The Early Travels of Ibn Battuta

The Travels of Ibn Battuta A.D. 1325-1354 Translated with Revisions and Notes from the
Arabic Text Edited by C. Defremery and B. R. Sanguinetti by C. Defremery; B. R.
Sanguinetti; H. A. R. Gibb
Review by: J. F. P. Hopkins
The Journal of African History, Vol. 1, No. 1 (1960), p. 173
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/179723 .
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 REVIEWS I73

THE EARLY TRAVELS OF IBN BATTOTA

The Travelsof Ibn Battffa A.D. I325-1354 translatedwith revisionsand notes
from the Arabictext editedby C. Defr6meryand B. R. Sanguinetti. By H. A. R.
GIBB. Vol. I. Cambridge, I958. (The Hakluyt Society, Second Series,
no. cx.)

This first of the four volumes of ProfessorGibb's translationcontains, besides

Ibn Battata's text, a forewordgiving the ratherscantyknownfacts of the life and
personalityof Ibn Battuta, some account of the previous publicationhistory of
the work, and a statementof the translator'smethod. There is no index (this will
presumablyfollow the last volume) but the table of contentsis very detailed.
The English reads very well and rarely betrays its Arabic background.The
notes are concise, but sufficient,and ample referencesare given.
This volume contains little of interest to students of Africa. The narrative
begins with Ibn Battuta's departurefrom Tangier, his native place, in 1325,and
ends with the travelleron the roadfrom Mecca to Iraq afterjourneyingby way of
Tunis, Tripoli, Egypt, and Syria. The object of medievalMuslim travellerswas
the pursuit of learning, and the conventionalWestern Rihla consists of a dry
catalogue,rarelyenlivened by anythingmore interesting,of the scholarsmet by
the travellerin each place he visited. Ibn Battuta's journey seems to have begun
in this same way. Though his attitude changed, and that quite soon, this is the
explanationof the long lists of qddis,imams,etc., which will strike the modern
Europeanreaderas strangein this early part of Ibn Battrita's work.
It is interestingto note that the practice mentioned by several authoritiesin
connexion with Zawila in the Fezzan, by which persons entering or leaving the
town by night were forced to leave traces of their passage by having to cross a
boundary swept smooth by a bunch of brushwood drawn behind a camel, is
reportedby Ibn Battfta of Qatya, a place a little to the eastwardsof the modern
Port Said.
The phraseon p. 15 translated'the coast road' (tariqal-sdhil)should surely be
'the roadto the Sahil'. The roadmentionedis the only road to Susa, and is only
partly along the coast, whereas Sahil was, and is, the name given to the olive-
growing region which surroundsthat town.
London J. F. P. HOPKINS

A GHANAIAN ANTHOLOGY

Pageant of Ghana. By FREDAWOLFSON,London: Oxford University Press,

1958. Pp. xvi+266. Maps, Illus. 30s.

The emergenceof Ghana as an independentstate in 1957 has given rise to con-

siderable interest in its past, and has focused attention on the long-standing
Europeanconnexionwith the 'Gold Coast', extendingover a period of some five
centuries. Dr Wolfson's book, published as one of the 'West African History
Series' under the General Editorshipof Prof. G. S. Graham, is a most useful

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