400 headwords 4247726 Ibn Battuta fp indd 1

horn some 
animals have one 
or two of these on 
their heads
for fighting
rhinoceros a 
big animal with a 
horn on its nose
sultan a ruler in 
a country in North 
Africa or the 
Middle East
Chapter 3 - From Chagatay to Calicut 
When I went back the next afternoon, my uncle was 
happy to see me.
‘Ah, Ahmed, you’re here again. Good,’ he smiled, and he 
began his story at once:
For my long winter journey to India the ruler of Chagatay 
gave me a warm coat, two horses, two camels, and lots 
of money. We travelled south to Samarkand – a city of
beautiful buildings and wonderful gardens. From there, we 
journeyed to the Hindukush mountains.
Many people die in the snow in these famous mountains, 
so we stopped and waited for the bad weather to change. 
A good traveller always thinks about the weather, Ahmed. 
When it was better, we got up early one morning and went 
slowly over the cold and dangerous mountains. There was 
lots of snow under our feet, and we needed to put down 
coats for our big camels to walk on. We didn’t want them 
to stop in the snow and die of cold. We were all very happy 
when the Hindukush mountains were behind us.
After four long months, we arrived in the north of India, 
and there I saw something strange. We were on the road one 
day when a big animal came out from the trees. It had a fat 
body, little legs, and a very big head with a dangerous horn 
on it! The animal ran at my friend’s horse, and it hit the 
horse’s leg with its horn. The horse nearly died. I later learnt 
the name of that strange animal. It was a rhinoceros.
We journeyed to the city home of the Sultan of Delhi – 
Muhammad Tughluq. I knew a lot about this man before 
I arrived. He liked judges from different countries. You see, 
Ahmed, sultans often need people from other countries to 
help them.
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