400 headwords 4247726 Ibn Battuta fp indd 1

shell the hard 
outside part of a 
small animal
pearl a little, 
round, expensive 
stone that 
is found in a 
shellfish
way how to get 
from one place to 
a different place
mountain big hill 
strange not 
usual
snow something 
cold, soft and 
white
The guide came back, but now I watched him day and 
night. He wanted to kill us, I think, and take our things. 
After a week of walking, we arrived in Oman. We were 
tired, hungry, and thirsty, but happy to be alive!
After Oman, I journeyed to the island of Bahrain. I saw 
young men in little ships there. Some of them weren’t any 
older than you, Ahmed. They stood on the ships, looked 
down into the sea, and then went far under the water for 
a very long time.
When they came up, they had shells in their hands. 
They quickly opened the shells with their knives. And 
what was in them? Wonderful pearls – the biggest and 
most beautiful pearls in the world! People give a lot of
money for them, you know.
After Bahrain, I went back to the holy city of Makkah for 
a year. There I heard interesting stories about the rich ruler 
of India. He gave work to judges from different countries, 
people said. So I looked at different ways to travel to India. 
In the end, I went across country to Syria, and then sailed 
up to Anatolia. There are sometimes big caravans to India 
from there, you see. 
I had a very nice journey across Anatolia! In every village 
young men took us to a house for travellers. There they 
gave us lots of good things to eat and drink. And when we 
left, all the people of the village cried and said ‘goodbye’!
I then journeyed north with some new friends. On the 
mountain roads, something strange happened. One 
afternoon there was a lot of snow, and when I looked 
behind me, I couldn’t find my way back to my friends.
So I went on my horse to find help. After some time, I 
came to a dark little house. At the door, I spoke to an old 
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