38 
IBS BATUTAH IN SOUTHERN INDIA. 
are constantly found, either recounted to him upon unim- 
peachable authority, or as having come within his own 
immediate experience. He never lost an opportunity of 
attending prayers at a mosque, and at one time appears to 
have devoted the entire day to reciting the koran at the 
request of a very pious chief in whose territory he then 
found himself. In visiting towns and cities he never forgets 
to mention the mosques, gardens^ and market places ; but in 
some respects he is disappointing in his descriptions, as he 
omits to speak of many things that would have been of 
much interest to posterity, — gives scarcely any dates, while his 
geographical knowledge appears vague and unsatisfactory. 
What lends particular value to the account he has left us 
of his travels however is the fact that high authorities agree in 
considering it very accurate and trustworthy on most points, 
giving a truthful picture of the countries and people he saw 
as they existed at an age, of which we have but scanty infor- 
mation. It is true that Ibn Batutah does at times allow 
himself the hereditary right of travellers to give his narra- 
tive touches of artistic exaggeration, as when he solemnly 
asserts that cocks in China are of the size of ostriches ; but 
these embellishments are merely occasional literary accidents 
and do not affect the general trustworthiness of his recorded 
impressions as he has handed them down to us. The events 
which subsequently led to his visiting Southern India were 
consequent on the desire of Sultan Muhammad Ibn Taghlak 
of Delhi to send an embassy to China, and his appointing 
Ibn Batiltah to accompany it as one of his chief emissaries. 
The Emperor of the Celestials had a short time before 
preferred a request to rebuild a place of pilgi-image, much 
frequented by Chinese devotees, situated at a spot called 
Samhal, and which had been destroyed by the Muhammadan 
army. Many handsome and vahiable gifts were brought to 
the Sultan of Delhi by the mission, including slaves, fabrics, 
spears, quivers, and a profusion of rich embroideries. 
