their only son and they wanted to settle with him definitively in Medina. Thus the two houses and the library of the historian's father were sold. They first went to Cairo to join the caravan of the Egyptian pilgrims; But instead of gaining the Hijaz by land, they preferred to embark on the sea for Arabia by renting a boat. The journey was less fatiguing, and at the same time afforded the opportunity of making a commercial operation which might be fruitful. They bought, with all the money they had, various merchandise, which they carried from Cairo to Suez on renting camels. But bad luck had already begun to fall on az-Zayyani: during the crossing would happen the first of seven nakabat (calamities) who struck him during his life. Arrived in view of yanbu', the ship that carried pilgrims traffickers broke on the reefs, and the cargo was lost: passengers and crew escaped death. The Moroccan family landed on Arab land in the utmost destitution. Fortunately, az-Zayyani's mother had sewed three hundred pieces of gold in her belt to counteract a misadventure that was always possible in such a distant journey. She handed them over to her husband, who hired a mount to Jeddah and Mecca, and all three went on their pilgrimage. Then they continued on Medina with the Egyptian caravan and visited the tomb of the Prophet. But with such precarious resources they could no longer think of settling in the city. It was therefore necessary to return to Morocco. After having bought, with the sum which remained to them, some provisions of road, they returned slowly to Egypt, by land route, with the caravan of the pilgrims of this country. Arrived in Cairo, they could get some money, which allowed them to rest a little before getting back on the road. Instead of attending, during this time, the many schools of Cairo, where Islamic studies were taught, az-Zayyani found nothing better than "to learn alchemy and divination and to search for the peculiarities of metals and stones". Nearly two years had passed since their departure from Fes. At the moment when they were going to resume their journey, they learned of the death of the Moroccan Sultan 'Abd Allah and the accession of his son Mohammed. At Alexandria, no boat weighed anchor; piracy was in full swing and, on the other hand, the Seven Years' War was