XXIV. 1279-92 A.D. EMBASSIES BETWEEN CHINA AND SOUTH INDIA

Possibly as a result of the arrival at the Mongol court in the 7th moon of 1279 of missions from Ma’bar and Annam (Chan-ch’êng) which presented the emperor with a live elephant and a rhinoceros, Yang Ting-pi, the able lieutenant of So-tu and now Commander-in-Chief in Kuang-tung with the title of Daruga, was appointed Imperial Commissioner in the 12th moon of the year (early part of 1280) with orders to proceed to Külam (Quilon) to invite the ruler (Pi-na-ti)1 to recognise Kublai as his liege lord and to send an envoy to China; this he promised to do.

In the early autumn of 1280 (8th moon) missions arrived at the Mongol court from Annam and Ma’bar bearing memorials from their rulers to the Emperor in which they styled themselves “Your servants,” thus recognizing him as their liege lord. They presented as tribute valuable presents and, as in 1279, an elephant and rhinoceros.2 This mission had been sent spontaneously by the legitimate sovereign of Ma’bar and before the arrival of Yang Ting-pi, the king being most anxious to secure, by recognition of Chinese suzerainty, the protection of the Mongols against his domestic foes who were depriving him of all his power; its leader was named Jumaluddin.

Hardly had Yang Ting-pi returned from this mission when he was ordered to proceed again to Külam and the adjacent countries. The narrative of his journey is given as follows in the Yüan shih.

“In the 10th moon (of the year 1280) the rank of Envoy to Külam was given to Ha-sa-erh-hai-ya and he was sent, in company with Yang Ting-pi, to summon (the other countries adjacent to Külam) to come to Court. They put to sea from Ch’üan-chou in the first moon of the 18th year, (about February, 1281) and after a voyage of three moons arrived in the island of Sêng-kia-yeh (Ceylon). Chêng-chên and the other sailors persuaded them, in view of the contrary winds and their provisions running short, to make for Ma’bar, whence Külam could be reached by a land-route which they believed existed. In the 4th moon they landed from their junk at the port of Hsin-tsun3 (in Ma’bar). Ma-yin-ti, the Minister of State (Vezir) of the country, said to the Chinese Officials: “You are most welcome. Whenever our ships have been to Ch’üan-chou your officials have done their best to spare us all trouble and expense. What business has brought you here?” Yang Ting-pi and the others explained the purpose of their mission and all about the supposed route to Külam. Ma-yin-ti requested them, on the score of not fully understanding what they said, to see his Assistant (or Secretary) Pu-a-li (Abu Ali), and to him they told about the reported road and their business.

“In the 5th moon two men came stealthily to the envoys’ lodgings, and keeping the people away (so that they could not be overheard) said that, in view of their evident and sincere friendliness, they begged them to convey the following message (from the legitimate king of Ma’bar) to the court of China. “I am sincerely desirous of becoming the subject of the Emperor. My envoy Cha-ma-li-ting (Jumaluddin) has been received at your court. My Great Pi-shê-ch’ih has gone to the Suan-tan (“Lord of a kingdom”) and asked for a change. The Suan-tan has sequestered my gold and my silver, my lands and my property. He has laid hold of my wives and seeks to put me to death, I have only been able to escape by deceiving him. At the present moment the Suan-tan and the (or his) brothers have met, all five of them together in one place, and are deliberating about fighting with (Külam). When they heard of the coming of the Imperial envoys to raise me to the rank of a feudal prince of the Empire, they gave it out that this country is poor and lowly. This is false; all the gold, pearls and precious things of the Moslim countries come from here, and all the Moslims come here to trade. All the kingdoms (of Southern India) will show their submissiveness if Ma’bar has once done so. My envoy (Jumaluddin) bore a most submissive letter (in this sense).“4

Ho-sa-erh-hai-ya and Yang Ting-pi having been prevented by contrary winds from going by sea to Külam (and being detained in Ma’bar), Ho-sa-erh-hai-ya went back to the Court of China to explain matters. (As a result of this), when the northerly winds had set in, in the 11th moon (of 1281), the Emperor sent a messenger ordering Yang Ting-pi to proceed alone (to Külam, by the land-route ?)

