1882.] INB BATUTA IN THE ^iLDIVES AND CEYLON, 11 



fibre which envelopes the coconut. The natives make it undergo 

 a preparation in pits dug near the shore : then they beat it with 

 picks, after which the women work it into rope. They make of 

 it cord for joining the boards of their ships, and such cordage is 

 exported to China, India and Yemen. Kanbar rope is worth 

 more than hemp. With this cord the (boards of) ships are joined 

 in India and Yemen, for the Indian sea is full of rocks, and 

 if a ship joined with iron bolts strikes a rock, it is broken up : 

 but when it is fastened with this cord it has elasticity, and does 

 not break. 



The money of the islanders consist of cowries. This is the 

 name of a creature (a mollusc) , collected in the sea and placed 

 in pits dug out on the beach. Irs flesh decays and there remains 

 only the white shell. A hundred of these shells is called syah, 

 and 700, fat; 12,00& are called cotta 3 and 100,000 bostou. Bar- 

 gains are struck through the medium of these cowries, at the 

 rate of four bostou to a dinar of gold. Often they are of less 

 value, such as twelve bostou to a dinar.* The islanders sell them 

 to the people of Bengal for rice, for they too use them for money. 

 They are sold in the same way to the people of Yemen, who 

 use them for ballast in their ships in place of sand. These 

 cowries serve also as a medium of exchange with the negroes in 

 their native country. I have seen them sold, at Mdly and at 

 Djoudjou, at the rate of 1,150 to a dinar of gold.f 



The Women of the Maldives. 



The women of these islands do not cover the head : the 

 sovereign herself does not so. They cornb their hair and tie it 



* Sydh = Sin. siya. Ibn Batuta says bostou = 1 dinar of gold [= about 

 10 shillings, Lane], and Pyrard says 12,000 = 1 larin = 8 sols. [Cowries are 

 usually sold in the Islands by the hiya= 100, the /aZe = 800 to 1,000, and 

 the hotte = 12,000 (bdra-fd.) A hotte is not now worth more than Rs. 1 at 

 Male.— B.] 



■f Mdly ; Djoadjou : — Two places in the Soudan, afterwards visited by the 

 traveller. 



