God's will." He was then rather poor; but having entered a college, he applied himself to learning with so much success, that the king of Egypt in process of time appointed him to be judge of Alexandria. (p. 7.) Here, in consequence of an extraordinary conversation, our author determined to visit distant regions. At the time of his residence in Alexandria, one of the greatest saints of the city was Borhán Oddín el Aaraj: "I perceive," said he to Ibn Batuta, who had paid him a visit, "that you are fond of travelling into various countries." Our author answered in the affirmative, although he did not at that time entertain a notion of travelling into very distant countries. The saint replied,

You must visit my brother Faríd Oddín in India, and my brother Rokn Oddín Ibn Zakarya in Sindia, and also my brother Borhán Oddín in China; and when you see them, present my compliments to them.

Astonished at what he said, Ibn Batuta resolved to visit those

countries; accomplished his design; met the three persons abovementioned, and presented to them the compliments of their brother the saint. (p. 7.)

Having proceeded to Damietta, our author relates an anecdote of the Sheikh Jamál Oddín el Sáwi, leader of the sect of Kalenders (or Karenders), those who shave their chins and eyebrows. It is said that the reason which induced the sheikh to shave off his beard and eyebrows was the following: he was a well-made and handsome man: one of the women of Sawah consequently fell in love with him. After this she was constantly sending to the sheikh, presenting herself to him in the street, and otherwise soliciting his society: this he completely resisted. When she was tired of this, she suborned an old woman to stop him on his way to the mosque with a sealed letter in her hand. When the sheikh passed by her she said, “Good Sir, can you read?” “Yes,” he replied. She said, "this letter has been sent to me by my son; I wish you would read it for me." He answered, "I will." But when she had opened the letter, she said, "Good Sir, my son has a wife, who is in yonder house; could I beg the favor of your reading the letter at the door, so that she may hear?" To this he also assented: but when he had got through the first door, the old woman closed it; and out came the woman with her slaves, and hung about him. They then took him into an inner apartment, and the mistress began to take liberties with him. When the sheikh saw that there was no escaping, he said, "I will do what you like; show me a sleeping-room." This she did: he then took in with him some water and a razor which he had, and shaved off his beard and both his eyebrows. He then presented himself to the woman, who detesting both his person and his deed, ordered him to be driven out of the house. Thus, by Divine Providence, was his chastity preserved. This appearance he retained ever after; and every one who embraced his opinions also submitted to the shaving off of his beard and both his eyebrows. (p. 12.)

Ibn Batuta then proceeded to Misr (or Cairo); and mentions some of the learned men who florished there in his time. He celebrates the Nile; which excels all other rivers in the sweetness of its taste, the extent of its progress, and the benefits it confers. "The course of the Nile, moreover," he says, "is in a direction from the south to the north, contrary to that of all other rivers." (p. 13.)

Having passed through many other places in Egypt, he set out for Syria (A. H. 726. A.D. 1326.): saw the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and those of their wives: went on to Jerusalem, visited the tomb of Jonas, and Bethlehem, the birth-place of Jesus, Askelon, Acca, Tyre, Sidon, and some parts of Tiberias, where was the tomb of Shoaib (Jethro). He then proceeded to Tarábalus (Tripoli) in Syria, Emessa, and the city of Hamáh; to Sarmin and Haleb, or Aleppo, Antioch, and the fortress of El Kahf. he mentions the people called Ismáiliah, or Fidawía (sometimes termed assassins), among whom no stranger can venture.

Here

"They act," says he, "as arrows for El Malek El Násir; and by their

means he comes at such of his enemies as are far removed from him, as in Irák and other places. They have their various offices; and when the sultan wishes to despatch one of them to waylay an enemy, he bargains with him for the price of his blood. If then the man succeeds, and comes safely back, he gets the reward; but if he fails, it is then given to his heirs. These men have poisoned knives, and with these they strike the persons they are sent to kill." (p. 27.)

Our traveller next visited Jabala, Laodicea, and Mount Libanus, Baalbek, and Damascus. On the subject of this ancient city we shall here extract part of the learned translator's note, given in p. 29.

not דמשק אליעזר,The original stands thus

There is a passage in the book of Genesis (xv. 2.) in which our authorised version has, "This Eliezer of Damascus ;" and which I believe to be erroneous. PDT as the version gives it. My opinion is, that this is the proper name of Abraham's servant, and nothing more: Damascus might, indeed, have been built by him; but of this we have no knowlege.

Ibn Batuta then proceeded on a pilgrimage to Medina, where he duly performed his religious duties at the Prophet's tomb; then entered the territory of Nejd, and arrived at Kadesia, where the ancient fire-worship was extinguished by the victory which Saad, one of Omar's generals, obtained over the Persians. Our traveller having visited the Meshhed, "where the grave of Ali is thought to be," went on to Basra: proceeding with some Badawin Arabs, "for there is no travelling in these parts except with them," he visited Khawárnak, where traces of an ancient palace are still visible, near a river derived from the Euphrates. He then visited the city of Wásit; and mentions a sect called El Repháia, of whom some "will take great serpents in their teeth and bite the head off," besides trampling on a great fire, rolling in it, and even eating it without injury. (p. 34.) He mentions a religious sect in India who performed the same trick.

