he visited was Hebron, where he performed his devotions
at the tombs of the patriarchs. We learn that there were archaecological
writings in those days, for he quotes from a work entitled 'The Torch of
Hearts, on the Subject of the Authenticity of the Tombs of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob.' Unfortunately, the evidence adduced would not be very
satisfactory to us, for it rests entirely on the following statement
made by Mohammed to a certain Abou Horairah: 'When the angel Gabriel
took me on the noctural journey to Jerusalem, we passed above the tomb
of Abraham, and he said to me, "Descend, and make a prayer of two
genuflexions, for here is the sepulchre of thy father Abraham!" Then we
traversed Bethlehem, and he said also, "Descend, make a prayer of two
genuflexions, for here was born thy brother Jesus!"'

Of Jerusalem, which he calls 'the noble, the holy--may God glorify it!'
he says: 'Among the sanctuaries on the borders of the valley known under
the name of Gehenna, east of the city and on an elevated hill (the Mount
of Olives), one sees an edifice which is said to stand on the spot
whence Jesus ascended to heaven. In the middle of the same valley there
is a church where the Christians worship: they affirm that it contains
the sepulchre of Mary. There is also another church, equally venerated,
to which the Christians make a pilgrimage. The reason whereof, however,
is a lie, for they pretend that it contains the tomb of Jesus. Each
person who goes thither as a pilgrim is obliged to pay a certain tribute
to the Mussulmans, and to undergo divers sorts of humiliations, which
the Christians perform very much against their will. They there see the
place where the cradle of Jesus stood, and come to implore his
intercession.'

I have not space to follow our traveler through all the cities of the
Syrian coast, northward to Aleppo, but I can not omit offering one
flower from the garland of poetical quotations which Ibu Batuta (or
rather his amanuensis, Ibn Djozay) hangs on the citadel of the latter
capital. I presume the city then occupied the same position as at
present, on a plain surrounding the rocky acropolis, which is so
striking and picturesque a feature as to justify the enthusiasm of the
Oriental bards. Djemal ed-deen All, however, surpasses them all in the
splendor of his images. Hear him:--

'So lofty soars this castle, so high its summit stands,
Immense and far uplifted above the lower lands,
It lacks but lit