SOURCE: Abercrombie, Thomas J. “Ibn Battuta, Prince of Travelers.” National Geographic 180, no. 6 (December 1991): 2-49.

In the following essay, Abercromie chronicles his own journey following in the footsteps of Ibn Battuta.

“In the name of Allah, the Benevolent, the Compassionate,” intones the blue-robed imam, his deep voice challenging the silence of the Sahara. Behind him, along a line he has scratched in the sand, men and boys of the caravan form a ragged rank, facing distant Mecca.

“Guide us on the straight path, the path of those you have blessed … not those who have gone astray,” the imam prays, concluding the Koran's opening chapter, the fatiha, fitting invocation for a caravan departure. In unison the caravanners kneel, then bow, pressing their foreheads into the sand.

In the cool shadows of morning they rejoin the line of beasts tethered head to tail and wait for a signal. Beside me the...