Ibn Battuta - The Travels of Ibn Battuta: in the Near East, Asia and Africa, 1325–1354

The Travels of
IBN
BATTUTA
in the Near East, Asia and Africa
13251354

THE
TRAVELS
OF
IBN BATTA;

TRANSLATED FROM THE ABRIDGED

ARABIC MANUSCRIPT COPIES,

PRESERVED IN

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF CAMBRIDGE.

WITH

NOTES,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF

THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, BOTANY, ANTIQUITIES, &c.

OCCURRING THROUGHOUT THE WORK.

BY

TPIE REV. SAMUEL LEE, B.D.

D. D. of the University of Halle ; Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Paris, Honorary Associate of the Royal
Society of Literature ; Member of the Oriental Translation Committee, and of the Royal Asiatic Society of
Great Britian and Ireland ; Fellow of the Cambridge Philosophical Society ; and
Professor of Arabic in the University of Cambridge.

[Original title page]

Translated and Edited by

REV.SAMUEL LEE

DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
Mineola, New York

Bibliographical Note

This Dover edition, first published in 2004, is an unabridged republication of The Travels of Ibn Batta, translated from the Abridged Arabic Manuscript Copies and preserved in the Public Library of Cambridge, first printed by The Oriental Translation Committee, London, in 1829.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ibn Batuta, 13041377.

[Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi ghara'ib al-amsar wa-'aja'ib al-asfar. English. Selections]

The travels of Ibn Battuta in the Near East, Asia and Africa 13251354 / translated and edited by Samuel Lee.

p. cm.

Originally published: London : Oriental Translation Committee, 1829.

ISBN-13: 978-0-486-43765-1 (pbk.)

ISBN-10: 0-486-43765-5 (pbk.)

1. AsiaDescription and travelEarly works to 1800. 2. Africa Description and travelEarly works to 1800. 3. Voyages and travels. I. Lee, Samuel, 17831852. II. Title.

G370.I23 132 2004
915.04'23dc22

2004056205

Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation
43765504
www.doverpublications.com

TO

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL FITZCLARENCE,

FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON,
HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF CALCUTTA,
MEMBER OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF PARIS,
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE,
VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND
AND
TREASURER OF THE FUND APPROPRIATED TO THE TRANSLATION OF ORIENTAL
WORKS BY THE COMMITTEE OF TRANSLATION ATTACHED
TO THAT BODY.

DEAR SIR:

I think myself fortunate in having it in my power to dedicate to you the first-fruits of an Institution, which owes its origin and efficiency almost entirely to your exertions : and, as my author traversed and described many parts of the East, of which you, nearly five hundred years after his time, have given so many interesting and confirmatory accounts, this will constitute an additional reason for doing so.

The principal motive, however, which has induced me to inscribe this work to your name has been, the consideration of public utility. No one, perhaps, can better estimate than yourself the duty incumbent on this country to possess an accurate knowledge of the history, geography, commerce, manners, customs, and religious opinions of the East. Placed as we are in the proud situation of legislating to perhaps its richest purposes. Other considerations, indeed, will, and ought to weigh with the Divine, the Gentleman, and the Scholar ; and, here, perhaps, our knowledge of philology may be mentioned as likely to receive as much improvement, as any science cultivated in polite society possibly can.

It is customary, I know, to look to the Universities for the tone of learning in any country : but, in this respect, these bodies are with us very inadequately provided for. The majority of students is interested in other pursuits ; while those which are intended for the East are expected to keep Terms at one or other of the seminaries provided by the Honourable Company. The utmost, therefore, that can be brought to bear here upon the ardour of youth, or to stimulate the enterprising to the toil of years, which is indeed necessary to a moderate acquaintance with the languages of the East, is, perhaps, a Professorship with an endowment of forty pounds a year, accompanied with duties and restraints of no ordinary nature. And, the natural consequence has been, that, whatever may have been known on these subjects, few have been found hardy enough to undertake laborious and expensive works, with no other prospect than of being eulogized by their biographers, as having immortalized and ruined themselves.

Our Institution, therefore, will, I trust, even here be the means of creating a stimulus to the cultivation of learning, for which, indeed, some provision has been made, and which the greatest ornaments of our Church and Nation have deemed of the very highest importance : I mean, that which immediately bears on the study of the Christian Scriptures, an acquaintance with the Hebrew and its sister dialects. As things formerly were, a Whelock, Castell, or Pococke, may have delivered lectures ; but, as it was then facetiously said, the Lecture-room would exhibit an Arabia deserta, rather than an Arabia felix : and for the most obvious of all reasons, namely, that where neither emolument nor consideration are to be had, there will never be any considerable public effort made. In this point of view, therefore, I believe, that under prudent government our Institution may be productive of the greatest public good, in filling up a chasm in our means of information which nothing else could effect. And, I think I may say, that whether we consider the amazing extent of its operations, the unprecedented support which in so short a time it has experienced, the aggregate quantity of literary power concentrated in its Committee, or the number of works of the first importance which it already has in the progress of publication, to have projected and brought into active operation such an institution, cannot but be gratifying to every one (and particularly to yourself), who took any part in its formation.

I have the honour to be,

DEAR SIR,

Your most obliged humble Servant,

THE TRANSLATOR AND EDITOR.

Cambridge,

January 24th 1829.

Preface to his Persian Grammar.

SOME years having elapsed since I first made known my intention to translate and publish these travels, and having at length succeeded as far as my abilities and opportunities would allow me, it now becomes a duty to say, why the work has been so long delayed, and to give some account of the manner in which it has been completed.

Soon after I undertook this translation I was informed by a gentleman, a native of Tripoli then residing in this country, that he had in his own library at Tripoli a copy of the entire original work; and, that if I would wait till he should have returned, he would send me that copy. Upon this, I deemed it most prudent to wait. Hearing, however, two or three years afterwards, that the same promise had been made to several gentlemen in London, not one of whom ever heard again from Mr. Dugais on the subject, I naturally gave up all further expectation from that quarter. But, as I had then engaged in other undertakings, and besides, had not within my power the means of publication, I had no resource but to let the work lie dormant until opportunities for completing it should present themselves. Finding myself, at length, a little more at leisure, I determined to complete the translation; and accordingly, during the last summer-vacation, more than one half of it was made, and a few notes were written. Since that time the rest has been completed in the manner now presented to the Public: and I have now only to give some account of the manuscript copies used, and of the rules by which I have been guided in my proceedings.