400 headwords 4247726 Ibn Battuta fp indd 1

 
to Chagatay 
I arrived at my uncle’s house early the next morning.
‘So where did you go on your first sea journey, Uncle?’ I 
asked.
‘Listen, and learn,’ he said, and then he told me more of
his story: 
After my first visit to Makkah, I wanted to see more of
the world. So I travelled with friends to Jeddah on the Red 
Sea coast, and we sailed down to Yemen. For two days the 
wind was behind us, but suddenly it changed. The sea can 
be dangerous, Ahmed. One minute it’s beautifully quiet, 
and the next minute it’s dark and angry.
The wind made our little ship go up and down in the 
water, and I felt very ill. When we stopped at a village on 
the coast, my friends and I got off. We finished our journey 
to the city of Aden by camel.
There we heard stories about a number of famous places 
in East Africa. So we got on a new ship and sailed down the 
African coast. Happily, I wasn’t ill at all this time!
After we visited different East African places, we sailed 
back to South Arabia some months later. Then we wanted 
to visit Oman, so we took a ship there. But we got off it 
early because we didn’t like the sailors. This wasn’t a good 
thing to do. I understood that later!
My friend and I found a guide to take us on foot to 
Oman. I had a big bag of expensive clothes with me. So I 
gave it to the guide, and he carried it. But after some time, 
the guide suddenly ran away with my bag! I went after him 
and I put my knife near his face. That stopped him! You 
must always look big and angry with bad men, Ahmed! 
Never forget that!
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7/7/10 15:20:31
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9
island a country 
in the sea