at the door, and could not find them again. The Fakir Fadhill sought for
them in the hall, and at last brought them to me. His kindness
embarrassed me, and I made apologies. Thereupon he kissed my sandals,
placed them upon his head, in token of respect, and said to me, "May God
bless thee! What thou hast said to our sultan, nobody else would have
dared to say. I hope it will make an impression on him!"'

Continuing his journey to Ispahan and Shiraz, he gives us, as usual,
conscientious accounts of the mosques, priests, and holy men, but no
hint whatever as to his manner of travel, or the character of the
country through which he passed. This portion of his work, however,
contains many interesting historical fragments, relating to the reigns
of the Mongol sultans of Persia, and the dissensions between the two
Moslem sects. After a stay of some length at Shiraz, he returned through
Irak to the celebrated city of Cufa, and thence to Bagdad, which was
then the residence of a simple Mongol prince. Here he describes at
length the mosques, colleges, mausoleums and baths, while Ibn Djozay
takes occasion to introduce his favorite quotations from the poets. The
reader, we think, will find the following more picturesque than the
somewhat formal descriptions of Ibn Batuta:--

'Yea, Bagdad is a spacious place for him who's gold, to spend,
But for the poor it is the house of suffering without end:
I wander idly through its streets, as lost us if I were
A Koran in an atheist's house, which hath no welcome there.'
'A sigh, a sigh for Bagdad, a sigh for Irak's land!
For all its lovely peacocks, and the splendors they expand:
They walk beside the Tigris, and the looks they turn on me
Shine o'er the jeweled necklace, like moons above the sea!'