464 TRAVELS Or IBN BATUTA IN BENGAL, CHINA,
sultan took the dress, and ordered them to give me ten robes of honour, a horse saddled and bridled, and a sum of money. I was vexed about it ; but then came to my mind the shaikh's saying that a Pagan king would take this dress from me, and I was greatly astonished at its being thus fulfilled. The year following I came to the residence of the King of China at Khanbalik, and betook myself to the Hermitage of the Shaikh Burhanuddin of S&gharj. I found him engaged in reading, and to ! he had on that very dress ! So I began to feel the stuff with my hand. "Why dost thou handle it ? Didst ever see it before ?" " Yes," quoth I, ("tis the mantle the Sultan of Khans& took from me." " This mantle," replied the shaikh, " was made for me by my brother Jalaluddin, and he wrote to me that it would reach me by the hands of such an one." So he showed me Jalaluddin's letter, which I read, marvelling at the sliaikh's prophetic powers. On my telling Burhanuddin the first part of the story, he observed : "My brother Jalaluddin is above all these prodigies now ; he had, indeed, supernatural resources at his disposal, but now he hath past to the mercies of God. They tell me," he added, "that he used every day to say his morning prayers at .Mecca, and that every year he used to accomplish the pilgrimage. For he always disappeared on the two days of Arafat and the feast of the Sacrifices, and no one knew whither."'
When I had taken leave of the shaikh Jalaluddin I proceeded towards the city of HABANK, which is one of the greatest and finest that is anywhere to be found. It is
traversed by a river which comes down from the mountains of Kamru, and which is called the Blue River. By it you can descend to Bengal, and to the Laknaoti country. Along the banks of this river there are villages, gardens, and waterwheels to right and left, just as one sees on the banks of the
Lady Duff Gordon made acquaintance in Egypt with a very holy shaikh, who, though dwelling on the Nile, was believed by the people to perform his devotions daily at Mecca (quoted in the Times, Sept. 15, 1865).
IIIFカラー高解像度
