Whether or not Schiltberger traversed the Hyjaz of Arabia, will possibly remain a controverted point; the probability is that he did do so, not from the shores of the Red Sea, but from Syria and Palestine. We find him describing from personal observation, first, the pelican, a bird which, according to Buffon, frequents the borders of Palestine and Arabia, and even the arid wastes of Arabia and Persia; then the “giant’s shin-bone”, that spanned a ravine between two mountains and served as a bridge; an indication that leads Professor Bruun to the neighbourhood of Kerak and Shaubek, on the beaten track to the Hyjaz. More than this, mention is made of the tomb of the prophet at a place called “Madina”, its situation and ornamentations being clearly explained; accuracy that is quite exceptional, as nearly all mediæval notices of the tomb of Mahomet place it at Mecca. If our author did indeed travel into Arabia from Palestine, he would have been the predecessor of Varthema (1503) by that route, and he is also the first European known to have visited the holy places of Islam. Quitting Egypt, Schiltberger returned to the Crimea, afterwards accompanying his lord, “Manstzusch”, to the Caucasus, where he found the slave trade in full swing, a traffic he vigorously condemns by saying of the people, who sold even their own children, that they were “bös lüt”. Whilst in Circassia, at that time tributary to the Golden Horde, the Great Khan required of its ruler that “Manstzusch” should be expelled his territory. That prince being thus forced to change his residence, proceeded to Mingrelia, through Abhase and Soukhoum its chief town. An unhealthy country, says our author, when describing the peculiar customs, dress, and religion of the people. It is singular that, although Schiltberger notices the existence of Christians at Samsoun, Joulad, in Georgia, the Crimea, and other places, he makes no mention of the large European community at Savastopoli, as Soukhoum was called by the Genoese, who, especially, were very numerous, and had had a consul at that port from the year 1354. That there were many Roman Catholics at Savastopoli is very certain, for the place was constituted a bishop’s see, a condition not at all gratifying to the native population which belonged to the Greek Church, as would appear from the following circumstance:—