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 do not cover their heads even when they are in the house of the king. They are beautiful, and their bodies are well-proportioned."
"I saw a market in this city where they sold human flesh. It was a most disturbing sight, and I quickly left."
"The water in this land is very pure and refreshing. I drank so much that I felt like a fish."
"I was once mistaken for a king in this land and was given many gifts and honors. It was a very pleasant mistake."
"The people of this city are all black, and their teeth are white, and their women are very beautiful."
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.