“In the 2nd moon of the 19th year (1282) he arrived in the kingdom of Külam where the king5 and his minister Mohammed and others received the Imperial letter with the Privy Seal with deep prostrations. In the third moon he ordered his minister Chu-a-li-sha-mang-li-pa-ti to depart with present to Court. At the same time (the head of the) Yeh-li-k’o-wên,6 Wu-tsa-erh-sa-li-ma, and Mohammed, the head of the Mussulmans, and others of the country, having heard of the coming of the Imperial envoy, all came and requested that they be allowed to send yearly presents to Court. They therefore sent a representative to be received at the audience. Likewise the Kingdom of Su-mu-ta7 sent a man; as a result of the lord of Külam having asked of Yang Ting-pi to offer his allegiance, they all accepted the invitation.”

In the 4th moon (of 1282) Yang Ting-pi started on the return journey (to China). He came to the Kingdom of Na-wang8 where he again urged its ruler Mang-ang-pi to make his submission. Then they came to the Kingdom of Su-mu-tu-la9 where the ruler of the Kingdom, the Tu-han-pa-ti welcomed the mission. Yang Ting-pi having exposed the general purpose of his mission, the Tuan-pati10 on the same day made him presents, called himself “feudatory”, and dispatched his two ministers Hussein and Suliman to Court.

In the autumn of 1282 the envoys from Kulam, Na-wang, Su-mu-ta and Su-mu-tu-la arrived at Kublai’s court. The event is noted as follows in the Yüan shih:

“In the 19th year chih-yüan (1282) in the 9th moon, on the day of hsing-yu, and as a result of the mission of Yang Ting-pi, for the establishment of friendly relations with the barbarians outside of the sea (of China), they arrived at Court bearing tribute. The ruler of Kü-lan sent a mission with a memorial, and presented valuable articles and one black ape. The lord of Na-wang, Mang-ang, there being no persons acquainted with the art of writing in his country, sent four persons but did not present a memorial. The ruler of Su-mu-tu-la, the Tu-han-pa-ti, likewise sent two men.

“As to Su-mu-ta the Prime Minister Na-li-pa-ho-la-nan-ch’ih, being (absent) in Kü-lan on business, requested instead his lord Ta-ku-erh to send an envoy with a memorial. He brought to court the signet ring (of the king ?), brocaded silks and twenty brocaded coverlets. Wu-tsa-erh-p’ieh-li-ma,11 the chief of the Yeh-li-k’o-wen (Thomas Christians) resident in the kingdom of Kü-lan, sent also a messenger with a memorial who presented a gorget set with different kinds of jewels, and two flacons of drugs. Furthermore Mohammed, the head official of the Mussulmans, also sent a messenger and a memorial.”

In 1282, possibly after the return of Yang Ting-pi to China, another officer, the Uigur-I-hei-mi shih who already in 1272 and 1275 had carried out successfully missions beyond the sea, and who at the time was assisting So-tu, then Resident in Chan-ch’êng, in establishing Chinese suzerainty over that country, was detached from that duty by order of the Emperor and sent beyond the sea to Seng-kia-la (Ceylon) to examine the Buddha’s almsbowl and body relics (śārīra). He made the journey but without accomplishing the object for which he was sent which was to secure this priceless relic for the Emperor, for in 1287 he was again sent on a mission for the same purpose, as we shall see later on.12

Yang Ting-pi was not at the end of his travelling; a few months after his return (in the 1st moon of the 20th year chih-yüan, January-February 1283) he was made Imperial Commissioner, honoured with imperial gifts of a bow and arrows, a saddle and bridle, and sent on a new mission to Külam and other states. He was also entrusted with a golden badge for Wa-ni,13 king of Kulam, on whom the Emperor conferred the title of Fuma or “Imperial Son-in-Law.”

