I. ANONYMOUS (SULEIMAN ?)
A. The Maldives, Ceylon and other islands
The third sea is the sea of Harkand (Bay of Bengal). Between this sea and that of Lār (Gujarat) lie numerous islands (the Laccadives and the Maldives). They say that their number goes up to 1900. These isles separate the two seas. They are governed by a woman. Occasionally, (the sea casts upon the shores) of these islands large pieces of amber; these pieces often look like a plant or something similar. This amber grows like a plant, at the bottom of the sea. When the sea is very rough, it throws up the amber to the surface, and the pieces of amber look like mushrooms or truffle.
In these islands, where a woman rules, cocoanut is cultivated. These islands are separated from one another by distances of two, three or four parasangs.[^1] They are all inhabited, and they grow the cocoanut-trees in all of them. The wealth of the people is constituted by cowries; their queen amasses large quantities of these cowries in the royal depots. They say that there is not in existence a people more industrious than these islanders, so much so that they weave tunics of a single piece with two sleeves, two facings of the collar and the opening of the chest. They build ships, houses and execute all sorts of works with a consummate art.
The cowries are got by them from the surface of the sea. (The head of this mollusc) encloses something living. (To fish them up), they take a branch of the cocoanut tree, and put it in the sea, and the cowries attach themselves to it. The islanders give the cowries the name of kabtaj.
The last of these Isles is (Sirandib) Ceylon; it is situated in the sea of Harkand. It is the most important island of this archipelago.
All these islands (the Laccadives and the Maldives) are called Dibajāt. At Sirandib is found a pearl fishery. The island is completely surrounded by the sea. In the island there is a mountain called Rahūn on which was thrown Adam—Salutation to him—(when he was chased out of earthly paradise). The print of his feet is on the summit of the mountain hollowed in the stone. At the summit of the mountain there is only the mark of a single step. It is said that Adam in taking a stride put his other leg into the sea. It is also said that the footprint found at the summit of the mountain is about 70 cubits long.
In a region around this mountain abundant precious stones are found: rubies, topaz, and sapphire.
In the island of Ceylon there are two kings. It is big and extensive. Aloes, gold, precious stones are found on it and in the sea which bathes it, the pearl and shank are found. The latter is a big shell used as a trumpet into which one blows. It is preserved like a precious thing.
—Ferrand, Voyage, pp. 31-3.
B. On India, China and their Kings
The people of India and China are of unanimous opinion that the great kings of the world are four in number. The first among them in rank is the king of the Arabs, (that is to say the Khalif of Baghdad). Indians and Chinese are agreed without contradiction on the fact that the king of the Arabs is the greatest of the kings, the richest and the most magnificent, that is the king of the great religion of Islam, above whom there is no one. The king of China takes the second rank, after the king of the Arabs. Then follows the king of Rum (Byzance) and the Ballahrā, the king of those who have their ears bored (to suspend rings). The Ballahrā is the sovereign of India who belongs to the highest nobility, which the Indians themselves recognize. Each king of the Indians is independent, but all recognize the high nobility of the Ballahrā. When the Ballahrā sends ambassadors to other kings, the latter pray in the name of these ambassadors to do honour to him whom they represent. The Ballahrā makes generous gifts like the Arabs. He has horses and elephants, in great number, and plenty of money. His money is the dirham (piece of gold), called tāṭirī. The weight of each of these dirham is equal to that of one dirham and half of the king’s money.
The Ballahrā dates his era starting from the year of the reign of the sovereign who preceded him (sic),[^2] whilst the Arabs date from the Hegira of the Prophet—Salutation to him;—as against the latter, the Indians date according to the kings, and their kings reign long, sometimes a king reigns for 50 years. The subjects of Ballahrā claim that if their kings reign and live long, it is due to the affection that they have for the Arabs. There is in fact no king who has greater affection for the Arabs than the Ballahrā. It is the same with his subjects.
Ballahrā is the title of all the kings of this country like Kisra (for Persians, Caesar for Romans). It is not a proper name. The territory of the Ballahrā kingdom begins on the sea coast (west of India) where there is a country called the Konkan, which borders on it and extends through a part of the Asiatic continent, stretching right up to China. Around the kingdom of the Ballahrā there are a number of kings with whom it is in a state of war, but it is always victorious. Among the enemy kings there is one called the king of Gujra. He commands an important army. No other Indian king has a cavalry comparable to his. The king of Gujra is the enemy of the Arabs, but he recognizes, however, that the king of the Arabs is the greatest of kings. No king of India hates Islam as much as he. He reigns over a strip of land. He possesses great riches, camels and beasts in great number. (In his country) buying is done with bullion-money. It is said that mines of this metal are found there. There is no country in India where one is better protected from robbers.[^3]
—Op. cit. pp. 47-9.
C. Royal Funeral in Ceylon
When the king of Sirandib (Ceylon) dies his corpse is laid on a chariot near the ground. The corpse is tied to the back of the chariot, the legs in the air, the back against the chariot (facing behind) so that the hair trails in the dust on the ground. A woman throws dust on the royal head with a broom in her hand, and says to the people met for the occasion: “Eh! you! this was your king yesterday, he governed you and his order was absolute. He has come to the state of renouncing the goods of this world as you see him. The angel of death has taken his soul. Be no more henceforward seduced by the pleasures of this life.” And she continues to speak in the same sense for three days (sic). Then a funeral pyre is prepared on which is put sandal, camphor and saffron. The body is burnt and its ashes are thrown to the winds. All the inhabitants of India burn their dead.
