And his meeting with Fahian
Flying Budist Monk
Ibn Batuta
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One
can draw many parallels between Batuta's age and our own world.
The defining conflicts of the world are similar, spread of a
radical new way of life aided by new technology versus the status
quo. Then it was Islam and today it is the culture of consumerism
(as Benjamin Barber puts it "Mc World"). The defining
technology of both periods is based upon know-how. Back then it
was the mastery of sea routes and today it is the routes taken by
electrons and photons. Whatever the rallying calls behind the
philosophies and the rhetoric, it is clear the central issue
remains the same — trade. What
we see are battles that have been fought many, many times under
different guises. But the central issue is the acquisition of
wealth and control of existing hegemonies-- not Jihad and
not Liberty. Those who have learnt from history have to sit
back and watch others commit the same follies and blunders, all
over again.
Note: This essay was composed prior to the September 11 WTC attack. |
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The medina of Fés-al-Jdid, nestled between the Rif and Atlas mountains. Click to magnify. In 1354, Batuta returned to settle down in the city of Fez. He stayed in the newer city of Fez-al Jdid, then a bustling medina fashioned after the great Andalusian cities of Granada and Sevilla. He served in Sultan Abu 'Inan court as a consultant. In his later years, the king commissioned him to dictate his Rihla or travelogue. Ibn Juzayy, an acquaintance of Batuta from his visit to Granada would be his scribe and editor. His Rihla was written under the formal title ' A gift to the observers concerning the curiosities of the cities and the marvels encountered in travels.' He lived his last years in the decaying Marinid kingdom of Morocco. The aging globetrotter died in 1369 CE (700 AH). Batuta's Rihla portrays a man of many virtues and failings. He comes across as part sinner and part saint, but nevertheless he was a man of great piety and also a consummate opportunist. |
Bibliography 1.
Travels of Ibn Batuta (tr. by H. A. R. Gibb, 3 vol., rev. ed.
1958-71). Continue to read selections from the Rihla …
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Ibn Battuta was the Arab equivalent of Marco Polo. He traveled around the world and has much to say about peoples of the world.
A few lines from the Editors;
In his book he not only lays before us a faithful portrait of himself, with all his virtues and his failings, but evokes a whole age as it were from the dead....It is impossible not to feel a liking for the character it reveals, generous to excess, bold (did ever medieval traveller fear the sea less?), fond of pleasure and uxorious to a degree, but controlled withal by a deep vein of piety and devotion, a man with all the makings of a sinner, and something of a saint."
SELECTIONS
Page 30 - On Slavery
...There was consequently less stigma attached to slavery, and in no other society has there been anything resembling the system by which, as has been shown in the preceding section, the white slaves came to furnish the privileged cadre whence the high officers of state, commanders, governors, and at length even Sultans, were exclusively drawn.
The following story, told by a theologian of the third century, represents without serious distortion the relation, as numerous parallels in Arabic literature indicate, often existed between master, wife and slave.
I saw a slave-boy being auctioned for thirty dinars, and as he was worth three hundred I bought him. I was building a house at the time, and I gave him twenty dinars to lay out on the workmen. He spent ten on them and bought a garment for himself with the other ten. I said to him "What's this?" to which he replied "Don't be too hasty; no gentleman scolds his slaves." I said to myself "Here have I bought the Caliph's tutor without knowing it." Later on I wanted to marry a woman unknown to my cousin (i.e. my first wife), so I swore him to secrecy and gave him a dinar to buy somethings, including some of the fish called haziba. But he bought something else, and when I was wroth with him he said "I find that Hippocrates disapproves of haziba." I said to him "You worthless fool, I was not aware that I had bought a Galen," and gave him ten blows with the whip. But he seized me and gave me seven back saying "Sir, three blows is enough as a punishment, and the seven I gave you are my rightful retaliation." So I made at him and gave him a cut on the head, whereupon he went off to my cousin, and said to her "Sincerity is a religious duty, and whoever deceives us is not one of us. My master has married and he swore me to silence, and when I said to him that my lady must be told of it he broke my head." So my cousin would neither let me into her house nor let me have anything out of it, until at last I had to divorce the other woman. After that she used to call the boy "The honest lad," and I could not say a word to him, so I said to myself "I shall set him free, and then I shall have peace."
Page 123 - On Turks
Note that Ibn Batuta refers to today's Turks as Turkmen. You'll see that when he crosses into the Black Sea steppes he'll call the Turkic peoples of that region "Turks".
At Ladhiqiya we embarked on a large galley belonging to the Genoese, the master of which was called Martalmin, and set out for the country of the Turks known as Bilad ar-Rum [Anatatolia], because it was in ancient times their land. {1} Later on it was conquered by the Muslims, but there are still large numbers of Christians there under the government of the Turkmen Muslims. We were ten nights at sea, and the Christian treated us kindly and took no passage money from us. On the tenth we reached Alaya where the province begins. This country is one of the best in the world; in it God has united the good features dispersed thorughout other lands. Its people are the most comely of men, the cleanest in their dress, the most exquisite in their food, and the kindliest folk in creation. Wherever we stopped in this land, whether at a hospice or a private house, our neighbors both men and women(these do not veil themselves) came to ask after us. When we left them they bade us farewell as though they were our relatives and our own folk, and you would see the women weeping. They bake bread only once a week, and the men used to bring us gifts of warm bread on the day it was baked, along with delicious viands saying "The women have sent this to you and beg your prayers." All the inhabitants are orthodox Sunnis; there are no sectarians or heretics among them, but they eat hashish [Indian hemp], and think no harm of it.
The city of Alaya is a large town on the seacoast.{2} It is inhabited by the Turkmens, and is visited by the merchants of Cairo, Alexandria, and Syria. The district is well-wooded, and wood is exported from there to Alexandrietta and Damietta, whence it is carried to the other cities of Egypt. There is a magnificent and formidable citadel, built Sultan Ala ad-Din, at the upper end of town. The qadi of the town rode out with me to meet the king of Alaya, who is Yusuf Bek, son of Qaraman, bek meaning king in their language. He lives at a distance of ten miles from the city. We found him sitting by himself on the top of a hillock by the shore, with the amirs and wazirs below him, and the troops on his right and left. He has his hair dyed black. I saluted him and answered his questions regarding my visit to his town, and after my withdrawal he sent me a present of money.
