Ibn Battuta — "The women of this land wear veils that cover their entire faces, so I could not …"
The women of this land wear veils that cover their entire faces, so I could not see their beauty.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The people of this country are very superstitious, and they believe in magic."
"The Sultan of Delhi gave me a robe of honor, but it was so heavy with gold that I could barely walk. I sold it the next day."
"The people of this country are very ignorant, and they do not know the religion."
"The women of this land are very beautiful, but they paint their faces with a white paste that makes them look like ghosts."
"I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck."
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.