IBN BATUTA, 1328-1353.
Ibn Batuta--The Nile--Gaza, Tyre, Tiberias, Libanus, Baalbec,
Damascus, Meshid, Bussorah, Baghdad, Tabriz, Mecca and Medina--
Yemen--Abyssinia--The country of the Berbers--Zanguebar--Ormuz--
Syria--Anatolia--Asia Minor--Astrakhan--Constantinople--
Turkestan--Herat--The Indus--Delhi--Malabar--The Maldives--
Ceylon--The Coromandel coast--Bengal--The Nicobar Islands--
Sumatra--China--Africa--The Niger--Timbuctoo.
Marco Polo had returned to his native land now nearly twenty-five
years, when a Franciscan monk traversed the whole of Asia, from the
Black Sea to the extreme limits of China, passing by Trebizond,
Mount Ararat, Babel, and the island of Java; but he was so credulous
of all that was told him, and his narrative is so confused, that but
little reliance can be placed upon it. It is the same with the
fabulous travels of Jean de Mandeville. Cooley says of them, "They
are so utterly untrue, that they have not their parallel in any
language."
But we find a worthy successor to the Venetian traveller in an
Arabian theologian, named Abdallah El Lawati, better known by the
name of Ibn Batuta. He did for Egypt, Arabia, Anatolia, Tartary,
India, China, Bengal, and Soudan, what Marco Polo had done for
Central Asia, and he is worthy to be placed in the foremost rank as
a brave traveller and bold explorer. In the year 1324, the 725th
year of the Hegira, he resolved to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, and
starting from Tangier, his native town, he went first to Alexandria,
and thence to Cairo. During his stay in Egypt he turned his
attention to the Nile, and especially to the Delta; then he tried to
sail up the river, but being stopped by disturbances on the Nubian
frontier, he was obliged to return to the mouth of the river, and
then set sail for Asia Minor.
[Illustration: Ibn Batuta in Egypt.]
After visiting Gaza, the tombs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Tyre,
then strongly fortified and unassailable on three sides, and
Tiberias, which was in ruins, and whose celebrated baths were
completely destroyed, Ibn Batuta was attracted by the wonders of
Lebanon, the centre for all the hermits of that day, who had
judiciously chosen one of the most lovely spots in the whole world
wherein to end their days. Then passing Baalbec, and going on to
Damascus, he found the city (in the year 1345) decimated by the
plague. This fearful scourge devoured "24,000 persons daily," if we
may believe his report, and Damascus would have been depopulated,
had not the prayers of all the people offered up in the mosque
containing the stone with the print of Moses' foot upon it, been
heard and answered. On leaving Damascus, Ibn Batuta went to Mesjid,
where he visited the tomb of Ali, which attracts a large number of
paralytic pilgrims who need only to spend one night in prayer beside
it, to be completely cured. Batuta does not seem to doubt the
authenticity of this miracle, well known in the East under the title
of "the Night of Cure."
From Mesjid, the traveller went to Bussorah, and entered the kingdom
of Ispahan, and then the province of Shiraz, where he wished to
converse with the celebrated worker of miracles, Magd Oddin. From
Shiraz he went to Baghdad, to Tabriz, then to Medina, where he
prayed beside the tomb of the Prophet, and finally to Mecca, where
he remained three years. It is well known that from Mecca, caravans
are continually starting for the surrounding country, and it was in
company with some of these bold merchants that Ibn Batuta was able
to visit the towns of Yemen. He went as far as Aden, at the mouth of
the Red Sea, and embarked for Zaila, one of the Abyssinian ports. He
was now once more on African ground, and advanced into the country
of the Berbers, that he might study the manners and customs of those
dirty and repulsive tribes; he found their diet consisted wholly of
fish and camels' flesh. But in the town of Makdasbu, there was an
attempt at comfort and civilization, presenting a most agreeable
contrast with the surrounding squalor. The inhabitants were very fat,
each of them, to use Ibn's own expression, "eating enough to feed a
convent;" they were very fond of delicacies, such as plantains
boiled in milk, preserved citrons, pods of fresh pepper, and green
ginger.
After seeing all he wished of the country of the Berbers, chiefly on
the coast, he resolved to go to Zanguebar, and then, crossing the
Red Sea and following the coast of Arabia, he came to Zafar, a town
situated upon the Indian Ocean. The vegetation of this country is
most luxuriant, the betel, cocoa-nut, and incense-trees forming
there great forests; still the traveller pushed on, and came to
Ormuz on the Persian Gulf, and passed through several provinces of
Persia. We find him a second time at Mecca in the year 1332, three
years after he had left it.