From Alaya I went to Antaliya [Adalia], a most beautiful city {3}. It covers an immense area, and though of vast bulk is one of the most attractive towns to be seen anywhere, besides being exceedingly populous and well laid out. Each section of the inhabitants lives in a separate quarter. The Christian merchants live in a quarter of the town known as the Mina[the Port], and are surrounded by a wall, the gates of which are shut upon them from without at night and during the Friday service. {4}. The Greeks, who were its former inhabitants, live by themselves in another quarter, the Jews in another, and the king and his court and mamluks in another, each of these quarters being walled off likewise. The rest of the Muslims live in the main city. Round the whole town and all the quarters mentioned there is another great wall. The town contains orchards and produces fine fruits, including an admirable kind of apricot, called by them Qamar ad-Din, which has a sweet almond in its kernel. This fruit is dried and exported to Eqypt, where it is regarded as a great luxury.
We stayed here at the college mosque of the town, the principal of which was Shaykh Shihab ad-Din al-Hamawi. Now in all the lands inhabited by the Turkmens in Anatolia, in every district, town and village, there are to be found members of the organization known as the Akhiya or Young Brotherhood. Nowhere in the world will you find men so eager to welcome strangers, so prompt to serve food and to satisfy the wants of others, and so ready to suppress injustice and to kill [tyrannical] agents of police and the miscreants who join with them. A Young Brother, or akhi in their language, is one who is chosen by all members of his trade [guild], or the other young unmarried men, or those who live in ascetic retreat, to be their leader. This organization is known also as the Futuwa, or the Order of Youth. The leader builds a hospice and furnishes it with rugs, lamps, and other necessary appliances. The members of his community work during the day to gain their livelihood, and bring him what they have earned in the late afternoon. With this they buy fruit, food, and the other things which the hospice requires for their use. If a traveler comes to town that day they lodge him in their hospice; these provisions serve for his entertainment as their guest, and he stays with them until he goes away. If there are no travelers they themselves assemble to partake of the food, and having eaten it they sang and dance. On the morrow they return to their occupations and bring their earnings to their leader in the late afternoon. The members are called fityan (youths), and their leader, as we have said, is the akhi. {5}
FOOTNOTES: 1-5
[The spelling "Seljuk" is now preferred to the author's "Saljuq". Seljuks of Rum are the Seljuk Turks of Anatolia. The "Rum" reference is to the fact that Anatolia at that time was known to the MiddleEasterners as "Rome" i.e. Eastern Roman Empire.]
1. Bilad ar-Rum, literally "the land of the Greeks", though used of the Byzantine territories generally, was applied more specially, to the frontier province of Anatolia. After some temporary conquests in earlier centuries, it had been finally overrun by the Saljuq Turks between 1071 and 1081. Down to the end of the thirteenth century, the whole peninsula, except those sections which were held by the Christians (Byzantium, Trebizond, and Armenia) or the ruler of Iraq, owed allegiance to the Saljuq sultan of Konia, but from a little before 1300 it was parceled out between score of local chiefs, whose territories were gradually absorbed into the Ottoman Empire.
2. The port Alaya was constructed by one of the greatest of the Saljuq sultans of Rum, Ala ad-Din Kay-Qubad I (1219-37), and was renamed after him. To the Western merchants it was known as Candelor (from its Byzantine name kalon oros). Egypt, being notoriously deficient in wood, has always needed to import large quantities of it for the building of fleets, etc.
3. Adaliya, known to the Western merchants as Satalia, was the most important trading station on the south coast of Anatolia, the Egyptian and Cypriote trade being most active. The lemon is still called Addaliya in Egypt.
4. The closing of the city gates and exclusion of Christians at night and during the hours of Friday service was observed until quite recently in a number of places on the Mediterranean seaboard, such as Sfax, probably as a measure of precaution against surprise attacks.
5. The history of the organizations called by the name of Futuwa is still obscure. They appear first in the twelfth century in several divergent forms, which can probably all be traced to the Sufis, or darwish orders. The word futuwa, "manliness," had long been applied amongst the latter in a moral sense, defined as "to abstain from injury, to give without stint, and to make no complaint," and the patched robe, mark of a Sufi, was called by them libas al-futuwa, "the garment of manliness." It was applied in a more aggressive sense among the guilds of "Warriors for the Faith," especially as the latter degenerated into robber bands, and it is in reference to the ceremony of admission into one such band at Baghdad in the middle of the twelfth century that trousers are first mentioned as the symbolic libas al-futuwa (Ibn al-Athir XI, 41). A few years later Ibn Jubayr found in Damascus an organization called the Nubuya, which was engaged in combatting the fanatical Shi'ite sects in Syria. The members of the warrior guild, whose rule it was that no member should call for assistance in any misfortune that might befall him, elected suitable persons and similarly invested them with trousers on their admission.
In 1182 the Caliph an-Nasir, having been invested with the libas or trousers by a Sufi shaykh, conceived the idea of organizing the Futuwa on the lines of an order of Chivalry (probably on the Frankish model), constituted himself sovereign of the order, and bestowed the libas as its insignia on the ruling princes and other personages of his time. The ceremony of installation included the solemn putting-on of the trousers and drinking >From the 'cup of manhood'(ka's al-futuwa), which contained not wine but salt and water. The order took over from its Sufi progenitors a fictitious geneology back to the Caliph Ali, and continued to exist for some time after the reign of nasir in a languishing state. The Brotherhood which Ibn Batutta found in Konia, and which was distinguished from the other guilds in Anatolia by its special insignia of the trousers and its claim to spiritual descent from Ali was probablay a relic of the order founded by the romantic Caliph. The remaining Anatolian organizations seem to have been local trade-guilds with a very strong infusion of Sufism, oddly combined with a political tendency towards local self-government and the keeping in check of the tyranny of the Turkish sultans. (See generally Thorning, Turkische Bibliothek, Band XVI (Berlin, 1913), and Wacif Boutros Ghali, La Tradition Chevaleresque des Arabes (Paris, 1919), pp.1-33).
Page 126 - In Anatolia
The day after our arrival at Antaliya one of these youths came to Shaykh Shihab ad-Din al-Hamawi and spoke to him in Turkish, which I did not understand at that time. He was wearing old clothes and had a felt bonnet on his head. The shaykh said to me "Do you know what he is saying?" "NO" said I "I do not know." He answered "He is inviting you and your company to eat a m meal with him." I was astonished but I said ""Very well," and when the man had gone I said to the shaykh "He is a poor man, and is not able to entertain us, and we do not like to a be a burden on him." The shaykh burst out laughing and said "He is one of the shaykhs of the Young Brotherhood. He is a cobbler and a man of generous disposition. His companions, about two hundred men belonging to differetn trades, have made him their leader and have built a hospice to entertain their guests. All that they earn by day they spend at night."
