struck him as unlike anything he had seen before. "The sails are made
of cane reed woven together like a mat, which, when they put into port,
they leave standing in the wind. In some of these vessels there will
be a thousand men, sailors and soldiers. Built in the ports of China
only, they are rowed with large oars, which may be compared to great
masts. On board are wooden houses in which the higher officials reside
with their wives."

[Illustration: AN EMPEROR OF TARTARY. From the map ascribed to
Sebastian Cabot, 1544.]

The time of the voyage came; thirteen huge junks were taken, and the
imperial presents were embarked. All was ready for a start on the morrow.
Ibn stayed on shore praying in the mosque till starting-time. That
night a violent hurricane arose and most of the ships in the harbour
were destroyed. Treasure, crew, and officers all perished, and Ibn
was left alone and almost penniless. He feared to return to Delhi,
so he took ship, which landed him on one of a group of a thousand islands,
which Ibn calls "one of the wonders of the world." The chief island
was governed by a woman. Here he was made a judge, and soon became
a great personage. But after a time he grew restless and set sail for
Sumatra. Here at the court of the king, who was a zealous disciple
of Mohammed, Ibn met with a kind reception, and after a fortnight,
provided with provisions, the "restless Mohammedan" again voyaged
northwards into the "Calm Sea," or the Pacific as we call it now. It
was so still, "disturbed by neither wind nor waves," that the ship
had to be towed by a smaller ship till they reached China.

"This is a vast country," writes Ibn, "and it abounds in all sorts
of good things--fruit, corn, gold, and silver. It is traversed by a
great river--the Waters of Life--which runs through the heart of China
for a distance of six months' journey. It is bordered with villages,
cultivated plains, orchards, and markets, just like the Nile in
Egypt."

Ibn gives an amusing account of the Chinese poultry. "The cocks and
hens are bigger than our geese. I one day bought a hen," he says, "which
I wanted to boil, but one pot would not hold it and I was obliged to
take two. As for the cocks in China, they are as big as ostriches."

"'Pooh,' cried an owner of Chinese fowls, 'there are cocks in China
much bigger than that,' and I found he had said no more than the truth."

"Silk is very plentiful, for the worms which produce it require little