to the Maldive Islands fall at least as late as August, 1346. He is 43 days on the voyage thence to Chittagong, and 40 days on that from Sonarganw
to Sumatra. It is not stated how long was the intervening time spent in Bengal, but he waited at Sumatra a fortnight, till the right season for the voyage to China had arrived," and this must have been the termination of the N.E. monsoon, about March, 1347; or the commencement of the S.W. monsoon, a little later. The voyage to China occupies time as follows :—To Mul-Jaws 21 days, stay there 3 ; to the Calm Sea 34, on that sea to Tawalisi 37, stay there say 3 ; to Zaitun 17, total 115 days, and time of arrival about July or August. The interval occupied by his journey in China may be thus estimated : stay at Zaitun probably not less than 10 days, voyage to Canton 27, stay there 14, back say 27, stay again at Zaitun say 4: journey to Kanjanfu 10, stay there 15; to Baiwam Kotlu 4, to Khansa 17, stay at Khansa at least 20 ; to Khanbalik 64, stay there not specified, but probably not less than 60 days : voyage back to Zaitun say the same as before, omitting stoppages, i.e. 95 days. This makes the whole time over which his travels in China extended 367 days, and would bring the season of his sailing for India again to July or August. His voyage as far as Sumatra then occupies 112 days, he passes about 60 days there, is 40 days in sailing to Kaulam, stops a while, say 15 days, at Kaulam and Calicut, and reaches Zhafar in a voyage of 28, in all 255 days, which brings us to March or April, agreeing with the time assigned in the text for his arrival at Dhafar, but April in 1349, not April in 1347. The former date is, however, quite inconsistent with that assigned for his arrival in his native country (November, 1349) ; nor would perhaps even April 1348 allow the traveller of those days to accomplish all that Ibn Batuta did in the interval, especially as he gives several consistent intermediate dates between his arrival at Dhafar and his reaching Fez.
Without going into tedious details, I think it probable that his visit to Bengal must, in spite of the data to the contrary, be put one year back, viz., to the cold weather of 1345-46, and that the time occupied in his Chinese travels, including the voyage thither and back, must be cut down by a whole year also. This may be considered in connection with the doubts expressed as to his having really visited Peking.
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