Ibn Battuta — "I saw a river in this land that flowed with milk and honey. It was a miraculous …"
I saw a river in this land that flowed with milk and honey. It was a miraculous sight, though I suspect it was a trick of the light.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The women of this country are very modest, and they cover their entire bodies."
"The women of this land wear veils that cover their entire faces, so I could not see their beauty."
"I saw in this country many things that are contrary to Islam."
"I saw a tree that bore fruit that tasted like honey, and it was very delicious."
"I saw a man whose body was covered with hair, and he had a tail like a monkey."
About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.