After I had prayed the sunset prayer the same man came back for us and took us to the hospice. WE found [ourselves in] a fine building, carpeted with beautiful Turkish rugs and lit by a large number of chandeliers of Iraqi glass. A number of young men stood in rows in the hall, wearing long mantles and boots, and each had a knife about two cubits long attached to a girdle around his waist. On their heads were white woolen bonnets, and attached to the peak of these bonnets was a piece of stuff a cubit long and two fingers breadth. When they took their seats, every man removed his bonnet and set it donw in front of him, and kept on his head another ornamental bonnet of silk or other material. In the centre of their hall was a a sort of platform placed there for the visitors. When we took our places, they served up a great banquet followed by fruits and sweetmeats, after which they began to sing and dance. We were filled with admiration and were greatly astonished at their openhandedness and generosity. We took leave of them at the close of the night at left them in their hospice....
From Burdur we went on to Sabarta [Isparta] and then to Akridur [Egirdir], a great and populous town with fine bazaars. There is a lake with sweet water here on which boats go in two days to Aqshahr and Baqshahr and other towns and villages. The sultan of Akridur is one of the principal rulers in this country. He is a an of upright conduct.......
He sent some horsemen to escort us to the town of Ladhiq [DEnizli], as the country is infested by a troop of brigands called Jarmiyan [Kermian] who possess a town called Kutahiya......
As we entered the town we passed through a bazaar. Some men got down from their booths and took our horses bridles, then some others objected to their action and the altercation went on so long that some of them drew knives. We of course did not know what they were saying and were afraid of them, thinking they were brigands and that this was their town. At length God sent us a man who knew Arabic and he explained that they were two branches of the "Young Brotherhood", each of whom wanted to lodge with them. We were amazed at their generosity. It was decided finally that they should cast lots, and that we should lodge with the winner.......
After receiving the sultan's gift we left for the city of Quniya [Konia]. It is a large town with fine buildings and has many streams an fruit gardens. The streets are exceedingly broad adn the bazaars are admirably planned with each craft in a bazaar of its own. It is said that the city was built by Alexander.....
In this town is the mausoleum of the pious shaykh Jalal ad-Din [ar-Rumi], known as Mawlana ["Our Master"] {see below}. He was held in high esteem, and there is a brotherhood in Anatolia who claim spiritual affiliation with him and are called after him the Jalaliya.
The story goes that Jalal ad-Din was in early life a theologian and a professor. One day a sweetmeat seller caem into the college-mosque with a tray of sweetmeats on his head and having given him a piece went out again. The shaykh left his lesson to follow him and disappeared for some years. Then he came back, but with a disordered mind, speaking nothing but Persian verses which no one could understand. His disciples wrote down his productions, which they collected into a book called The Mathnawi. This book is greatly revered by the people of this country; they meditate on it, teach it and read it in their religious houses on Thursday nights. From Quniya we traveled to Laranda [Karaman], the capital of the sultan of Qaraman. I met this sultan outside the town as he was coming back from hunting, and on my dismounting to him, he dismounted also. It is the custom of the kings of this country to dismount if a visitor dismounts to them. This action on his part pleases them and they show him greater honour; if on the other hand he greets them while on horseback they are displeased adn the visitor forfeits their goodwill in consequence. This happened to me once with one of these kings. After I had greeted the sultan we rode back to the town together, and he showed me the greatest hospitality....
The reference to "Mawlana" [or "Mevlana" in Turkish] is to the great poet and Sufi Rumi.
Page 131 - In Iraq
We then entered the territories of the king of Iraq, visiting Aqsara [Akserai] where they make sheeps wool carpets which are exported as far as India,China, and the lands of the Turks, and journeyed thence through Nakda [Nigda] to Qaysariya, which is one of the largest towns in the country. In this town resides one of the Viceroys's khatuns, who is related to the king of Iraq and like all the sultna's relatives has the title of Agha which means Great. We visited her and and she treated us courteously, ordering a meal to be served for us and when we withdrew sent us a horse with a saddle and bridle and a sum of money. At all these towns we lodged in a convent belonging to the Young Brotherhood. It is the custom in this country that in towns that are n not theresidence of a sultan one of hte Young Brothers acts as governor, exercising the same authority and appearing in public with the same retinue as the king.....
We journeyed thence to Amasiya, a large and beautiful town with broad streets, Kumish [Gumush Khanah], a populous town which is visted by merchants from Iraq and Syria and has silver mines, Arzanjan where Armenians form the greater part of the population and Arz ar-Rum. This is a vast town but is mostly in ruins as a result of civil war between two Turkmen tribes. We lodged there at the convent of the "Young Brother" Tuman, who is said to be more than a hundred and thirty years old.....
We journeyed next to Bursa [Brusa], a great city with fine bazaars and broad streets, surrounded by orchards and running springs. Outside it are two thermal establishments, one for men and the other for women, to which patients come from the most distant parts. They lodge there for three days at a hospice which was built by one of the Turkmen kings. In this town I met the pious Shaykh Abdullah the Egyptian, a traveller, who went all round the world, except that he never visited China, Ceylon, the West or Spain or the Negrolands, so that in visiting these countries I have surpassed him. The sultan of Bursa is Orkhan Bek, son of Othman Chuk. {Mine: It seems that the founder of the Ottoman Empire was a little guy!}..
He is the greatest of the Turkmen kings and the richest in wealth, lands and military forces, and posesses nearly a hundred fortresses which he is continually visiting for inspection and putting to rights. He fights with the infidels and besieges them. It was his father who captured Bursa from the Greeks and it is said that he besieged Yaznik [Nicaea] for about twenty years, but died before it was taken.....
We set out next morning and reached Muturni [Mudurlu] where we fell in with a pilgrim who knew Arabic. We besought him to travel with us to Qastamuniya which is ten days' journey from there...He turned out to be a wealthy man, but of base character....We put up with him because of our difficulties in not knowing Turkish, but things went so far that we used to say to him in the evenings "Well, Hajji, how much have you stolen today ?" He would reply "So much" and we would laugh and make the best of it. We came next to the town of Buli, where we stayed at the convent of the Young Brotherhood. What an excellent body of men these are, how nobleminded, how unselfish and full of compassion for the stranger, how kindly and affectionate they are to him, how warm their welcome to him ! A stranger coming to them is made to feel as though he were meeting the dearest of his own folk. Next morning we traveled on to Garadi Buli, a large and fine town situated on a plain, with spacious streets and bazaars, but one of the coldest in the world. It is composed of several different quarters, each inhabited by different communities, none of which mixes with any of the others......
We sent on through a small town named Burlu to Qatamuniya, a very large..... From Qastamuniya we traveled to Sanub [Sinope], a populous town combining strength with beauty.....
We stayed at Sanub about forty days waiting for the weather to become favorable for sailing to the town of Qiram.{Mine: Crimea} Then we hired a vessel belonging to the Greeks.....At length we did set sail....We made for a harbour called Karsh [Kerch], intending to enter it....
