(Elliot, I. 65.) Ibn Batuta tells a story of a friend of
his, the Shaikh Sa'id, superior of a convent at Mecca, who had been to
India and got large presents at the court of Delhi. With a comrade called
Hajji Washl, who was also carrying a large sum to buy horses, "when they
arrived at the island of Socotra ... they were attacked by Indian corsairs
with a great number of vessels.... The corsairs took everything out of the
ship, and then left it to the crew with its tackle, so that they were able
to reach Aden." Ibn Batuta's remark on this illustrates what Polo has said
of the Malabar pirates, in ch. xxv. supra: "The custom of these pirates
is not to kill or drown anybody when the actual fighting is over. They
take all the property of the passengers, and then let them go whither they
will with their vessel" (I. 362-363).
NOTE 4. - We have seen that P. Vincenzo alludes to the sorceries of the
people; and De Barros also speaks of the feiticeria or witchcraft by
which the women drew ships to the island, and did other marvels (u.s.).
[1] [Assemani, in his corrections (III. p. 362), gives up Socotra
in favour of Bactria.]
CHAPTER XXXIII.
CONCERNING THE ISLAND OF MADEIGASCAR.
Madeigascar is an Island towards the south, about a thousand miles from
Scotra.