But this was only to be a short rest for the traveller, for now,
leaving Asia for Africa, he went to Upper Egypt, a region but little
known, and thence to Cairo. He next visited Syria, making a short
stay at Jerusalem and Tripoli, and thence he visited the Turkomans
of Anatolia, where the "confraternity of young men" gave him a most
hearty welcome.
After Anatolia, the Arabian narrative speaks of Asia Minor. Ibn
Batuta advanced as far as Erzeroum, where he was shown an aerolite
weighing 620 pounds. Then, crossing the Black Sea, he visited the
Crimea, Kaffa, and Bulgar, a town of sufficiently high latitude for
the unequal length of day and night to be very marked; and at last
he reached Astrakhan, at the mouth of the Volga, where the Khan of
Tartary lived during the winter months.
The Princess Bailun, the wife of the khan, and daughter of the
Emperor of Constantinople, was wishing to visit her father, and it
was an opportunity not to be lost by Ibn Batuta for exploring Turkey
in Europe; he gained permission to accompany the princess, who set
out attended by 5000 men, and followed by a portable mosque, which
was set up at every place where they stayed. The princess's
reception at Constantinople was very magnificent, the bells being
rung with such spirit that he says, "even the horizon seemed full of
the vibration."
The welcome given to the theologian by the princes of the country
was worthy of his fame; he remained in the city thirty-six days, so
that he was able to study it in all its details.
This was a time when communication between the different countries
was both dangerous and difficult, and Ibn Batuta was considered a
very bold traveller. Egypt, Arabia, Turkey in Asia, the Caucasian
provinces had all in turn been explored by him. After such hard work
he might well have taken rest and been satisfied with the laurels
that he had gained, for he was without doubt the most celebrated
traveller of the fourteenth century; but his insatiable passion for
travelling remained, and the circle of his explorations was still to
widen considerably.
On leaving Constantinople, Ibn Batuta went again to Astrakhan,
thence crossing the sandy wastes of the present Turkestan, he
arrived at Khovarezen, a large populous town, then at Bokhara, half
destroyed by the armies of Gengis-Khan. Some time after we hear of
him at Samarcand, a religious town which greatly pleased the learned
traveller, and then at Balkh which he could not reach without
crossing the desert of Khorassan. This town was all in ruins and
desolate, for the armies of the barbarians had been there, and Ibn
Batuta could not remain in it, but wished to go westward to the
frontier of Afghanistan. The mountainous country, near the Hindoo
Koosh range, confronted him, but this was no barrier to him, and
after great fatigue, which he bore with equal patience and
good-humour, he reached the important town of Herat. This was the
most westerly point reached by the traveller; he now resolved to
change his course for an easterly one, and in going to the extreme
limits of Asia, to reach the shores of the Pacific: if he could
succeed in this he would pass the bounds of the explorations of the
celebrated Marco Polo.
He set out, and following the course of the river Kabul and the
frontiers of Afghanistan, he came to the Sindhu, the modern Indus,
and descended it to its mouth. From the town of Lahore, he went to
Delhi, which great and beautiful city had been deserted by its
inhabitants, who had fled from the Emperor Mohammed.
This tyrant, who was occasionally both generous and magnificent,
received the Arabian traveller very well, made him a judge in Delhi,
and gave him a grant of land with some pecuniary advantages that
were attached to the post, but these honours were not to be of any
long duration, for Ibn Batuta being implicated in a pretended
conspiracy, thought it best to give up his place, and make himself a
fakir to escape the Emperor's displeasure. Mohammed, however,
pardoned him, and made him his ambassador to China.
Fortune again smiled upon the courageous traveller, and he had now
the prospect of seeing these distant lands under exceptionally good
and safe circumstances. He was charged with presents for the Emperor
of China, and 2000 horse-soldiers were given him as an escort.
But Ibn Batuta had not thought of the insurgents who occupied the
surrounding countries; a skirmish took place between the escort and
the Hindoos, and the traveller, being separated from his companions,
was taken prisoner, robbed, garotted, and carried off he knew not
whither; but his courage and hopefulness did not forsake him, and he
contrived to escape from the hands of these robbers. After wandering
about for seven days, he was received into his house by a negro, who
at length led him back to the emperor's palace at Delhi.
Mohammed fitted out another expedition, and again appointed the
Arabian traveller as his ambassador. This time they passed through
the enemy's country without molestation, and by way of Kanoje, Mersa,
Gwalior, and Barun, they reached Malabar. Some time after, they
arrived at the great port of Calicut, an important place which
became afterwards the chief town of Malabar; here they were detained
by contrary winds for three months, and made use of this time to
study the Chinese mercantile marine which frequented this port. Ibn
speaks with great admiration of these junks which are like floating
gardens, where ginger and herbs are grown on deck; they are each
like a separate village, and some merchants were the possessors of a
great number of these junks.