The place was in the Qipchaq desert[steppe] which is green and verdant, but flat and treeless. There is no firewood so they make fires of dung... The only method of travelling in this desert is in waggons; it extends for six months' journey, of which three are in the territories of Sultan Muhammad Uzbeg. The day after our arrival one of the merchants in our company hired some waggons from the Qipchaqs who inhabit this desert, and who are Christians and we came to Kafa, a large town extending along the sea-coast, inhabited by Christians, mostly Genoese, whose governor is called Damdir [Demetrio].....
We hired a waggon and traveled to the town of Qiram, which forms part of the territories of Sultan Uzbeg Khan and has a governor called Tuluktumur...
He was on the point of setting out for the town of Sara, the capital of the Khan, so I prepared to travel along with him and hired waggons for this purpose. These waggons have four large wheels and.....on the waggon is put a light tent made of wooden laths ....and it has grilled windows so that the person inside can see without being seen. One can do anything one likes inside, sleep, eat, read or write during the march...
At every halt the Turks loose their horses, oxen and camels and drive them out to pasture at liberty, night or day, without shepherds or guardians. This is due to the severity of their laws against theft. Any person found in posession of a stolen horse is obliged to restore in with nine others; if he cannot do this, his sons are taken instead, and if he has no sons he is slaughtered like a sheep. They do not eat bread nor any solid food, but prepare a soup with kind of millet, and any meat they may have is cut into small pieces and cooked in this soup. Everyone is given his share in a plate with curdled milk and they drink it, afterwards drinking curdled mare's milk which they call qumizz. They also have a fermented drink prepared from the same grain, which they call buza [beer] and regard it as lawful to drink....
The horses in this country are very numorous and the price of them is negligible. A good one costs a dinar of our money. The livelihood of the people depends on them, and they are as numerous as sheep in our country, or even more so. A single Turk will posess thousands of horses. They are exported to India in droves of six thousand or so....
>From Azaq {Azov} I went on to Majar, travelling behind the amir Tuluktumur. It is one of the finest of the Turkish cities and is situated on a great river{22}.
...A remarkable thing which I saw in this country was the respect shown to women by the Turks, for they hold a more dignified position than the men. The first time that I saw a princess was when, on leaving Qiram, I saw the wife of the amir in her waggon. The entire waggon was covered with rich blue woolen cloth, and the windows and doors of the tent were open. With the princess were four maidens, exquisitely beautiful and richly dressed, and behind her were a number of waggons with maidens belonging to her suite. When she came near the amir's camp she alighted with about thirty of the maidens who carried her train..When she reached the amir, he rose before her and sat her beside him, with the maidens standing around her. Skins of qumizz were brought and she, pouring some into a cup, knelt before him and gave it to him, afterwards pouring out a cup for her brother. Then the amir poured a cup for her and food was brought in and she ate with him. He then gave her a robe and she withdrew. I saw also the wives of the merchants and commonality. One of them will sit in a waggon which is being drawn by horses, attended by three or four maidens...
The windows of the tent are open and her face is visible for the Turkish women do not veil themselves. Sometimes a woman will be accompanied by her husband and anyone seeing him would take him for one oher servants; he has no garment other than a sheep's woold cloak and a high cap to match.
NOTES: 22. The ruins of Majar (now Burgomadzhari) lie on the Kuma river S.W. of Astrakhan, 110 kilometeres N.E. of Georgiewsk, at 44.50 N., 44.27 E.
The Qipchaqs [Kipchaks] also known as Kumans/Cumans in the West are known as the Polovtsy in the Russian chroniclers and history. The famous Russian myth The Tale of the Host of Igor is about Igor's war against the Kipchaks.
He's now around the Caucasus in Russia. He calls the people which are now called Tartars, Turks, whereas before in Anatolia, he called the people today called Turks, Turkomans!
Page 147
We then prepared for the journey to the sultan's camp, which was four day's march from Majar in a place called Bishdagh, which means "Five mountains" {23}. In these mountains there is a hot spring in which the Turks bathe, claiming that it prevents illness....
Thereupon the mahalla approached (the name they give to it is the ordu) {Ordu==Army} and we saw a vast town on the move with all its inhabitants, containing mosques and bazaars, the smoke from the kitchens rising in the air (for they cook while on the march), and horse drawn waggons transporting them. On reaching the encampment they took the tents off the waggons and set them upon the ground, for they were very light, and they did the same with the mosques and shops......
I had heard of the city of Bulghar {25} and desired to visit it, in order to see for myself what they tell of the extreme shortness of the night there...
I returned from Bulghar with the amir whom the sultan had sent to accompany me...and came to the town of Hajj Tarkhan [Astrakhan]. It is one of the finest cities, with great bazaars, and is built on the river Itil [Volga], which is one of the great rivers of the world. In the winter it freezes over and the people travel on it in sledges...
Ibn Batuta's account of travel to Constantinople is skipped.
Page 165 - Astrakhan
On reaching Astrakhan where we had parted from Sultan Uzbeg, we found that he had moved and was living in the capital of his kingdom....On the fourth day we reached the city of Sara, which is the capital of the sultan{37}. We visited him, and after we had answered his questions about our journey and the king of the Greeks and his city he gave orders for our maintenance and lodging. Sara is one of the finest of towns, of immense extend and crammed with inhabitants, with fine bazaars and wide streets. We rode out one day with one of the principal men of the town, intending to make a circuit of the place and find out its size. We were living at one end of it and we set out in the morning, and it was after midday when we reached the other. One day we walked across the breadth of the town, and the double journey, going and returning, took half a day, this too through a continuous line of houses, with no ruins and no orchards. It has thirteen cathedral and a large number of other mosques. The inhabitants belong to diverse nations; among them are the Mongols, who are the inhabitants and rulers of the country and are in part Muslims, As [Ossetes], who are Muslims, and Qipchaqs[Turks], Circassians, Russians,and Greeks, who are all Christians. Each group lives in a separate quarterwith its own bazaars. Merchants and strangers from Iraq, Egypt, Syria and elsewhere, live in a quarter surrounded by a wall, in order to protect their property.
FOOTNOTES: 23. Beshtaw, one of the foothills of the Caucasus, is a wooded hill rising to a height of nearly 1,400 metres, just north of Pyatigorsk, about 35 kilometres S.W. of Georgiewsk.
[ The author makes a mistake here. Pyatigorsk means exactly "Besh Tau" or "Besh Dagh" i.e. Five Mountains]
25. Bulghar, the ruins of which lie on the left bank of the Volga just below the junction of Kama, was the capital of the medieval kingdom of Great Bulgaria [Turkish], annexed by the Mongols in the thirteenth century. It possessed great commercial importance as the distributing centre for Russian and Siberian products. It is difficult to understand however, how Ibn Battuta could have made the journey from Majar to Bulghar, some 800 miles, in ten days!