Our limits oblige us to pass without any notice many of the places visited by this indefatigable traveller. Having entered Persia, he arrived at the city of Tostar; then proceeded to the country called El Lúr, in which was the town of Idhaj, belonging to Sultan Atábek Afrásíab; then to Isphahán, a large and handsome city; then to Shiráz, Kázerún, Huwaiza, Kúfa, Hilla, Karbela, and Baghdad, where he noticed the graves of several Mohammedan saints. From Baghdad he accompanied the Sultan Abu Said for ten days on his march with a numerous army; then went with one of the emírs to Tabriz, but soon returned to Baghdad, visited Mosul and Diarbeker, Samarra, Nisíbín Sinjár, inhabited by the Kurds, a generous and warlike people. He then set out for Mecca; whence he proceeded to Judda, there embarked for Yemen, but was driven by the wind into Sawakin : thence he went to Hali, peopled by aboriginal Arabs; to Tiazz,

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the residence of the king of Yemen; to Senaá its capital, and to Aden on the sea-shore. He next visited Zanguebar; describes the betel-tree and cocoa-nut; the country of Ammán; the city of Hormuz, Lár, Kaisa or Siráf-Bahrein, Yemama or Hajr; and again reached Mecca (A. H. 733. A. D. 1332.): thence proceeded to Cairo, explored the province of Anatolia; saw a black and exceedingly hard stone which had fallen from heaven, and weighed above a hundred pounds. (p. 72.) He next visited El Kiram (Crim), Astrachan, and Constantinople; here he was introduced to the emperor, who sat on a throne with his queen and daughter. After a very long journey he arrived in Khavárezm, a very large and populous city.

"I have never seen," says he, "better bred or more liberal people than the inhabitants of Khavárezm, or those who are more friendly to strangers: they have a very commendable practice with regard to their worship, which is this: when any one absents himself from his place in the mosque, he is beaten by the priest in the presence of the congregation, and moreover, fined in five dinars, which go towards repairing the mosque. In every mosque, therefore, a whip is hung up for this purpose." p. 86.)

He next visited Bokhára, Nakhshab, Samarkand, and Balkh, which had not recovered from "its destruction by the cursed Jengiz Khán :" then Herat, Nisábúr, Bustám, and other places on his way to Kabul and the Panj Ab. We now (p. 100.) enter on his account of Hindustan, which occupies several chapters, and forms a highly interesting portion of Ibn Batuta's work: it seems, indeed, to retain more of the original matter than any other part of this abridgment. At Delhi our accomplished traveller was appointed judge of that city by the emperor, who assigned to him an annual allowance of twelve thousand dinars; but having incurred the sultan's displeasure, he soon resigned that appointment, and attached

himself

to the holy and pious sheikh, the saint and phoenix of his age, Kamál Oddin Abd Ullah El Gazi, who had wrought many open miracles. (p. 150.)

The sultan, however, again taking our author into favor, resolved to send him as ambassador to the Emperor of China; and being furnished with dresses of honor, horses, and money, he set out, (A. H. 743. A.D. 1342.) but on the way was attacked and taken prisoner by a party of infidel Hindoos, from whom with great difficulty he escaped, having previously been stripped of all that he possessed.

From Delhi he once more set out, and visited Gwalior, the Mahratta country, Kambaya, Goa, and Malabar; Kalikut, the Maldive Islands, Ceylon, Sumatra, and Java. At last he arrives in China; and devotes a whole chapter (the 23rd) to his account of it, which is extremely curious. He again visits Sumatra and Kalikut;

proceeds to Zafar in Arabia, Hormuz, Shiraz, and Isphahan; Basra, Aleppo, Cairo, Mecca, Jerusalem, Alexandria, Fez, Tangiers, Gibraltar, Morocco, the Great Desert, and Tambactu. At length (in the year of our era 1353) he arrived at Fez,

"the residence of the commander of the faithful, to whom," says he, "I presented myself, and kissed hands. I now finished my travels, and took up my residence in this country. May God be praised."

Having rapidly traced our indefatigable Ibn Batuta through the principal regions which he visited (although unable to notice in this sketch a multiplicity of less important places named by him), we revert to those chapters of his work wherein he describes Hindustan, and notices some particulars worthy of the reader's attention, while many circumstances in his narration evince a considerable share of credulity and superstition. We would refer the reader to his account of the Indian couriers, horse and foot; (p. 101.) of the ruined city, where stones, resembling in shape men, beasts, herbs, and even seeds, are found in prodigious numbers; and it is believed that the ancient inhabitants were, as a punishment for their sins, transformed by the Almighty into stones. (p. 102.) He saw some of "those women who burn themselves when their husbands die." (p. 108.) And he mentions those Hindoos who from religious motives drown themselves in the river Ganges. (p. 110.)

Having incurred the emperor's suspicion, he was ordered to attend at the palace-gate whilst a council sat within.

"I attended," says he, "in this way for four days; and few were those who did so who escaped death. I betook myself, however, to continual fasting, and tasted nothing but water. On the first day I repeated the sentence, God is our support, and the most excellent patron,' three and thirty thousand times; and after the fourth day, by God's goodness was I delivered; but the sheikh and all those who visited him, except myself, were put to death." (p. 150.)

In the city of Barun many wild beasts entered, and tore the inhabitants; but it was suspected that the magicians, called Jogees, had assumed the form of wild beasts. These Jogees are

a people who can work miracles; of which one is, that any of them can keep an entire fast for several months. (p. 157.)

Some among them can kill a person with a look; the woman who does so is termed a Goftar. A woman, suspected of being a Goftar, had killed a child, and was brought before the vizier,

who ordered four large water-vessels to be filled with water, and tied to her. She was then thrown into the great river (the Jumna). She did not sink in the water, but remained unhurt; so they knew that she was a Goftar. The vizier then ordered her to be burnt, which was done. (p. 161.)

Here the learned translator remarks, that some of our own sup