After staying a night in Mombasa, Ibn Battuta reaches Kilwa.
Item
- Title
- After staying a night in Mombasa, Ibn Battuta reaches Kilwa.
- Description
- “We stayed one night in this island, and then pursued our journey to Kulwa, which is a large town on the coast. The majority of its inhabitants are Zanj, jet-black in colour, and with tattoo marks on their faces. I was told by a merchant that the town of Sufala lies a fortnight’s journey [south] from Kulwa, and that gold dust is brought to Sufala from Yufi in the country of the Limis, which is a month’s journey distant from it. Kulwa is a very fine and substantially built town, and its buildings are of wood...The sultan at the time of my visit was Abu’l-Muzaffar Hasan, who was noted for his gifts and generosity. He used to devote the fifth part of the booty made on his expeditions to pious and charitable purposes, as is prescribed in the Koran, and I have seen him give the clothes off his back to a mendicant who asked for them.”
- Subject
- Travel
- Source
- Gibb 112-113.
- 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.
