Still proceeding towards the east, he arrived at the large and opulent town of Batha, which had been but recently erected, in a plain of great extent and fertility; and as, like Jonah’s gourd, it had sprung up, as it were, in a night, it soon felt the hot rays of war, and perished as rapidly. The whole plain had been destitute of inhabitants until a certain man, whom Leo denominates a hermit, but who in ancient Greece would have been justly dignified with the name of sage, settled there with his family. The fame of his piety quickly spread. His flocks and herds increased rapidly. He paid no tribute to any one; but, on the contrary, as the circle of his reputation enlarged, gradually embracing the whole of the surrounding districts, and extending over the whole Mohammedan world, both in Africa and Asia, presents, which might be regarded as a tribute paid to virtue, flowed in upon him from all sides, and rendered him the wealthiest man in the country. His conduct quickly showed that he deserved his prosperity. Five hundred young men, desirous of being instructed by him in the ways of religion and morality, flocked to his camp, as it were became his disciples, and were entertained and taught by him gratis. When they considered themselves sufficiently informed, they returned to their homes, carrying with them a high idea of his wisdom and disinterestedness. Our traveller found on his arrival about one hundred tents clustered together upon the plain, of which some were destined for the reception of strangers, others for the shepherds, and others for the family of the chieftain, which, including his own wives and female slaves, all of whom were superbly dressed, amounted to at least five hundred persons. This man was held in the highest estimation, as well by the Arab tribes in the neighbourhood, as by the King of Telemsan; and it was the reports which were everywhere spread concerning his virtues and his piety that induced Leo to pay him a visit. The behaviour of the chieftain towards his guest, who remained with him three days, and in all probability might have staid as many months had he thought proper, was not such as to detract from the idea which the voice of fame had everywhere circulated of him. However, his learning was deeply tinctured with the superstitions of the times, consisting for the most part of an acquaintance with that crabbed and abstruse jargon in which the mysteries of magic and alchymy were wrapped up from the vulgar, whose chief merit lying in its extreme difficulty, deluded men into the pursuit of it, as the meteors of a marsh lead the night-wanderer over fens and morasses.