China Summary and Analysis

In Ceylon, Ibn Battuta makes a pilgrimage to the top of Adam's Peak, a high point on the island supposed to be the location of Adam's descent to Earth. He returns to the southwest coast of India, moving from seacoast city to city and surviving an attack by pirates before returning once again, briefly, to the Maldives when he learns that his former wife there has given birth to a son. He considers claiming his son, but relents to his former wife and allows the boy to stay with her. Dunn explains that Islam allows a man to have up to four wives at once, and divorcing them is not a difficult procedure. Ibn Battuta rarely mentions his associations with women, but Dunn assumes that he has left several wives and children behind in his travels.

From the Maldives, Ibn Battuta...