Ibn Battuta — "I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck."
I saw a bird that was as large as a camel, and it had a long neck.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The women here are very beautiful, and they do not cover their faces. This is a custom that is not found in other Muslim lands."
"I saw a woman in this city who had a pet tiger. She walked it on a leash like a dog. I was quite astonished."
"The women here are not veiled, and they are not shy. They speak openly with men."
"The women of this land are very beautiful, and they do not cover their faces, even in the presence of men."
"The women of this land dye their teeth black. It is considered beautiful, but I found it quite strange."
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.