Ceylon is the most southern among the islands of India, of which it is a part. Sometimes when the corpse of the king is burnt his wives throw themselves into the fire, and burn themselves with him; but they may not do it.
—Op. cit. pp. 64-6.
D. Ascetics
There are in India some people who consecrate themselves to a life of wandering in the woods and the mountains. They rarely frequent men. They live on herbs and wild fruits from time to time. These recluses put an iron ring to the organ to prevent all sexual relationships with women. Some of them are nude; others stand facing the sun, equally nude, but covered by some panther skins. I have seen one of them in the state that I have just said (in a certain place) then I continued my way. Sixteen years later I went again by the same place, and I saw this ascetic in the same state. I was astonished that his eye had not been destroyed by the heat of the sun.
—Op. cit. p. 66.
E. Marriage
In India and in China when one wants to get married (the interested families) pay mutual compliments and give presents to each other. Then the marriage is celebrated to the sound of cymbals and drums. The presents exchanged on this occasion consist of sums of money which are proportionate to the wealth of the givers. If a man and a woman are convicted of adultery, both are put to death, (such is the law) in the whole of India; but if the man has violated the woman, only he is put to death. If the woman has acted with full consent she is put to death with her paramour.
—Op. cit. p. 67.
F. Houses
The walls of the Chinese houses are of wood, the Indians construct their houses with stones, plaster and bricks baked in the fire and with clay. Sometimes in China also they build just like this.
—Op. cit. p. 68.
G. Food, Worship, etc.—Comparisons
The Indians eat rice, the Chinese wheat and rice. The Indians do not eat wheat. Neither the Indians nor the Chinese are circumcised.
The Chinese adore idols. They pray to them as Mussalmans pray to Allah. They address to them prayers. They possess religious books.
The Indians allow their beard to grow long. I have seen them sometimes having a beard three cubits long. They do not trim their moustaches (like the Mussalmans). The greater number of the Chinese have no beard, and for the greater part of them this is their natural condition. In India when a man dies the hair and the beard are shaved.
The Chinese and the Indians claim that their idols in the temples speak to them. But it is the priests (officiating ministers) of the temples that speak to them (and make them think the idols speak).
In China and in India, they kill animals to eat them, but they do not butcher them (so as to let the blood flow, as do the Mussalmans). They beat them on the head till they are dead. In India and in China they do not take a bath after a serious pollution (that which results from sexual relations), like the Mussalmans. The Chinese do not wash after going to stool. They just wipe themselves with paper. The Indians purify themselves each day by bathing before the morning meal, and then they eat.
The Indians do not have any sexual relationships with their women during the menstrual period. They make them go out of their houses to avoid being polluted by them. The Chinese on the contrary have relations with their women during the menstrual period, and they do not make them leave their houses.
The Indians clean their teeth (with their tooth picks). No one in India would eat without cleaning his teeth and purifying himself by bath. The Chinese do not do thus.
India is more extensive than China. Its area is double that of China. It has a greater number of kings than China, but the latter is more thickly populated.
Neither China nor India has the date-tree; but they have other trees, and fruits we do not have are gathered in. In India there is no grape. There is a little in China. India and China produce other fruits in plenty. Pomegranates are found in India in abundance.
The Chinese have no religious science. The practices of their religion (Buddhism) are derived from India. They believe that it is the Indians who brought idols to them and that the latter were their religious educators. In China and in India they believe in metempsychosis. The Chinese and Indians draw from the same religious principles different conclusions.
In India medicine and philosophy are practised. The Chinese practise medicine equally. Their chief treatment is cauterization.
The Chinese practise astronomy but the Indians practise this science still more.
No Chinese or Indian Mussalman is known who does not speak Arabic.
In India there are few horses; there are more in China. In China there are no elephants. They are not allowed to penetrate into the country because they are animals of bad omen.
The armies of the king of India are numerous, but they receive nothing for their maintenance, neither food nor pay.
The king only convokes them in case of holy war. The troops then take the field and realize for themselves the cost of their maintenance. The king furnishes them nothing for this purpose. In China the troops receive the same pay as the troops of the Arabs.
China is a brighter and more flourishing country (than India). In the greater part of India there are no towns (the country is desert). In China on the contrary there is in each place a big fortified town. In China the climate is healthier, and sicknesses less numerous than in India. The air is so pure. There one does not see either blind or one-eyed people nor deformed people. The infirm of this sort are numerous in India.
In China and in India there are everywhere great rivers, bigger ones than ours. It rains abundantly in these countries.
There are in India many deserts, in China the whole country is inhabited and cultivated. The Chinese are better made than the Indians. The clothing and the beasts of burden of the Chinese resemble more those of the Arabs than of the Indians. In costume and in the official processions the Chinese resemble the Arabs; they put on the costume called kabā by the Arabs and the sash. The Indians clothe themselves with two cloths. Men and women adorn themselves with bracelets of gold and precious stones.
—Op. cit. pp. 68-72.