37. There were two cities of "Sarray in the land of Tartarye", which were successively the capital of the Khans of the Golden Horde; Old Sarai, situated near the modern village of Selitrennnoe, 74 miles above Astrakhan, and New Sarai, which embraced the modern town of Tsarev, 225 miles above Astrakhan. Sultan Muhammad Uzbeg moved the capital from Old Sarai about this period, most probably a few years before. Ibn Batuta's description agrees best with New Sarai, ruins of which extend over a distance of more than forty miles, and cover an area of over twenty square miles. (See F. Balodis, in Latvijas Universitates Raksti (Acta Universitatis Latviensis, XIII (Riga, 1926), pp. 3-82.
from Ibn Battuta: Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354. Translated and selected by H.A.R. Gibb. Edited by Sir E. Denison Ross and Eileen Power. (New York: Robert M. McBride & Company,)
[note: I saved this while browsing the net. I am not sure who supplied the notes]
This text is part of the Internet Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
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Ibn Battuta
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(Ĭ´ben bätoo´tä) , 1304?-1378?, Muslim traveler, b. Tangier. No other medieval traveler is known to have journeyed so extensively. In 30 years (from c.1325) he made a series of journeys recorded in a dictated account. He traveled overland in North Africa and Syria to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. Afterward he visited Arabia, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Asia Minor. He made a journey by way of Samarkand to India, where he resided for almost eight years at the court of the sultan of Delhi, who sent him to China as one of his ambassadors. Ibn Batuta visited the Maldives, the Malabar coast, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and Sumatra. He returned c.1350 to Tangier. Later he went to Spain, then to Morocco, and from there he crossed the Sahara to visit Timbuktu and the Niger River. Batuta is still considered a most reliable source for the geography of his period and an authority on the cultural and social history of Islam. For annotated selections from his writings, see Travels of Ibn Battūta (tr. by H. A. R. Gibb, 3 vol., rev. ed. 1958-71).
Ibn
Batuta
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Ibn-Batuta and Muslim Geography
The prominence of geography in Muslim scholarship—and
perhaps even the existence of a distinct field of Muslim
geography—stems from two factors: 1) the fact that Islam itself
is concerned with proper cardinal directions and 2) that trade with
distant lands demanded accurate maps or descriptions. At numerous
times every day, millions of Muslims must turn toward Mecca and pray.
Sometime during their lifetime, every Muslim must make the hajj,
a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. These factors have demanded a
basic knowledge of geography.
Overall, the Muslims' most important contribution to geography was not necessarily technical or scientific, but was in many ways archival—the preservation of the ancient works of the Greeks and the Romans through the dark ages of medieval Europe. Many of the works of Aristotle, Ptolemy, and other famous Greek, Egyptian, and Roman geographers were saved and translated by Muslim scholars.
The center of Islamic learning was Baghdad. Here great translation projects took place, converting the great works of different cultures into Arabic. One of these great projects was started by a man named Calif al-Mamun in 813 AD. He employed people of all races and religions to help translate books from around the world. He also paid each translator the weight of their books in gold. Great libraries and schools thrived on the works that the translators contributed.
Muslim traders had also been traveling as far west as Ireland and as far east as China or even possibly Japan. From these great traveling merchants came a need for maps and details about cities. Many of these traveling merchants kept detailed records of their journeys, sharing their experiences with other merchants or caravans, and sometimes even selling their information. Of all the contributions made to the field of geography by the Muslims during the period between 800 and 1400 AD, perhaps the three most influential Muslim geographers were ibn-Batuta, ibn-Khaldun, and al-Idrisi (Edrisi).
Born in Tangier into a traditional family of judges, ibn-Batuta was 21 years old when he set out to make a pilgrimage to Mecca and complete his studies of the law. On his way to Mecca he became fascinated with the people and places he visited. By the time he reached Mecca, he had decided to devote himself to travel instead of studying the law. From that point on, he carefully avoided traveling the same route twice, enabling him to see new routes and places.
Ibn-Batuta traveled all over the Arab peninsula, down the Red Sea, to Ethiopia, and along the east coast of Africa. He confirmed what ibn-Haukal had said about the torrid zone below the equator being populated when he traveled the coast and visited Arab trading markets.
He later traveled east and north to Baghdad, Persia, the Black Sea, the Russian steppes, eventually reaching Bukhara and Samarkand. He received a job from the Mongol emperor in Delhi and traveled through the mountains of Afghanistan. While at his post in Delhi he received the opportunity to travel widely in India.
Ibn-Batuta later was appointed to become the ambassador to China by the Mongol emperor. On his way to China he received the opportunity to see Indonesia, traveling to the Maldive Islands, Ceylon, Sumatra, and finally China.
After spending time in China, ibn-Batuta returned home in 1350. He traveled to Fez, the capitol of Morocco. He made a trip north into Spain, and he later made a trip south across the Sahara to Timbuktu. There he learned about the black Muslim tribes of West Africa.
Upon his return in 1353, he decided to settle in Fez and wrote accounts of his travels by order of the Sultan. He wrote about the many different places he had traveled to in his book Rehla (Travels). In the book he notes the different climates, peoples, and customs. Rehla made little impact on the Christian world. Ibn-Batuta was the most traveled person of his time, traveling an estimated 75,000 miles. He was the last of the great Muslim geographers, giving way to the European age of exploration.
A native of the Maghrib, this Muslim Moroccan was educated at the University of Cordoba in Spain, where he resided as a scholar. He was brought to Palermo in Sicily by King Roger II to work as a scholar. King Roger asked to send out people to verify and record the locations of uncertain landforms in order to update navigational records. With the information brought back, Idrisi had compiled a new geography book that corrected many discrepancies. Idrisi corrected the idea that the Indian Ocean was enclosed and that the Caspian Sea was a gulf to the world ocean. He corrected the charting of many rivers in Europe and Africa and several major mountain ranges. At Palermo, improvements were made in navigation and the use of coastal charts, and maps were corrected. It has been suggested that these corrections were the spark that set off the age of exploration. His most famous collection of information was known as The Book of Roger, written in Arabic but strangely not translated until 1619.
Probably best known for his studies in human-environment relations, ibn-Khaldun was a great historian and geographer. Born on the Mediterranean coast of northwest Africa, Khaldun lived in Algeria, Tunisia, Spain, and Egypt. In 1377, he completed his introduction to world history, the Muqaddimah. In it, he discussed how humans and the environment interact. He also examined subjects like government, the sciences, cities, and physical geography. Many of his ideas, however, were based on Greek works.
ibn-Haukal (ibn-Hauqal, Mohammed Abul Kassem), 943-969 AD
Born in Baghdad, the center of learning in his day, ibn Haukal was a traveler who spent much of his time writing about the areas and things he had seen. He spent the last 30 years of his life traveling to remote parts of Asia and Africa. One of his travels brought him 20º south of the equator along the African coast. One of the things he noticed was that there were large numbers of people living in areas that the Greeks said were uninhabitable.
