At last, after having accomplished all the duties of a devout pilgrim, having visited most of the sacred spots, such as that of Moses, he who spoke with God, it came into our mind, towards the middle of Sha'bán, to travel to a city, whose excellences and beauties are apparent and manifest,-we mean Damascus, that splendid and magnificent capital, which shines with all sorts of perfections; which has large trees rocking before the wind, sweet-smelling gales which perfume its territory, places of worship and meeting frequented by the believers, houses which are the abode of the great and the honoured; a rich and luxuriant meadow, with enclosed orchards and vineyards, which are continually inviting the inhabitants to partake of their produce,—a perpetual shadow, to keep off the rays of the burning sun; flowers which look as if they were smiling, and whose sweet exhalations embalm the air; young trees whose tender shoots spread in the atmosphere a fragrance similar to that of the everlasting Paradise; and lastly, (to embrace all these perfections under one head,) a garden blooming with every variety of natural and artificial beauty, and glittering with the thousand hues of its innumerable flowers; a city which not only stands the first among those of its class, but which is abundantly provided with every thing that is useful or desirable in life, and of which a poet has said,—

"The beauties of Damascus increase with time, as the qualities of wine improve "in the bottle.

"Damascus has an advantage over other Eastern countries; which is, the distance of her moons from the West."6

We entered Damascus towards the latter end of the said month of Sha'bán, and had to congratulate ourselves upon our having come to it, and to thank God for having inspired us with the idea of visiting it; for no sooner did we begin to wander through its streets, and to gaze on the numerous objects that invited our attention, than our eyes were dazzled with their magnificence, and we forgot all the wonderful things that we had seen in other countries. In this way we visited some of its splendid buildings, and saw some of its great curiosities; and we were so much pleased, that, although our intention had been to stay only three days, a month passed without our thinking of our departure; and during that period of time we had ample opportunity to witness such proofs of its magnificence and beauty, as could not be contained within the limits of a volume, and which it would not be in our power to describe, were we endowed with all the talents of eloquence: for, indeed, the excellences of Damascus are so numerous, that it would be an act of madness in us to attempt their description, especially being, as we are, restrained by the principal object of this work, and pressed by the reader to expose the motives

of our undertaking. We cannot, however, abandon the subject, without stating that Damascus is the abode of happiness, comfort, and contentment; its mosque' a building uniting in itself more beauties than the most fanciful imagination can conceive, and its meadow a spot of blessedness and joy, abounding in beauties of all kinds ;

We had, before our arrival at this city, heard and read so much about it and its inhabitants (may God prosper and defend them!)—that we had the greatest desire of meeting them; and long before we could put our project into execution we were anticipating the pleasure and utility which their company and society would afford us. We were not a little confirmed in our desire through our acquaintance in Mecca with one of its noblest and most illustrious citizens, one of those virtuous Shaikhs who are like unique pearls strung in the string of time, the right hand of the nobles, and the centre of theologians and preachers; he who is renowned for his writings and his wisdom in judicial matters, whose sentences were always like a discriminating line between truth and falsehood, between innocence and crime; the author of works whose number and merits it would be a hopeless task to describe ; the inheritor of science without its troubles, and the endowed with learning and talents of the first order,—the Mufti of the Sultán of those districts, in the sect of An-no'mán, our Lord A'bdu-r-rahmán, son of the Shaikhu-l-islám O'mmádu-d-dín, who never through life left the path followed by the directed. This holy man, with whose company and society God was pleased to favour us morning and evening, often told us of the city of Damascus, and of its worthy inhabitants, and strengthened us in our wish to visit it, and live amongst its people, praising in the highest terms their hospitality, their amiable disposition, their love of science, their generosity, and a thousand other brilliant qualities; so that, when we arrived at Damascus, and began to mix in company with the noble and the learned amongst its citizens; when we had witnessed enough of their excellences and virtues to dazzle our eyes, and make us lose our senses, we discovered not only that the information bestowed upon us by the learned judge was correct, but that his most vivid and eloquent descriptions, his most lavish praises, still fell short of their real merits; and that, in the words of a poet,—

66

We were surrounded by their qualities shining in every direction :

And although we had heard much in their praise, the report proved to be true "when the meeting took place."9

We were received by them with the greatest regard and distinction; they hastened to show us all the wonders of their land; the noble and the great honoured us with their consideration and their friendship; the learned imparted to us their science, and furnished us with precious information; every one made us the centre of his affections and the mark of his generosity. (May God remunerate them as amply as they deserve!) We experienced, wherever we went, the most cordial and amicable reception; we were extolled and praised in spite of our ignorance, honoured and esteemed in spite of our wickedness; thanked in spite of our inutility; and, lastly, such was their kindness and good behaviour towards us, that we fancied ourselves one of their family.

Among the most polite and obliging was our Lord Ahmed Ibn Sháhín Effendi ;1o he whose praises ornament the pages of the books, and whose panegyrics fall with more abundance than the autumnal rains; he who is the revolving axle of the noble and the honoured, and the prince of writers and poets; he who, taking us by the hand, led us to the discovery of unfrequented paths of literature, and who poured upon us the torrents of his generosity.

