like the men. We cast anchor in one of their ports which is called KAILi xARI. It is also one of their greatest and finest cities, and the king's son used to reside there. When we had entered the harbour soldiers came down to the beach, and the skipper landed to speak with them. He took a present with him for the king's son ; but he was told that the king had assigned him the government of another province, and had set over this city his daughter. called Urduja.
The second day after our arrival in the port of Kailukari, this princess invited the Ncckhodah or skipper, the Karccni or purser,1 the merchants and persons of note, the Tindail or chief of the sailors,2 the Sipahsaletr or chief of the archers, to partake of a banquet which Urduja had provided for them according to her hospitable custom. The skipper asked me to accompany them, but I declined, for these people are infidels and it is unlawful to partake of their food. So when the guests arrived at the Princess's she said to them, " Is there anyone of your party missing ?" The captain replied, " There is but one man absent, the Bakshi3 (or Divine), who
1 This word Karcini, says Dulaurier, which Ibn Batuta translates by Kcatib or clerk, is probably Persian, but of Mongol origin. The word is still in universal Anglo-Indian use, at least in the Bengal Presidency, as applied to writers in public offices, and especially to men of half-blood, for whom it has become almost a generic title ; (vulgo Cranny).
2 "Tindail or chief of the Rajcil," which Defrémery renders " foot-soldiers," but I have ventured to follow Dulaurier in rendering it chief of the "sailors," both because this seems to be demanded by the context, and because the word Tindail is still in use in India, with usual (though not universal) application to a petty officer of native seamen.
3 Defrémery translates Bakshi le Juge," taking Kazi as the explanation given by Ibn Batuta. But the alternative reading Fakiah (Theologian) appears to be more probable. The word Bakshi is the Turkish and Persian corruption of Bhikshu, the proper Sanscrit term for a Buddhist monk ; many of which class came to Persia with Hulagu and his earlier successors, whence the word came to be applied generally as meaning a literatus, a scribe, a secretary, and even according to Baber a surgeon. According to Burnes in modern Bokhara it indicates a bard. Under the Mahomedan sovereigns of India it came to mean an officer who had charge of registering all that concerned the troops, the assignation of quarters, etc. And hence probably has arisen by a gradual transfer its
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