One of his greatest collections of works was a book called The Description of the Earth (Configuration de la Terre), which included a detailed description of Muslim-held Spain, Italy, and the "Lands of the Romans," the term used by the Muslim world to describe the Byzantine Empire. His descriptions were accurate and very helpful to travelers.
Al-Masudi, 895-957 AD
Al-Masudi was a famous Muslim scholar and traveler who made significant discoveries in the fields of climatology and geomorphology. He had traveled as far south as present-day Mozambique, where he made many important discoveries. He noted the monsoon patterns and kept records of them. He described the evaporation of moisture from water surfaces and the condensation of moisture in the form of clouds in the tenth century. He believed that the environment influenced plant and animal life. He maintained that the Indian Ocean was an open sea, based on his travels and the reports of sailors. He noted the idea that most of the Earth's land was in the Northern Hemisphere, and that the Southern Hemisphere was mostly open oceans.
The most famous collection of his findings was also the most popular of any Muslim geographical work, a book titled The Meadows of Gold. It contained his view of the Earth and its seas, a Ptolemaic description of the cosmos, and regional geographical descriptions. The book was widely used in Muslim educational institutions.
Al-Biruni (Abu Rayhan Mohammed ibn Ahmad), 973-1050 AD
Al-Biruni's greatest contributions to geography were his discoveries in geomorphology and his amazing translation skills. He was from Khwarazm, now present-day Kazakhstan. He was given the title of "The Master" for his accomplishments in geology and geodesy, his translations of Indian works, and his linguistic skills. Some of his works include the study of a system of longitude and coordinates, historical geography, and theories of creation.
Al-Biruni noted many different things about geomorphology and astronomy. He noted that stones were smooth and rounded because of being tumbled around in mountain streams. He discovered that water can change the face of stone by erosion. He noted that alluvial material that landed close to mountains was coarse in texture, and that the material farther away was much finer in texture. Al-Biruni had suggested that it was almost always night at the south pole, and he mentioned that the Hindus believed that the moon caused the tides.
ibn-Khordadbeh, 820?-912? AD
Ibn-Khordadbeh was the postmaster general of the Abbasid caliphate and an author of many descriptive guides to different regions and cities. He assembled many volumes describing travel routes for merchants, including a book titled The Book of Roads and Provinces.
Works Cited
James, Preston Everett. All Possible Worlds: A History of Geography. New York: Wiley, 1981.
Kish, George. A Source Book in Geography. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978.
Parry, J.H. The Age of Reconnaissance. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1981.
Wright, John Kirtland. Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades, American Geographical Society Research Series No. 15. New York: Rumford Press, 1925.
Faruqi, Ismail. The Cultural Atlas of Islam. New York: Macmillan Press, 1986.
If you would like to post materials on the History and Philosophy of Geography in this test area, please contact Jon T. Kilpinen.
Return
to VGDP Test Area
VGDP
History and Philosophy Page | The
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Valparaiso
University Department of Geography and Meteorology | Comments
This page is maintained by the Department of Geography and Meteorology at Valparaiso University. Please send comments and corrections to Jon T. Kilpinen at jkilpinen@exodus.valpo.edu.
Last revised 25 March 1997 by JTK.
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The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001. |
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Ibn Batuta |
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Wandering Wonder Ibn Batuta by Dr. Jyotsna Kamat
Ibn Batuta was born in Tangier in Morocco in 1305 A.D. He traveled in about forty-four countries of two continents risking life and limb many times. He was a devout Muslim and not only a pilgrim, but a jurist, mystic, politician, a courtier at times, a diplomat and an explorer. In twenty nine years of endless traveling, he covered about 75,000 miles almost three times the distance Marco Polo, the great adventurer before him, covered. He returned to his native land after twenty nine years of land and sea travel and at his Sultan's command wrote the Rehla or a travel book covering several adventures in African deserts, Indian countries (states) and islands in far east and China. He spent seven years at the court of Mohammed Bin Tughluk as a judge and finally as ambassador to China! He has left a wonderful record of socio-religious life of the places he visited which includes coastal Karnataka.
The town of Honavar or Hinawr as Ibn Batuta calls it, was a big port and capital city in his time. he was guest of Jamaluddur-- the governor or ruler of the province, and was a kudatory of Bijayanagar king "Haryah" (Hariappa or Harihara I.) Ibn Batuta noticed there are thirteen schools for girls, and twenty-three schools for boys, the like of which he had not seen elsewhere. He further states that the women knew the great Quran by heart. Perhaps, the schools he mentions were Maqtabs (elementary schools )attached to Masjids where children were taught to read, write, and recite Quran. Besides he mentions that the girls were fair and beautiful and wore rings in their nose. Obviously they did not wear burqa or veil since he noticed nose ornaments worn by women. By the standard of middle ages, coastal Karnataka was ahead in Muslim education, a rare happening even now, compared with existence of thirteen schools in the fourteenth century, however small they were. Ibn Batuta has further left interesting account of a dinner he had with sultan Iamaluddin. "Four small chairs were placed on the ground and ... each one of us sat likewise on a chair. A copper table is brought, which is known as Khawanja, on which is placed a dish of the same metal known as talam (thali.) Then appears a beautiful girl, wrapped in silk sari who placed the pots with food before the individual. She holds a large copper vessel from which she picks up a ladleful of rice, and serves it on the dish, pours ghee over it, and adds pickles of pepper, of green ginger, of lemon, and of mangos. The man eats a little rice with pickles. When the food placed before him is consumed, she takes a second ladleful (of rice) and serves cooked foul on a plate and the rice is eaten there with also. When the second course is over, she takes another ladleful and serves another variety of chicken which is also eaten with rice. When chicken is consumed, fish of different kind is served, with which also one eats rice. When fish courses are over, vegetables cooked in ghee and milk (payasam perhaps?) are served. When all dishes are eaten, "Kushan that is curded milk is served which finishes the meal. At the close one drinks hot water, for cold water would harm the people in the rainy season." Thus, it is clear that there was hardly any difference between the meals of non-Brahmin Hindus and Muslims. The latter, even of the ruling class became fully localized as far as food habits, female education and dress were concerned. The sultan wore silk clothes and wore shawls. When he rode, a cloak he did had. But over it again he wore a shawl--a typical Indian fashion. Ibn Batuta had traveled through all the countries of Asia and Africa where Islam flourished. His stay in India, Maldives an Ceylon for fourteen years provides valuable account of socio-cultural scene of those times.