As a result of the missions of Yang Ting-pi and of the friendly reception given the foreign envoys to Court in 1282, missions from the states of Southern India and the islands of the Archipelago became during the next few years more numerous. In the 5th moon of 1283 Seng-tso-yu-pan, an envoy of the king of Ma’bar, arrived at Court, and in the first moon of 1284 there came another who presented the Emperor with pearls, rare jewels and light silks.

In the latter part of the same year, and in compliance with the commands brought them by an official named Pa-ko-lu-ssu sent by the Governor of Fu-kien, ministers of the four states of Nan-wu-li, Pieh-li-la, Li-lun, and Ta-li,14 brought letters from their sovereigns and articles of tribute.

The stories told by the missions from India, Indo-China, and the islands of the Archipelago, of the rare and precious products of their native lands, of the wondrous skill of their magicians and physicians, must have incited Kublai, ever desirous of adding to the magnificence of his Court and to the treasures from every land which he already possessed, to send mission after mission to these distant parts to learn more of them and to bring him of their strange birds and beasts, their jewels and their learned men. In the summer of 1285 we read that he despatched a certain Ma-su-hu, and A-li to Ma’bar ’to look for rare and precious things,’ supplying them with a large sum of money for that purpose.

In 1282 the Uigur I-hei-mi-shih had been unable to bring from Ceylon the almsbowl of the Buddha and the śārīra which Kublai had sent him there to procure. In 1287 the Emperor ordered the same officer to ‘proceed to Ma’bar to get these holy relics’.15 The envoy started, probably with returning missions from Ma’bar and Sumatra which had been in China since the latter part of 1286.16 The voyage was a rough one, contrary winds so delayed him that he was a year making the journey. Nor did he find the almsbowl or the relics he was sent to procure. He brought back, however, a skilled physician and most excellent drugs, and a number of people from Ma’bar who fetched presents to the Emperor, while he himself offered him red sandal-wood and building materials he had bought in India with his private funds. The mission appears to have been received in audience in the 3rd moon of 1288. As a reward for his services abroad, the Emperor raised him to the rank of Minister of State and made him Governor-General of Fu-kien.17

The largest mission which had yet visited the Mongol court from the countries of the South was that which arrived in 1286. It had in it representatives of ten states, all of them members of the reigning families. Of it we read that “in the 9th moon of the 23rd year chih-yüan (1286) on the day yi-ch’ou being the first day of the moon, Ma-pa-erh,18 Hsü-mên-na,19 Sêng-ki-li,20 Nan-wu-li,21 Ma-lan-tan,22 Na-wang,23 Ting-ko-erh, Lai-lai, Ki-lan-i-tai and Sa-mu-tu-la,24 ten kingdoms in all, each of which had sent either a son or a younger brother of its ruler with a letter to the Emperor, were received in audience and presented articles of tribute.”

Three months later (1st moon 24th year) an envoy from Külam, Pu-liu-wên-nai by name, and others were received in audience and in the 3rd moon the envoy from Ma’bar (presumably the same who had arrived in the autumn of the preceding year, but this is not quite clear) presented the Emperor with a strange animal like a mule, but mottled black and white; it was called an a-t’a-pi.

In 1288 a mission is said to have arrived at Court from Ma’bar, and in 1289 we read of Ma’bar presenting the Emperor with two zebras, and in the 8th moon of 1290 another envoy came to Court from the same country and presented the Emperor with two piebald oxen,25 a buffalo and a t’u-piao.

In the same year 1290 (in the 4th moon) Sang-ki-la-shih and others were sent by Kublai to Ma’bar to search for clever jugglers: or, according to Gaubil, “for persons learned in sciences, for skilled workmen, soldiers and sailors, and interpreters for diverse languages.”

Again the following year the Emperor sent people to Külam and to Ma’bar, but we learn nothing of the purpose of the mission.

In 1292 I-hei-mi-shih, the former envoy to Ceylon and Ma’bar, was appointed one of the generals in command of the punitive expedition against the state of Ko-lang in north-eastern Java. On arriving with his fleet in Chang-ch’êng (Annam), he despatched two officers, Ho Ch’êng and Liu Yüan, on a friendly mission to the little states of Nan-wu-li (Lambri), Su-mu-tu-la (Sumatra), Pu-lu-pu-tu and Pa-la-la; all of them sent missions to the Mongol Court.

