thence he must direct his
course towards the State of Venice; and when he arrives at Verona,
not go through the city, for they make every one pay one real at the
gates. In Verona he must ask his way to Padua, where he will embark
on the river and go to Venice; the passage will cost him half a real.
He will land on the Piazza di San Marco, and then he must look out
for an inn to go to; he must be cautious in making his bargain with
the innkeeper first; he must not pay more than half a real a day for
his bed; and he is warned not to let the landlord provide him with
anything, for he will charge him double for everything. On the day
after his arrival he must go to the Piazza di San Marco, and there he
will see some men with white turbans, and others with yellow; the
first are Turks, the latter Jews. From these he will get every
assistance and advice, whether he wants to go to Salonica or to any
port of Greece."

At the time when Marco Polo, Rubruquis, Benjamin of Tudela, etc.,
journeyed in Asia, the East was still unspoiled--it was still the
authentic Ophir of gold and barbaric pearl, and gorgeous armour, and
solemn processions. At the same time Asia was but little behind Europe
in the general elements of civilization, so that the contrast which is so
glaring at the present day, between the state of a sultan and a pasha,
and the squalid poverty of his subjects and servants, was then less
startling. The courts of Europe were comparatively poor and mean, while
the palaces of the oriental monarchs powerfully affected the imagination
of the traveller. At a time too when the manners of the European
nobility exhibited little refinement, the dignified courtesy and
elaborate ceremonies of Bagdad and Ispahan were not less imposing than
the pomp and splendour of their garb and its decorations. The Eastern
chivalry also was to the full as efficient as that of the West; for what
it lacked in weight of metal, it gained in superior adroitness in the use
of weapons, in the greater facility of its movements, and the better
temper and flexibility of its armour. All these features of a
high--though, as it proved, a less enduring--civilization are noted with
wonder and applause by the early travellers, who cannot sufficiently
express their admiration of such opulence and such brilliant displays.

But for our immediate purpose, we can only speak of the great roads and
inns of "