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THE
THEOSOPHICAL GLOSSARY
BY
H. P. BLAVATSKY
http://www.pepys.info/1668/1668dec.html
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Area |
: 2966Sq.Kms. |
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Population |
: 2244819 |
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Rain Fall |
: 344 cms (annual) |
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Best Season |
: August To March |
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STD Code |
: 0497 |
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State |
: Kerala |
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[Categories: Tangier, Special
territories, Coastal cities, Cities in Morocco]
Tangier
(in Quick Facts about: Berber
A member of a Caucasoid
Muslim people of northern AfricaBerber
and Quick Facts about: Arabic
The Semitic language of the
Arabs; spoken in a variety of dialectsArabic
Tanja, in Quick Facts about: Spanish
The Romance
language spoken in most of Spain and the countries colonized by
SpainSpanish
Tánger and in Quick Facts about: French
The
Romance language spoken in France and in countries colonized by
FranceFrench
Tanger) is a city of northern Quick Facts about: Morocco
A
kingdom (constitutional monarchy) in northwestern Africa with a
largely Muslim population; achieved independence from France in
1956Morocco
with a population of 350,000, or 550,000 including suburbs. It lies
on the Quick Facts about: North Africa
An area of northern
Africa between the Sahara and the Mediterranean SeaNorth
African coast at the western entrance to the Quick Facts about:
Strait of Gibraltar
The strait between Spain and
AfricaStrait
of Gibraltar.
According to the Quick Facts about: Berber
A
member of a Caucasoid Muslim people of northern AfricaBerber,
mythology Tangier was built by the son of Tinjis, named Sufax. Tinjis
was the wife of the Quick Facts about: Berber
A member of a
Caucasoid Muslim people of northern AfricaBerber
hero Antaios.
Tangier was an important city for the Quick
Facts about: Berber
A member of a Caucasoid Muslim people
of northern AfricaBerber,
and Tangier is still inhabited by the Quick Facts about: Berber
A
member of a Caucasoid Muslim people of northern AfricaBerber
and the Quick Facts about: Arab
A member of a Semitic
people originally from the Arabian peninsula and surrounding
territories who speaks Arabic and who inhabits much of the Middle
East and northern AfricaArabs,
and even the name may come from the Berber goddess Tinjis (or
Tinga).
Founded by Quick Facts about: Carthaginian
A
native or inhabitant of ancient CarthageCarthaginian
colonists in the early 5th century BC, the settlement of Tingis
came under Quick Facts about: Roman rule
Quick Summary not
found for this subjectRoman
rule as the capital of Tingitana, to come later to Quick Facts
about: Byzantine
A native or inhabitant of Byzantium or of
the Byzantine EmpireByzantine
rule before passing under Quick Facts about: Arab
A member
of a Semitic people originally from the Arabian peninsula and
surrounding territories who speaks Arabic and who inhabits much of
the Middle East and northern AfricaArab
control in Quick Facts about: 702
Quick Summary not found
for this subject702.
Held by the Portuguese from 1471 and by Quick Facts about: the
British Garrison
Quick Summary not found for this subjectthe
British Garrison from 1661 to 1684, it returned to Moroccan
control in 1684.
Tangier's geographical location made it a
centre for Quick Facts about: Europe
The 2nd smallest
continent (actually a vast peninsula of Eurasia); the British use
`Europe' to refer to all of the continent except the British
IslesEuropean
diplomatic and commercial activity in Morocco in the late Quick Facts
about: 19th
Quick Summary not found for this subject19th
and early Quick Facts about: 20th
Quick Summary not found
for this subject20th
centuries. It was here that the Quick Facts about: German
A
person of German nationalityGerman
Kaiser Quick Facts about: Wilhelm II
Grandson of Queen
Victoria and Kaiser of Germany from 1888 to 1918; he was vilified as
causing World War I (1859-1941)Wilhelm
II's pronouncement for Quick Facts about: Morocco
A
kingdom (constitutional monarchy) in northwestern Africa with a
largely Muslim population; achieved independence from France in
1956Morocco's
continued independence triggered Quick Facts about: an
international crisis
Quick Summary not found for this
subjectan
international crisis in 1905.
In 1912, Morocco was
effectively partitioned between Quick Facts about: France
A
republic in western Europe; the largest country wholly in
EuropeFrance
and Quick Facts about: Spain
A parliamentary monarchy in
southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula; a former colonial
powerSpain,
the latter occupying the country's far north and a strip of the
southern Quick Facts about: Atlantic
The 2nd largest ocean;
separates North and South America on the west from Europe and Africa
on the eastAtlantic
coast. Tangier was made an international zone in 1923 under the joint
administration of France, Spain, and Quick Facts about: Britain
A
monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles;
divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern
IrelandBritain
(Quick Facts about: Italy
A republic in southern Europe on
the Italian Peninsula; was the core of the Roman Republic and the
Roman Empire between the 4th century BC and the 5th century ADItaly
joined in 1928).
The multicultural placement of Quick Facts about:
Muslim
A believer or follower of IslamMuslim,
Quick Facts about: Christian
A religious person who
believes Jesus is the Christ and who is a member of a Christian
denominationChristian,
and Jewish communities and the foreign immigrants attracted artists
like Quick Facts about: Paul Bowles
Quick Summary not found
for this subjectPaul
Bowles, Quick Facts about: William S. Burroughs
United
States writer noted for his works portraying the life of drug addicts
(1914-1997)William
S. Burroughs, Quick Facts about: Brion Gysin
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectBrion
Gysin, and the collector Quick Facts about: Jim Ede
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectJim
Ede.
After a period of effective Spanish control from 1940
to 1945 during Quick Facts about: World War II
A war
between the Allies (Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada,
China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, Dominican
Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti,
Honduras, India, Iran, Iraq, Luxembourg, Mexico, NetherlWorld
War II, Tangier was reunited with the rest of Quick Facts about:
Morocco
A kingdom (constitutional monarchy) in northwestern
Africa with a largely Muslim population; achieved independence from
France in 1956Morocco
following the country's independence in 1956.
[Categories: US National Film
Registry, AFI 100 Passions, 1930 films]
Morocco
is a 1930 film in which a Quick Facts about: Foreign
Legion
A military unit composed of foreign volunteers who
serve the stateForeign
Legionnaire meets and falls in love with a sultry seductress. It
stars Quick Facts about: Gary Cooper
United States film
actor noted for his portrayals of strong silent heroes
(1901-1961)Gary
Cooper, Quick Facts about: Marlene Dietrich
United
States film actress (born in Germany) who made many films with Josef
von Sternberg and later was a successful cabaret star
(1901-1992)Marlene
Dietrich and Quick Facts about: Adolphe Menjou
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectAdolphe
Menjou.
