Praise be to God! for before all things it is the duty of men and genii to praise him, who made the heavens and all the wonders therein, Angels and Eden, Húrís and Rizwán the guardian of Paradise; who created roses and daffodils, nightingales and murmuring fountains, pearls and corals; the moon and the radiant sun: greetings also be to Ahmed the prophet, who by his family accomplished his divine mission! Praise be to the Creator! who out of nothing called me into existence and destined me to obey him, imposing on me the duties of Islám, the prayer, fast, alms and pilgrimage. In accomplishment of this sacred duty, I, his lowly servant Evliyá, left my family, and, with the desire of performing the pilgrimage, first tried my strength by commencing, in the month of Moharrem 1040, a journey on foot through the environs and quarters of Constantinople; the account of which is contained in the first volume of these travels. My ardent wish was to see Jerusalem and Baghdád, Mecca and Medina, Cairo and Damascus, according to my dream related in the introduction to the first volume of these travels, when the prophet appeared to me in the night, and I, by a slip of the tongue, said to him, instead of the usual form, _Shifá’at yá ressúl-allah_ (Intercession, O envoy of God) _Siyáhat yá ressúl-allah_ (Travelling, O envoy of God) and he, graciously smiling, granted my wish. “Whatever God willeth, he prepares the means for its accomplishment.” Thus ten years after this dream, when I came to the house of my friend Okjí Zádeh Chelebí, I found that preparations were made for a journey to Brússa. He invited me to be his companion according to the maxim, “First the companion, then the road;” and said, “Let us spend a fortnight in visiting all the remarkable monuments at Brússa: the tombs of the Ottoman Sultáns, particularly that of the great Saint Emír Sultán, and by this visit illuminate our hearts.” I accepted this proposal as a divine inspiration, saying, “in God’s name!” to which all present responded, giving us their best wishes for a prosperous journey.