46 
IBN BATUTAH IX SOtTHEEN INDIA. 
morning the first junk and the kakam were far from port ; 
the former, however, struck and foundered on some rocks, 
part of the crew being lost, others escaping with their lives. 
As night advanced, the second junk was also shipwrecked on 
some reefs and all hands perished. 
In the morning Ibn Batutah proceeded to the spot 
where the dead bodies lay. Zahir-ad-din's skull had been 
broken ; Sunbul lay with his brain pierced by a large nail. 
Having said the prescribed prayers over their corpses, their 
companion had them interred. The sultan meantime stood 
on the beach with his attendants and prevented the populace 
from thieving property washed ashore by the waves. Cali- 
cut was the only town on the Malabar coast where such 
jetsam did not become the property of the State, and could 
be reclaimed by the rightful owners ; consequently it was a 
port much favoured by traders. 
When the kakam saw the misfortune that had befallec 
the junk, it very ungenerously set sail, taking with it all Ibn 
Batutah's slaves and property and leaving him with but a 
few pieces of gold, a small carpet, and a slave he had liberated 
and who immediately deserted him. 
He does not however appear to have wasted time in vain 
regrets, but, with the philosophy of his race, resigned himself 
to the inevitable. He ascertained that the kakam woidd be 
compelled to put in at the port of Kulam and resolved at 
once to push on thither in the hope of meeting it there. 
The distance was a ten-days' journey by either road or 
river ; he chose the latter, halting each night at some 
village on the banks ; he recounts how much he was exer- 
cised in spirit on the way by the Musalman servant he had 
engaged who tiu'ned out a drunkard and a cause of much 
trouble. In ten days Kulam was reached in safety, a 
large and handsome town, much fi'equented by Chinese 
merchants, the port being most conveniently situated for 
them. Muhammadans were much respected. The Sultan 
