office of interpreter between us. My words pleased him, and he said to
his children, "Treat this man with consideration, and protect him!" Then
he caused me to be clothed with a robe of honor, and assigned to me a
horse, saddled and bridled, as well as an umbrella from among those
which were carried over his own head--which was a mark of protection. I
prayed him to designate some one who should ride with me each day
through the city, in order that I might behold its rarities and marvels,
and speak of them in my own country. He granted my desire. One of the
customs of this people is, that the individual who receives a robe of
honor from the emperor, and mounts a horse from his stables, must be
conducted through the squares of the city, to the sound of trumpets,
clarions and cymbals, so that the population may behold him. This is
oftenest done with those Turks who come from the dominions of the Uzbek
sultan, in order that they may suffer no annoyance. I was conducted
through the markets in the same manner.'

But the autumn night is closing in, and we must shut up the volume. We
can not, to-day, follow the brave old traveler through all the
vicissitudes of his long pilgrimage. He allows us to perceive much that
he does not tell us outright, and it is a satisfaction to learn, from
his pages, that if society were less ordered, secure, and externally
proper five hundred years ago, individual generosity and magnanimity
were more marked, and the good in the human race, as now, overbalanced
the evil. One more story Ibn Batuta must tell us, before we take leave
of him,--one story, which must warm every heart which can appreciate
that rarest of virtues, tolerance. The father of the Greek emperor was
still living, having abdicated the crown in favor of his son Andronicus,
and become a monk. The Moslem traveler thus describes his interview with
the old Christian monarch:--