تحفة النظار في غرايب الامصار وعجايب الاسفار 13.82
English (machine translation) 13.82
- Language
- English
13.82.1
Most of the trees of these islands are coconut palms, which, together with fish, are among their staple foods; they have been mentioned before. The coconut palms are a wonder: the palm bears twelve clusters a year, one cluster coming out each month, so that some are small, some large, some dry and some green, and so it is always. From it they make milk, oil and honey, as we mentioned in the first volume, and from its honey they make sweetmeats which they eat with the dried nut of it; and the same goes for eating it.
13.82.2
It appears that this kind of fish, which Ibn Baṭṭūṭa likened to what is known in the Maghrib as the abīrūn (ABRAIROUN), is the one that bears the name qubāb in the Gulf region, known in English as Yellow fin Tuna. From 'Fishes of the Gulf', prepared by Bū Hārūn Marine Equipment, Abu Dhabi; with our thanks to Mr Aḥmad Thānī al-Dawsarī.
13.82.3
The fish on which they feed has a wonderful and unequalled power for sexual vigour, and the people of these islands are remarkable in this respect. I had four wives there, besides concubines, and I would visit all of them every day and spend the night with the one whose night it was; and I lived there a year and a half in this way!
13.82.4
Among its trees are the jamūn, the citron, the lemon and the colocasia. From its roots they make a flour from which they make something like vermicelli, and cook it in coconut milk. It is one of the most delicious of foods; I liked it very much and used to eat it.
Linked texts (1)
- تحفة النظار في غرائب الأمصار وعجائب الأسفار — Ibn Baṭṭūṭa, Arabic