Subsequent to these missions official intercourse with Ma’bar, Sumatra, and adjacent countries seems to have become of rare occurrence. In 1296 we hear of a mission under Yo-lo-yeh-nu being sent to Ma’bar, and in the following year T’a-hsi of Ma’bar was sent abroad and told to procure drugs, but we have to come down to 1314 to find mention of a mission from Ma’bar arriving at the Mongol court. In that year we hear that the king of Ma’bar Hsi-la-mu-ting26 sent his minister Ai-ssu-ting with presents to Court.

After this, thirty years appear to have elapsed before another mission was sent to Southern India, for it is only in the year 1344 that mention is made of an envoy being sent to Kulam, when, as in 1283, he carried the king, or Wa-ni, a tiger-badge and the title of imperial son-in-law or fu-ma. With this official relations between the government of China and the peoples of southern India, Ceylon, and Sumatra seem to have come to an end, though commercial relations continued uninterruptedly and were of considerable importance—though of much less volume and value than in the earlier days of the dynasty.

—Rockhill—T’oung Pao, xv, pp. 430-444.

Benjamin mentions further that ’these people worship the sun’, and that there were among them ‘only about one hundred Jews, who are of black colour’, who are ‘good men, observers of the law and possess Pentateuch, the Prophets and some little knowledge of the Thalmud and its decisions’. His paragraphs on the ‘island of Khandy’ are no good and are not reproduced; he says there were 23,000 Jews there, which is not easy to believe.

Twenty taels.

i.e., Serendib. Our author is, so far as is known, the only Chinese who has used this name to designate Adam’s Peak (Hirth and Rockhill). It is more commonly employed by mediaeval Arab writers, cf. Ibn Battūta, post.

Marudamaram in Tamil according to Hirth and Rockhill, citing Tennent’s Ceylon, i. p. 99; Pelliot, however, considers it a kind of cinnamon. TP. xiii, p. 468.

This is a doubtful statement. Possibly ’tribute’ is used in the Chinese sense.

Or more correctly ’the country of the Nan-p’i’, or Nairs of Malabar.—Hirth and Rockhill.

This statement has not been satisfactorily explained.

Called mañjīl, a sort of hammock-litter.

A natural confusion on the part of the author between Hindu and Buddhist images and forms of worship.

Probably ’the buckram which looks like tissue of spider’s web’ of which Polo speaks.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Two names of Nairs here—Shi-lo-pa and Chi-li-kan (?).

Kwāla Terong on the Perak coast—Gerini.

Pepper is omitted by Chau in this list of the products of Malabar ‘presumably because nearly, if not all, the pepper trade of China in his days was with the Indian archipelago.’—Hirth and Rockhill.

All in Sumatra.

All citations in this chapter are from the Ling-wai-ta-ta, which adds: “The king of the country worships Heaven. He who kills an ox forfeits his life. Chinese traders with big ships who wish to go to the country of the Arabs, must tranship at Ku-lin to smaller boats before proceeding farther. Although they may get (to their destination) in one month with a southerly wind, it may be two years before they can get back (to China).” The Text goes on to state that “the people of Ku-lin are black, they wrap their bodies in white cotton cloth, wear their beards and all their hair loose and uncovered. They wear red leather shoes, so they look when walking as if they had the painted feet of a lo-han . . . The king wraps his body in cotton-cloth, when he goes out he is carried in a litter (juan-tóu) of cotton cloth, or else he rides on an elephant.”

This is the earliest mention in Chinese works of the name ‘Guzerat’. —Hirth and Rockhill.

i.e., the peninsular part of India.

Mistake for Si-lan(?).

