ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY 



CEYLON BRANCH. 



IBN ISA 'IT 'I' A 



IN 



THE MALDIVES AND CEYLON. 



[ Translated from the French of AT. M. D ef r emery and 

 Sangumetti y by Albert Gray, M.R.A.S., late of the 

 Ceylon Civil Service. ] 



Introduction. 



The wonderful travels of Ibn Batuta are a record alike 

 of the commercial activity of the Arabs, and of the far-reaching 

 power of the Bagdad caliphate, whose influence long survived 

 its overthrow. From the swift rise of the Muhammadan power 

 in the seventh century down to the arrival of Vasco di Gam a at 

 Calicut in 1498, the trade of Europe with the East was in the 

 hands of the Arabs. The carrying to Europe was done by their 

 ships, but in the Indian seas a vast coast trade was developed 

 by all the nations of the Indian sea-bord — Persians, the races 

 of India, Ceylon, the Eastern Islands and China. After the 

 rounding of the Cape followed in succession the restrictive 

 monopolies of the Portuguese, Dutch, and English, and the 

 Eastern nations have never regained the great and free inter- 

 national commerce of the Arab days. 



From the story of Ibn Batuta, one comes to understand 

 how it was possible for a native of Tangiers in the fourteenth 

 century to travel, with but little difficulty, for twenty-four years 

 over every country between Morocco and China. The Muham- 

 madan faith had been spread over a great part of India, and had 

 established a footing in China : Arab merchants were every- 

 where : and ships were never long in demand for voyages from 

 any one port to any other, 



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