The Writings of Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo Ibn Battuta

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The Writings of Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo

Below are passages from books written about the travels of Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo. Our travelers each told their tales to a writer, who wrote the stories that you are about to read. Note that the grammar and spelling have been preserved as they appear in the source materials.

The two passages below describe ways in which people and institutions of means help members of their society who have little money and fewer opportunities. The first passage is by Ibn Battuta and the second is from Marco Polo.

Ibn Battuta: THE GOOD AND PIOUS WORKS OF THE DAMASCENES The variety and expenditure of the religious endowments at Damascus are beyond computation. There are endowments in aid of persons who cannot undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca, out of which are paid the expenses of those who go in their stead. There are other endowments for supplying wedding outfits to girls whose families are unable to provide them, and others for the freeing of prisoners. There are endowments for travelers, out of the revenues of which they are given food, clothing, and the expenses of conveyance to their countries. Then there are endowments for the improvement and paving of the streets, because all the lanes in Damascus have pavements on either side, on which the foot passengers walk, while those who ride use the roadway in the centre.

Marco Polo: HOW THE GREAT KAAN CAUSES STORES OF CORN TO BE MADE, TO HELP HIS PEOPLE WITHAL IN TIME OF DEARTH. You must know that when the Emperor sees that corn is cheap and abundant, he buys up large quantities, and has it stored in all his provinces in great granaries, where it is so well looked after that it will keep for three or four years. And this applies, let me tell you, to all kinds of corn, whether wheat, barley, millet, rice, panic, or what not, and when there is any scarcity of a particular kind of corn, he causes that to be issued. And if the price of the corn is at one bezant the measure, he lets them have it at a bezant for four measures, or at whatever price will produce general cheapness; and every one can have food in this way. And by this providence of the Emperor's, his people can never suffer from dearth. He does the same over his whole Empire; causing these supplies to be stored everywhere, according to calculation of the wants and necessities of the people.

Take a few minutes to make some notes in response to the two questions below. Then, discuss these ideas with your teacher and classmates.

1. What do these two passages reveal about the role of institutions (religious and governmental) in the lives of those less fortunate?

2. Give some contemporary examples in which our government or religious institutions provide similar assistance. Discuss what role such services play in a society, whether medieval or modern.

In the next passages, our travelers describe things they have never seen before. The first passage is by Ibn Battuta, while the second and third are from Marco Polo.

Ibn Battuta: THE MANY USES OF THE COCONUT The coco-palm is one of the strangest of trees, and looks exactly like a date-palm. The nut resembles a man's head, for it has marks like eyes and a mouth, and the contents, when it is green, are like the brain. It has fibre like hair, out of which they make ropes, which they use instead of nails to bind their ships together and also as cables. Amongst its properties are that it strengthens the body, fattens, and adds redness to the face. If it is cut open when it is green it gives a liquid deliciously sweet and fresh. After drinking this one takes a piece of the rind as a spoon and scoops out the pulp inside the nut. This tastes like an egg that has been broiled but not quite cooked, and is nourishing. I lived on it for a year and a half when I was in the Maldive islands. One of its peculiarities is that oil, milk and honey are extracted from it. The honey is made in this fashion. They cut a stalk on which the fruit grows, leaving two fingers' length, and on this they tie a small bowl, into which the sap drips. If this has been done in the morning, a servant climbs up again in the evening with two bowls, one filled with water. He pours into the other the sap that has collected, then washes the stalk, cuts off a small piece, and ties on another bowl. The same thing is repeated next morning until a good deal of the sap has been collected, when it is cooked until it thickens. It then makes an excellent honey, and the merchants of India, Yemen, and China buy it and take it to their own countries, where they manufacture sweetmeats from it. The milk is made by steeping the contents of the nut in water, which takes on the colour and taste of milk and is used along with food. To make the oil, the ripe nuts are peeled and the contents dried in the sun, then cooked in cauldrons and the oil extracted. They use it for lighting and dip bread in it, and the women put it on their hair.

Marco Polo: CONCERNING THE RICE-WINE DRUNK BY THE PEOPLE OF CATHAY. Most of the people of Cathay drink wine of the kind that I shall now describe. It is a liquor which they brew of rice with a quantity of excellent spice, in such fashion that it makes better drink than any other kind of wine; it is not only good, but clear and pleasing to the eye.

Marco Polo: CONCERNING THE BLACK STONES THAT ARE DUG IN CATHAY, AND ARE BURNT FOR FUEL. It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. If you supply the fire with them at night, and see that they are well kindled, you will find them still alight in the morning; and they make such capital fuel that no other is used throughout the country. It is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost less.

Writing Activity

1. Have you ever eaten an exotic fruit or vegetable, or a meal from a different culture that was made with ingredients you’d never seen before? What was that like? If you haven’t had this experience, are their foods from other cultures you’ve learned about that you want to taste?

2. Coconuts and coal are important commodities. Imagine you are a merchant from Tangiers or Venice, reading these descriptions. Using your entrepreneurial skills, write a “to-do” list designed to help you acquire and sell one of these exciting new products.

[Sources: 1. Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354, tr. and ed. H. A. R. Gibb (London: Broadway House, 1929). accessed from The Internet Medieval Source Book. 2. Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa, The Travels of Marco Polo, Volumes 1 and 2. Trans. Henry Yule. Ed. Henri Cordier. accessed from A Project Gutenberg EBook. Release Date January 8 2004. EBook #10636.]