تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.102.11

13.102.11

I stayed on the ship, while its owner went down to the land on the rudder. The sailors set about making four rafts, but night came before they were finished and the water came in on us, so I climbed to the stern and stayed there until morning. Then a party of infidels came to us in a boat of theirs, and we went down with them to a shore in the land of al-Maʿbar. We told them that we were associates of their sultan, under whose protection they were, and they wrote to him about it; he was two days' journey away, on campaign. I also wrote to him, informing him of what had befallen me. Those infidels took us into a thicket and brought us a fruit resembling a melon, borne by the muql tree; inside it is something like cotton containing a honey-like juice, which they extract and from which they make a sweet they call al-tall, which resembles sugar. They also brought good fish.