It seems just possible that we should correct the text to read “to the east one comes to Tun-sun” which is supposed to have been near the southern extremity of the Malay Peninsula.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Chou K’ü-fei and Chau Ju-kua indicate a first route by sea via Quilon in S.W. India with transhipment in the last port for going to the Coromandel. The second along the Burman coast of the Bay of Bengal and without doubt also the east coast of India. The navigation in the bay was thus performed either right across its greatest width from East to West, from the Straits of Malaca to Ceylon and Quilon—or from the Strait of Sunda to Ceylon—if one followed the reverse of the route from the countries of the West to China;—or starting from the Strait of Malaca, along the coasts of Burma and of India adjoining the Bay of Bengal. It is no doubt this last route that is alluded to by the passage from Ling Wai ta ta textually reproduced by the Chu-fan-chi (Chau Ju-kua, p. 94).—Ferrand, JA, 11: 14, pp. 48-49.

pura (Skt.). The following list seems quite original with Chau Ju-kua. “There is nothing to show where one name ends and another begins in the list.” The conjectural identifications that have been suggested by Hirth and Rockhill are placed in the text within brackets. “Other arrangements of the characters are possible.”

Probably a kind of very fine muslin, made in various localities of Western Asia.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Quotation from Chou K’ü-fei who continues: “and there are some who bestow upon them (the elephants) embroidered housings and golden mangers. Every day the elephants are taken into the presence of the king. The king, his officers and the people all twist their hair into a knot, and wrap (themselves) in white cotton cloth. They make coins of gold and silver. The country produces finger-rings, camphor, cat’s-eyes and such like things; also pearls, elephant’s tusks, amber of different colours and cotton stuffs with coloured silk threads.”

Most of these flowers are indetermined, the names seem to be foreign. —Hirth and Rockhill.

Ma and the Sung-shi contain information not found in the works of the two earlier writers. The Sung-shī says the principal envoy from Chu-lién was called So-li San-Wön; So-li, I take it, represents the name Chola. Concerning the voyage of the mission to China, this envoy said: “After leaving Chu-lién they had sailed for 77 days and nights, during which they passed the island (or headland) of Na-wu-tan and the island of So-li Si-lan (Ceylon of the Cholas?), and came to the country of Chan-pin (not identified, but presumably in Pegu). Thence going 61 days and nights they passed the island of I-ma-lo-li (not identified), and came to the country of Ku-lo (possibly on W. coast of Malay Peninsula or in Sumatra), in which there is a mountain called Ku-lo, from which the country takes its name.
“Proceeding again 71 days and nights and passing the island of Kia-pa (not identified), the island of Chan (or Ku)-pu-lau (or Cham pulo) and the island of Chóu-pau-lung (not identified), they came to the country of San-fo-ts’i.
“Going again for 18 days and nights and having crossed (or passed by) the mouth of the Man-shan river (in Kambhoja?) and T’ién-chu islands (Pulo Aor?), they came to the Pin-t’óu-lang headland (Cape Padaran), from whence, looking eastward, the tomb of the Si-wang mu was about 100 li from the ship.
“Proceeding 20 days and nights and having passed by Yang island (Pulo Gambir) and Kiu-sing island, they came to Pi-p’a island of Kuang-tung (Canton).
“From their home they had taken in all 1150 days to reach Kuang-chóu.”
As previously noted, great exaggeration is met with in all that has come down to us concerning this mission. It is said by Ma-Twan-lin and the Sung-shī that the king of Chu-lién sent the Emperor of China, among other presents, 21000 ounces of pearls, 60 elephants’ tusks, and 60 catties of frankincense. The envoys’ gifts to the Emperor included 6600 ounces of pearls and 3300 catties of perfumes!
The ranking of the envoys of Chu-lién with those from K’iu-tzï, K’ucha in Eastern Turkestan, a vassal state of China, shows the low estimate in which Chu-lién was held. In 1106 the Chu-lién vassalage to San-fo-ts’i was given by the Burmese envoys as a reason for asking greater privileges at the Chinese court than they had received.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Magadha.

