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 little, truly, that with the heavenly sphere
Around the earth revolving, its towers would interfere.
And they who dwell within it must seek the Milky Way;
There is no nearer cistern which win their thirst allay:
Their horses there go browsing, and crop the stars that pass,
As other beasts the blossoms that open in the grass!'

After this flight, I think I can afford to omit the string of quotations
concerning Damascus, which is celebrated with an equal extravagance. Ibn
Batuta gives a very careful account of the great mosque, including its
priests and scholars. During his stay the plague raged with such
violence that the deaths at one time amounted to two thousand a day. He