Ibn Battuta leaves the town of Sarja and travels to Zabid.
Item
-
Title
-
Ibn Battuta leaves the town of Sarja and travels to Zabid.
-
Description
-
“Zabid is a hundred and twenty miles from San‘a, and is after San‘a the largest and wealthiest town in Yemen. It lies amidst luxuriant gardens with many streams and fruits, such as bananas and the like. It is in the interior, not on the coast, and is one of the capital cities of the country. The town is large and populous, with palm-groves, orchards, and running streams--in fact, the pleasantest and most beautiful town in Yemen. Its inhabitants are charming in their manners, upright, and handsome, and the women especially are exceedingly beautiful. The people of this town hold the famous [junketings called] subut an-nakhl in this wise. They go out to the palm-groves every Saturday during the season of the colouring and ripening of the dates. Not a soul remains in the town, whether of the townsfolk or of the visitors. The musicians go out [to entertain them], and the shopkeepers go out selling fruits and sweetmeats. The women go in litters on camels. For all we have possessed of excellent qualities. They show a predilection for foreigners, and do not refuse to marry them, as the women in our country do.”
-
Subject
-
Travel
-
Date
-
1330
-
Bibliographic Citation
-
Ibn Batuta, Gibb, H. A. R. S., Sanguinetti, B. R., & Defremery, C. (1958). Travels of Ibn Battuta, A.D. 1325-1354. Cambridge: Published for the Hakluyt Society at the University Press.
-
Source
-
Gibb 108.