The name of the capital remains unidentified, and, according to Hirth and Rockhill, it is doubtful if P’öng-k’ié-lo stands for Bengal or Balhara.

tūla (Skt.), cotton

Perhaps in Sindh.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Here and in the next paragraph, this word must be taken to mean Brahmā.—Hirth and Rockhill.

Early Moslem invaders of Sindh (?).—Hirth and Rockhill.

“It appears that Chau’s T’ién-chu was the coast of Madras, at least so far as the first three paragraphs of this chapter are concerned; in the rest of the chapter, derived nearly entirely from the T’ung-tién and other Chinese authorities, T’ién-chu must, I think, be understood in its broader meaning of India generally.
“The manner in which the king, i.e., the head priest of the Christians, appointed by the king of Ta-ts’in, dressed his hair might be looked upon as a strange anomaly, considering his being deputed by the Syrian, or the Chaldaean patriarch. But it appears that in India the Christian clergy followed the native custom in this respect.” —Hirth and Rockhill.

Baghdad.

Cambodia.

‘Siddhānta book of rules’—astronomy (?) —Hirth and Rockhill.

patra (Skt.); in full to-lo-p’o li-ch’a pei-to (i.e.) tāla-vṛkṣa-patra. —Hirth and Rockhill.

Rāhula (?)

Here are the next three chapters (XXV, XXVI, and XXVII) from the book, formatted and with footnotes restored.

XXV. C. 1293 A.D. MARCO POLO

A. Concerning the island of Seilan (Ceylon)

When you leave the island of Angamanain[^1] and sail about a thousand miles in a direction a little south of west, you come to the island of Seilan, which is in good sooth the best island of its size in the world. You must know that it has a compass of 2,400 miles, but in old times it was greater still, for it then had a circuit of about 3600 miles, as you find in the charts of the mariners of those seas. But the north wind there blows with such strength that it has caused the sea to submerge a large part of the Island; and that is the reason why it is not so big now as it used to be. For you must know that, on the side where the north wind strikes, the Island is very low and flat, insomuch that in approaching on board ship from the high seas you do not see the land till you are right upon it.[^2] Now I will tell you all about this island.

They have a king there whom they call Sendemain,[^3] and are tributary to nobody. The people are Idolaters, and go quite naked except that they cover the middle. They have no wheat but have rice, and sesamum of which they make their oil. They live on flesh and milk, and have tree-wine such as I have told you of. And they have brazil-wood, much the best in the world.

Now I will quit these particulars, and tell you of the most precious article that exists in the world. You must know that rubies are found in this island and in no other country in the world but this. They find there also sapphires and topazes and amethysts, and many other stones of price. And the king of this island possesses a ruby which is the finest and biggest in the world; I will tell you what it is like. It is about a palm in length, and as thick as a man’s arm; to look at, it is the most resplendent object upon earth; it is quite free from flaw and as red as fire. Its value is so great that a price for it in money could hardly be named at all. You must know that the Great Kaan sent an embassy and begged the King as a favour greatly desired by him to sell him this ruby, offering to give for it the ransom of a city, or in fact what the King would. But the king replied that on no account whatever would he sell it, for it had come to him from his ancestors.[^4]

The people of Seilan are no soldiers, but poor cowardly creatures. And when they have need of soldiers they get Saracen troops from foreign parts.

The History of Sagamoni Borcan and the beginning of Idolatry.

Furthermore you must know that in the Island of Seilan there is an exceeding high mountain; it rises right up so steep and precipitous that no one could ascend it, were it not that they have taken and fixed to it several great and massive iron chains, so disposed that by help of these men are able to mount to the top. And I tell you they say that on this mountain is the sepulchre of Adam our first parent; at least that is what the Saracens say. But the Idolaters say that it is the sepulchre of Sagamoni Borcan, before whose time there were no idols. They hold him to have been the best of men, a great saint in fact, according to their fashion, and the first in whose name idols were made.

