South India and her Muhammadan Invaders c13.s1.42.2

c13.s1.42.2

The next important port that he touched at was Hili (near Cannanore) which at that time was one of the three ports of call for the Chinese merchants on the Malabar coast, namely, Hili, Calicut and Kuḷam. Starting again from there, he passed Jarfattan and two other coast towns, Dahfattan and Budfattan, till he reached Fandaraina. Starting thence he reached Calicut where the embassy was to take ship on its voyage to China. There happened to be at the time in this port thirteen Chinese vessels composed of the three kinds; large ships or Junks, the middle-sized ones called *Zan*, and the small ones known as *Kakams*. Each junk was manned by 600 sailors and carried 400 warriors. They contained decks, cabins, saloons and holds for merchandize. Each oar of these ships was worked by fifteen men, and every junk was accompanied by three of the smaller craft. Three of these ships were set apart for the imperial mission, and before all of the men could embark all the junks had to leave the port owing to stress of weather, and several of them suffered shipwreck. Ibn Batuta who remained on the shore was left there and the Kakam containing all his belongings set sail as soon as it saw the fate that had overtaken the fleet as a whole. Ibn Batuta hearing that the Kakam would put in at Kuḷam started towards the place by the river-way and reached Kuḷam in safety in ten days. He found it a handsome town frequented by Chinese merchants, the port being most conveniently situated for them.