The movie was adapted by Jules Furthman from the
play Amy Jolly by Benno Vigny. It was directed by Quick Facts
about: Josef von Sternberg
United States film maker (born
in Austria) whose films made Marlene Dietrich an international star
(1894-1969)Josef
von Sternberg.
It was nominated for Academy Awards for
Quick Facts about: Best Actress in a Leading Role
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectBest
Actress in a Leading Role (Marlene Dietrich--who, amazingly, knew
little English, and spoke her dialogue phonetically), Quick Facts
about: Best Art Direction
Quick Summary not found for this
subjectBest
Art Direction, Quick Facts about: Best Cinematography
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectBest
Cinematography and Quick Facts about: Best Director
Quick
Summary not found for this subjectBest
Director (Josef von Sternberg).
The movie was notorious in
its day for a woman-to-woman kiss. It has been deemed "culturally
significant" by the Quick Facts about: Library of
Congress
Quick Summary not found for this subjectLibrary
of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States
Quick Facts about: National Film Registry
Quick Summary not
found for this subjectNational
Film Registry.
What Daemon inhabits this bog
The Casbahs of Morocco are not Arab cities but rather the remains of ancient proto-Rome/proto-Carthage events where Arabic speaking people dwell.
Living by candle light, the daemons of electricity shrink and go away while the daemons of an ancient here and now grow until there is no difference between now/now and now/three thousand years ago.
These ancient dwelling places have no beginning and no end. They are like you and I – very none linear
As you go from noon to midnight, different daemons inhabit your experience of space and time, and if you stay up late enough you can experience yourself as you are three thousand years ago
But how is this you say – I m here and now – but in fact you are all of your yesterwhen and future be all at once – with now an infinitesimal instant that is so short it essentially may not exist
For example, when you are stoned, you become transformed into a stonedness that pervades all of your normalness with something which is the same for all men of all time everywhere
And when you are not stoned, your are pervaded with this normalness that is the same for all man
This normalness is the essence of self – a faceless – shapeless self that is traveling through the Universe that can be experienced so easily in the bare nakedness of a midnight casbah
This is me – this is who I am – I am Big Daddy Max
The shadow of the sundial move with the lightness of n invisible feather yet it cuts down everything in its pth. Only the demons of eternity are immune to change because they are made from time itself – the true children of forever.
The casbah that you can prowl, see, smell and hear
Is not the complex,unknowable pattern of forces that make the whole thing happen
The maps, guide books, etc can not begin to describe the evolution of interconnected changes that channel the current dynamic dis-equilibrium
The whole universe minus the stories about it is just an ongoing manifestation of evolution
All the reflections, pictures, stories, explanations and beliefs are just somewhat random commentary (gossip)
There is a common ground between the actual physical evolution and the mental evolution of stories about the physical evolution
This common ground is said to be secret because it is so mysterious and impossible to directly explain yet so simple
It is a secret that you keep from your self and the deepest and most mysterious secret of all
This profoundly deep, obscure, black mystery is called the Gate of all knowledge
This mystery pervades every passageway, every wall, every doorway and every room of the casbah
These ancient lived in ruins of times past and times future where the ancient daemons grow huge stretch the mind beyond all conscious meaning are the training ground for the seer of mystery
The music...
The food...
The color...
The sound...
The shadows...
Last spoken words of Big Daddy Max before he took an oath of silence so that he could focus on living for kicks.
TOOBUSEYFUCKENTOTALK – BDM's CV
©BigDaddyMax2005
The hummuckey shanked old troach
Had a cunt that stank like a Roach
The crack of her ass
Was a maggoty mass
But her cunt will still fine panocho
The Coke bottle lift an carry contest: TBD
Link to BigDaddyMax Chatterbot http://www.pandorabots.com/pandora/talk?botid=ddb10c3d9e35cb57
The Story of the First NicdkeyJoe: TBD
Selected Poems in progress - In Progress: #1
Complex Double Chomping Pussey Tasting Using HyperSnacking Techniques
HyperSnacking Analysis: What Is It? (Abstract)
If you can poundthe ground, you can makeit at the dirtback jamboree
analysis is an experimental analytical method that uses the full visual perception capability of the human mind to present the maximum amount of data to the snack man in est time possible. Complex data set analysis is facilitated if not enabled by presenting the data in 3D stereo images which are animated and utilize the full perceptual pallet including translucence. The method uses multi-screen wall scale projection video systems utilizing both polarized and panorama type 3D stereo. The basic attempt is to get more than 20 axises on one plot in a way that is accessible to the human mind. Such heavily overloaded graphs are required to show the interaction of equipment/process/in-line-monitor/e-test-monitor/wafer-sort-values/final-test-values/reliability-values over periods of by region of wafer and lot, by time of production and FAB/Foundry of origin. The basic idea is that the whole snack process has to be looked at as an organic whole in order to pinpoint the root cause of interactive problems. The following presentation presents examples of pictures showing the perceptual capabilities utilized by HyperSnackTacktics
HyperSnackticnalysis: An Example.
. In the example below you can not really see the troach in placeunless you use 3D stereo vision because most of the teapot shows up as noise in the right or left photograph. The combination of the data from the left eye image and the right eye image happens in the brain. The combination of the left eye data and the right eye data creates a “holomirage” inside the mind that can then be scrutinized for causal relations by the forebrain processes. It is important to note that the holomirage is not a 3D Stereo picture but rather a fracturing of the 3D Stereo image into separate informational entities that exist in an instant of time.
The formation of informational entities will become more apparent when 3D stereo movies are presented. For now just look down through the two pictures and let them merge into a third central picture with 3D depth. Try to judge the distance from the back wall of the teapot to the front wall of the dragon teacup. The answer is at the end of the chapter.
This is an example of a complex data set manifesting in time.
TBD
bn
Batuta's Rihla is a unique tome casting light on the life and
maritime technology in the medieval world. It is often considered
as an authority on the social and cultural history of Islam. From
the Rihla we learn about the workings of the kingdoms of the
Mongols under Ujbek Khan, the machinations and politics under
Muhammed bin Tughlaq– the Sultan of India, the simplicity of
life in the Maldives, the condition in the dhows (cramped for
space) and the junks (luxurious if you could afford it. Private
cabins for you and your slave women, five course meals), the price
of clothes and spices, the unsuccessful attempts of doing away
with gold currency, and the vagaries of life across the civilized
world.
´b
n
bät
´tä) (
ta
(tr. by H. A. R. Gibb, 3 vol., rev. ed. 1958–71).
