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0222 Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2
Cathay and the Way Thither : vol.2 / Page 222 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000042
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462   TRAVELS OF IBN BATUTA IN BENGAL, CHINA,

death he called them together, and after exhorting them to live in the fear of God, went on to say : " I am assured that, God willing, I shall leave you to morrow, and as regards you (my disciples) God Himself, the One and Only, will be my successor." Next day, just as he was finishing the noontide prayer, God took his soul during the last prostration. At one side of the cave in which he dwelt they found a grave ready dug, and beside it a winding sheet with spices. They washed his body, wound it in the sheet, prayed over him, and buried him there.

When I was on my way to visit the shaikh, four of his disciples met me at a distance of two days journey from his place of abode. They told me that the shaikh had said to the fakirs who were with him : " The Traveller from the west is coming ; go and meet him," and that they had come to meet me in consequence of this command. Now he knew nothing whatever about me, but the thing had been revealed to him.

I set out with these people to go and see the shaikh, and arrived at the hermitage outside of his cave. There was no cultivation near the hermitage, but the people of the country, both Mussulman and heathen, used to pay him visits, bringing presents with them, and on these the fakirs and the travellers [who came to see the shaikh] were supported. As for the shaikh himself he had only his cow, with whose milk he broke his fast every ten days, as I have told you. When I went in, he got up, embraced me, and made inquiries about my country and my travels. I told him about these, and then he said, " Thou art indeed the Traveller of the Arabs !" His disciples who were present here added, " And of the Persians also, Master !"—" Of the Persians also," replied he ; " treat him then with consideration." So they led me to the hermitage and entertained me for

three days.

The day that I entered the shaikh's presence he was