ABSTRACT
I left and we were at sea for forty-three days and then reached the country of Bengal. It is a spacious country, producing rice in abundance. Nowhere in the world have I seen cheaper produce than there, but it is gloomy and the people of Khurāsān say 'dūzakhast pur ni'ma', 2 meaning 'it is a hell full of blessings'. I have seen rice sold in the bazaars there at twenty-five Dihlī pounds for a silver dinar, which is eight dirhams. Their dirham is precisely equal to the silver ingot. The Dihlī pound is twenty Maghribī pounds. I have heard them say that it was a high price. Muḥammad al-Maṣmūdī from the Maghrib, who was a truthful man, had lived there formerly, and who died in my house in Dihlī, told me he had |211 a wife and a servant and used to buy provisions for the three of them for a year for eight dirhams. He also said he used to buy eighty Dihlī pounds of rice in the husk for eight dirhams. When it had been pounded fifty pounds net were left, that is to say, ten qintars. I have seen a milch cow sold there for three silver dinars; their cattle are buffaloes. I have seen fat hens sold at eight for one dirham. Pigeon squabs are sold at fifteen for a dirham. I have seen a fat ram sold for two, a pound of sugar, the Dihlī pound, for four, of julep for eight, of ghee for four, and of sesame oil for two. I have seen a piece of fine, high quality cotton, measuring thirty cubits, sold for two dinars. I have seen a slave-girl, good looking and suited to 868be a concubine, sold for a single gold dinar, which |212 is two and a half Maghribī gold dinars. I bought a girl named 'Ashūra of outstanding beauty for about this price. One of my companions bought a pretty young slave boy named Lu'lu' (Pearl) for two gold dinars.