He was the son, as their story goes, of a great and wealthy king. And he was of such an holy temper that he would never listen to any worldly talk, nor would he consent to be king. And when the father saw that his son would not be king, nor yet take any part in affairs, he took it sorely to heart. And first he tried to tempt him with great promises, offering to crown him king, and to surrender all authority into his hands. The son, however, would none of his offers; so the father was in great trouble, and all the more that he had no other son but him, to whom he might bequeath the kingdom at his own death. So, after taking thought on the matter, the King caused a great palace to be built, and placed his son therein, and caused him to be waited on there by a number of maidens, the most beautiful that could anywhere be found. And he ordered them to divert themselves with the prince, night and day, and to sing and dance before him, so as to draw his heart towards worldly enjoyments. But ’twas all of no avail, for none of those maidens could ever tempt the king’s son to any wantonness, and he only abode the firmer in his chastity, leading a most holy life, after their manner thereof. And I assure you he was so staid a youth that he had never gone out of the palace, and thus he had never seen a dead man, nor any one who was not hale and sound; for the father never allowed any man that was aged or infirm to come into his presence. It came to pass however one day that the young gentleman took a ride, and by the roadside he beheld a dead man. The sight dismayed him greatly, as he never had seen such a sight before. Incontinently he demanded of those who were with him what thing that was? and then they told him it was a dead man. “How, then,” quoth the king’s son, “do all men die?” “Yea, forsooth,” said they. Whereupon the young gentleman said never a word, but rode on right pensively. And after he had ridden a good way he fell in with a very aged man who could no longer walk, and had not a tooth in his head, having lost all because of his great age. And when the king’s son beheld this old man he asked what that might mean, and wherefore the man could not walk? Those who were with him replied that it was through old age the man could walk no longer, and had lost all his teeth. And so when the king’s son had thus learned about the dead man and about the aged man, he turned back to his palace and said to himself that he would abide no longer in this evil world, but would go in search of Him Who dieth not, and Who had created him.

So what did he one night but take his departure from the palace privily, and betake himself to certain lofty and pathless mountains. And there he did abide, leading a life of great hardship and sanctity, and keeping great abstinence, just as if he had been a Christian. Indeed, as he had but been so, he would have been a great saint of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so good and pure was the life he led. And when he died they found his body and brought it to his father. And when the father saw dead before him that son whom he loved better than himself, he was near going distraught with sorrow. And he caused an image in the similitude of his son to be wrought in gold and precious stones, and caused all his people to adore it. And they all declared him to be a god; and so they still say.

They tell moreover that he had died fourscore and four times. The first time he died as a man, and came to life again as an ox; and then he died as an ox and came to life again as a horse, and so on until he had died four-score and four times; and every time he became some kind of animal. But when he died the eighty-fourth time they say he became a god. And they do hold him for the greatest of all their gods. And they tell that the aforesaid image of him was the first idol that the Idolaters ever had; and from that have originated all the other idols. And this befell in the Island of Seilan in India.[^6]

The Idolaters come thither on pilgrimage from very long distances and with great devotion, just as Christians go to the shrine of Messer Saint James in Gallicia. And they maintain that the monument on the mountain is that of the king’s son, according to the story I have been telling you; and that the teeth, and the hair, and the dish that are there were those of the same king’s son, whose name was Sagamoni Borcan, or Sagamoni the Saint. But the Saracens also come thither on pilgrimage in great numbers, and they say that it is the sepulchre of Adam our first father, and the teeth, and the hair, and the dish were those of Adam.[^7] Whose they were in truth, God knoweth; howbeit, according to the Holy Scripture of our Church, the sepulchre of Adam is not in that part of the world.

Now it befel that the Great Kaan heard how on that mountain there was the sepulchre of our first father Adam, and that some of his hair and of his teeth, and the dish from which he used to eat, were still preserved there. So he thought he would get hold of them somehow or another, and despatched a great embassy for the purpose, in the year of Christ, 1284. The ambassadors, with a great company, travelled on by sea and by land until they arrived at the island of Seilan, and presented themselves before the king. And they were so urgent with him that they succeeded in getting two of the grinder teeth, which were passing great and thick; and they also got some of the hair and the dish from which that personage used to eat, which is of a very beautiful green porphyry. And when the Great Kaan’s ambassadors had attained the object for which they had come they were greatly rejoiced, and returned to their lord. And when they drew near to the great city of Cambaluc, where the Great Kaan was staying, they sent him word that they had brought back that for which he had sent them. On learning this the Great Kaan was passing glad, and ordered all the ecclesiastics and others to go forth to meet these reliques, which he was led to believe were those of Adam.

