How odd, you think, as you page through the memoirs of an Arab man who lived and died in the Fourteenth Century. He travelled throughout Africa, Arabia, and the Far East and courted the rich and powerful in over forty nations before he died, leaving the legacy of a brilliant book written in his final days.
Like all the books, much of it is damaged, but some passages remain mercifully intact.
...we used to go on ahead of the caravan and whenever we found a place suitable for grazing we pastured the beasts there. This we continued to do till a man named Ibn Ziri became lost in the desert. After that we neither went on ahead nor lagged behind. Strife and the exchange of insults had taken place between Ibn Ziri and his maternal cousin, named Ibn ‘Adi, so the he fell behind the caravan and lost the way, and when the people encamped there was no news of him.
Battuta was more than just a merchant. Perhaps merchant prince would be more accurate--he was familiar with great lords--the amirs-- and kings.
Each of the amirs comes up with his troops, his drums, and his standards, and halts in a position that has been assigned to him, not a step further, either on the right wing or on the left wing. When they have all taken up their positions and their ranks are set in perfect order, the king mounts, and the drums, trumpets, and fifes are sounded for the departure. Each of the amirs advances, salutes the king, and returns to his place; then the chamberlains and the marshals move forward ahead of the king, and are followed by the musicians. These number about a hundred men, wearing handsome robes, and behind them comes the sultan’s cavalcade. Ahead of the musicians there are ten and five horsemen carrying five reed-pipes. On the sultan’s right and left during his march are the great amirs, who number about fifty.
Good old Ibn seemed to have the cat's ability to land on his feet too--he survived death more than once.
The wind became violent and the water rose so high that it was about to enter the ship, while we had no able captain with us. We then got near a rock, where the ship was on the point of being wrecked; afterwards we came into shallow water wherein the ship began to sink. Death stared us in the face and the passengers jettisoned all that they possessed and bade goodbye to one another.
You must know that from the kingdom of Melibar, and from another near it called Gozurat, there go forth every year more than a hundred corsair vessels on cruise. Their method is to join in fleets of 20 or 30 of these pirate vessels together, and then they form what they call a sea cordon, that is, they drop off till there is an interval of 5 or 6 miles between ship and ship, so that they cover something like a hundred miles of sea, and no merchant ship can escape them. For when any one corsair sights a vessel a signal is made by fire or smoke, and then the whole of them make for this, and seize the merchants and plunder them. After they have plundered them they let them go, saying: “Go along with you and get more gain, and that mayhap will fall to us also!” But now the merchants are aware of this, and go so well manned and armed, and with such great ships, that they don’t fear the corsairs. Still mishaps do befall them at times.
The book is truly engrossing, but it's looking more seedy every minute. In fact, if you try to pry out any more of the book's secrets, it's liable to fall apart in your hands. There are, however, other options. The floorboards behind you creak as the doorman shifts position.