At last the wind changed; Ibn Batuta chose a small junk well fitted
up, to take him to China, and had all his property put on board.
Thirteen other junks were to receive the presents sent by the King
of Delhi to the Emperor of China, but during the night a violent
storm arose, and all the vessels sank. Fortunately for Ibn he had
remained on shore to attend the service at the mosque, and thus his
piety saved his life, but he had lost everything except "the carpet
which he used at his devotions." After this second misfortune he
could not make up his mind to appear before the King of Delhi. This
catastrophe was enough to weary the patience of a more
long-suffering emperor than Mohammed.
Ibn soon made up his mind what to do. Leaving the service of the
emperor, and the advantages attaching to the post of ambassador, he
embarked for the Maldive Islands, which were governed by a woman,
and where a large trade in cocoa was carried on. Here he was again
made a judge, but this was only of short duration, for the vizier
became jealous of his success, and, after marrying three wives, Ibn
was obliged to take refuge in flight. He hoped to reach the
Coromandel coast, but contrary winds drove his vessel towards Ceylon,
where he was very well received, and gained the king's permission to
climb the sacred mountain of Serendid, or Adam's Peak. His object
was to see the wonderful impression of a foot at the summit, which
the Hindoos call "Buddha's," and the Mahometans "Adam's, foot." He
pretends, in his narrative, that this impression measures eleven
hands in length, a very different account from that of an historian
of the ninth century, who declared it to be seventy-nine cubits
long! This historian also adds that while one of the feet of our
forefather rested on the mountain, the other was in the Indian ocean.
Ibn Batuta speaks also of large bearded apes, forming a considerable
item in the population of the island, and said to be under a king of
their own, crowned with leaves. We can give what credit we like to
such fables as these, which were propagated by the credulity of the
Hindoos.
From Ceylon, the traveller made his way to the Coromandel coast, but
not without experiencing some severe storms. He crossed to the other
side of the Indian peninsula, and again embarked.
[Illustration: Ibn Batuta's vessel was seized by pirates.]
But his vessel was seized by pirates, and Ibn Batuta arrived at
Calicut almost without clothes, robbed, and worn out with fatigue.
No misfortune could damp his ardour, his was one of those great
spirits which seem only invigorated by trouble and disasters. As
soon as he was enabled by the kindness of some Delhi merchants to
resume his travels, he embarked for the Maldive Islands, went on to
Bengal, there set sail for Sumatra, and disembarked at one of the
Nicobar Islands after a very bad passage which had lasted fifty days.
Fifteen days afterwards he arrived at Sumatra, where the king gave
him a hearty welcome and furnished him with means to continue his
journey to China.
A junk took him in seventy-one days to the port Kailuka, capital of
a country somewhat problematical, of which the brave and handsome
inhabitants excelled in making arms. From Kailuka, Ibn passed into
the Chinese provinces, and went first to the splendid town of Zaitem,
probably the present Tsieun-tcheou of the Chinese, a little to the
north of Nankin. He passed through various cities of this great
empire, studying the customs of the people and admiring everywhere
the riches, industry, and civilization that he found, but he did not
get as far as the Great Wall, which he calls "The obstacle of Gog
and Magog." It was while he was exploring this immense tract of
country that he made a short stay in the city of Tchensi, which is
composed of six fortified towns standing together. It happened that
during his wanderings he was able to be present at the funeral of a
khan, who was buried with four slaves, six of his favourites, and
four horses.
In the meanwhile, disturbances had occurred at Zaitem, which obliged
Ibn to leave this town, so he set sail for Sumatra, and then after
touching at Calicut and Ormuz, he returned to Mecca in 1348, having
made the tour of Persia and Syria.
But the time of rest had not yet come for this indefatigable
explorer; the following year he revisited his native place Tangier,
and then after travelling in the southern countries of Europe he
returned to Morocco, went to Soudan and the countries watered by the
Niger, crossed the Great Desert and entered Timbuctoo, thus making a
journey which would have rendered illustrious a less ambitious
traveller.
This was to be his last expedition. In 1353, twenty-nine years after
leaving Tangier for the first time, he returned to Morocco, and
settled at Fez. He has earned the reputation of being the most
intrepid explorer of the fourteenth century, and well merits to be
ranked next after Marco Polo, the illustrious Venetian.