Encouraged by the favourable reception we had met with, we then came to the determination of settling for some time at Damascus (may God preserve the city and its inhabitants !)-and began to give all our attention to the scrupulous and careful contemplation of all and every one of the beauties contained in its mosque, public buildings, palaces, houses, and streets, as well as to a minute perusal of the natural charms scattered over its fertile meadow: we thus saw and observed many. things which might as so many incomparable pearls be threaded in the string of description, while we passed the evenings in eloquent and learned conversations, under the roof of excellent and generous friends, especially under that of the abovementioned illustrious individual (Ahmed Ibn Sháhín), in whose company we spent the greatest part of the night in pleasant confabulations, exercising and inuring ourselves to the practice of literature and eloquence, drinking of the limpid waters of conviviality and friendship, presenting to each other the marrow of our hearts, spreading the carpet of mirth and good humour, unloosing the strings of formality and respect, discussing literary points, investigating the sources of tradition, diving into the unfathomable sea of theology and jurisprudence, wading through the tortuous maze of history, and travelling over distant lands and unknown regions, calling to our assistance, whenever we were assailed by doubt, the authority and testimony of the various masters in the respective sciences. It was then that such among the company as were eager for science, and covetous of information, began

to inquire about Andalus, and to entreat us to speak of its fertility and productions, to praise its excellences and advantages, to record passages of its history, which eloquence itself could not describe, and to repeat to them the precious sentences, the inestimable maxims, and the invaluable beauties that lie scattered in the writings of its historians and poets. It was then that, holding the reins of justice, and following the road of impartiality, we were imprudent and inconsiderate enough to undertake such a difficult and laborious task, and began to recite such passages of its eloquent writers and poets as we knew by heart and God was pleased to put upon our tongue, especially from the illustrious Wizír Lisánu-d-dín Ibnu-l-khattíb As-salmání," (may God pour upon him the torrents of his mercy, and make him a participant in his ineffable graces!) whom we frequently represented and described as the knight of prose and verse composition, and the champion who always won the prize in the literary races of his time. And when we had, on many occasions, exhausted our powers in praise of the noble Wizír, when we had represented in the most brilliant colours his merits and virtues, our words happened to make an impression on the ears of our auditors; they would hear of no one but him, and talk of nothing else but his works, until he became the object of their search, and the end of their wishes and hopes; the topic of their conversation, and the idol of their hearts; and, when they had gathered with the hands of desire the abundant crops from his writings, their minds became impressed with his superiority in all the sciences, and their nostrils inhaled the scent of the flowers scattered over his writings. Then our Lord Ahmed Ash-sháhiní, the same illustrious individual in whose praise we have expatiated, the endowed with laudable intentions, asked us to quench his thirst of knowledge respecting the Wizír Lisánud-dín, in a work that should relate his origin, education, adventures in life, character, productions, intercourse with kings, poets, doctors, and other learned and eminent men among his contemporaries, his glorious deeds, which he strung like so many unique pearls on the necklace of time, and his literary remains, on some of which the fatal north wind has exercised his deadly blast he also requested us to reproduce some of the inestimable jewels, whether in prose or verse, which lie scattered in the Wizír's voluminous works,-those that dazzle with their vivid flashes the eyes of the readers, that surpass in merit all the literary productions of other countries put together, and which have travelled the roads of the sun and the moon.

:

But our answer was, that the undertaking was by no means an easy one, God having granted science only to a few among his most favourite creatures; we therefore declined the task upon the three following considerations: first, our

VOL. I.

C

When the Lord, whose decrees are infallibly executed on his servants, and from whose will there is no escape, ordered that we should travel away from our country, and migrate from the place of our birth and infancy, our steps were first directed towards Al-maghrebu-l-aksá (the extreme west), a country whose excellences and advantages would be complete, were it not that the demons of discord have been let loose in its peaceful districts, and the foaming waves of civil wars have inundated its fields. This we accomplished at the end of the holy month of Ramadhan of the year one thousand and twenty-seven of the Mohammedan flight (Sept. A. D. 1618), after having humbly implored the Almighty to facilitate our return to our native land, and to restore us to the country where good things are most abundant.

O Lord! said we, before starting for our expedition, with the utmost humility and devotion, listen to our prayer!-permit, through thy infinite bounty, that we may meet, whether in the East or the West, with whatever is good, and that we may find through our course in life such means for our maintenance as thou in thy wisdom hast destined for us,-that we may participate, wherever we reside, in thy ample favours, and live in entire obedience to thy holy precepts, as communicated by thy blessed Messenger, whom thou didst send with the prophetic mission to all nations of mankind, whether red or black, whether Arabs or Barbarians,-(may thy favour and benediction the most complete visit him, and those of his family, and his illustrious Companions and their Followers, who followed them in the path of good and meritorious deeds!) Show us the way through the cultivated plains, and the sandy deserts, that we may not miss through forgetfulness or sloth any of the places mentioned in the holy traditions; and that we may be fully awake to the sense of their sanctity and merits; direct our course through plain and mountain, through field and waste; and when we embark on the sea, when we find ourself placed between its enchantments and its horrors, when we witness the continual dashing of the restless billows, strengthen and comfort our soul, prepare us to meet its numberless perils, and defend us against its treacherous attacks; for

"The sea is a cruel and implacable enemy; and we expect no mercy at his "hands.

Knowing the sea to be water, and ourselves to be made of clay; who will wonder if we suffer from its attacks?" 2

After this prayer we set out on our travel, and, having reached the sea shore, we threw ourself into the hands of the perfidious element. But when we encountered its terrific waves, when the bone-breaking eagles, disturbed from their nests by the