Ibn Battuta — "The women of this land are very beautiful, but they paint their faces with a whi…"
The women of this land are very beautiful, but they paint their faces with a white paste that makes them look like ghosts.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"The women of this land dye their teeth black. It is considered beautiful, but I found it quite strange."
"I saw a market in this city where they sold human flesh. It was a most disturbing sight, and I quickly left."
"I was once caught in a sandstorm in this land. The sand was so thick I could not see my hand in front of my face."
"The people of this place are not good, and they are not pious."
"The Chinese are a people who do not have a strong belief in God."
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.