And why should I make a long story of it? In sooth, the whole population of Cambaluc went forth to meet those reliques, and the ecclesiastics took them over and carried them to the Great Kaan, who received them with great joy and reverence. And they find it written in their Scriptures that the virtue of that dish is such that if food for one man be put therein it shall become enough for five men; and the Great Kaan averred that he had proved the thing and found that it was really true.

So now you have heard how the Great Kaan came by those reliques; and a mighty treasure it did cost him! The reliques being, according to the Idolaters, those of that king’s son.

—Travels of Marco Polo, ed. Yule & Cordier, Bk. iii. chh. xiv-xv.

B. Concerning the great Province of Maabar, which is called India the Greater, and is on the mainland

When you leave the Island of Seilan and sail westward about 60 miles, you come to the great province of Maabar which is styled India the Greater;[^8] it is best of all the Indies and is on the mainland.

You must know that in this province there are five kings, who are own brothers. I will tell you about each in turn. The Province is the finest and noblest in the world.

At this end of the Province reigns one of those five Royal Brothers, who is a crowned King, and his name is SONDER BANDI DAVAR. In his kingdom they find very fine and great pearls; and I will tell you how they are got.

You must know that the sea here forms a gulf between the Island of Seilan and the mainland. And all round this gulf the water has a depth of no more than 10 or 12 fathoms, and in some places no more than two fathoms. The pearl-fishers take their vessels, great and small, and proceed into this gulf, where they stop from the beginning of April till the middle of May. They go first to a place called BETTELAR,[^9] and (then) go 60 miles into the gulf. Here they cast anchor and shift from their large vessels into small boats. You must know that the many merchants who go divide into various companies, and each of these must engage a number of men on wages, hiring them for April and half of May. Of all the produce they have first to pay the king, as his royalty, the tenth part. And they must also pay those men who charm the great fishes, to prevent them from injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls under water, one twentieth part of all that they take. These fish-charmers are termed Abraiaman;[^10] and their charm holds good for that day only, for at night they dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When the men have got into the small boats they jump into the water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth of from 4 to 12 fathoms, and there they remain as long as they are able. And there they find the shells that contain the pearls [and these they put into a net bag tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with them, and then dive anew. When they can’t hold their breath any longer they come up again, and after a little down they go once more, and so they go on all day]. The shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods. And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish.

In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities, for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all over the world. And I can tell you the King of that State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his dues upon those pearls.

As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of those pearl-shells are found there. It is true, however, that a long way from that spot, some 300 miles distant, they are also found; but that is in September and the first half of October.

You must know that in all this Province of Maabar there is never a Tailor[^11] to cut a coat or stitch it, seeing that everybody goes naked! For decency only do they wear a scrap of cloth; and so ’tis with men and women, with rich and poor, aye, and with the King himself, except what I am going to mention.

It is a fact that the King goes as bare as the rest, only round his loins he has a piece of fine cloth, and round his neck he has a necklace entirely of precious stones,—rubies, sapphires, emeralds, and the like, insomuch that this collar is of great value. He wears also hanging in front of his chest from the neck downwards, a fine silk thread strung with 104 large pearls and rubies of great price. The reason why he wears this cord with the 104 great pearls and rubies is (according to what they tell) that every day morning and evening, he has to say 104 prayers to his idols. Such is their religion and their custom. And thus did all the Kings his ancestors before him, and they bequeathed the string of pearls to him that he should do the like. (The prayer that they say daily consists of three words, Pacauta! Pacauta! Pacauta! And this they repeat 104 times).[^12]

The King aforesaid also wears on his arms three golden bracelets thickly set with pearls of great value, and anklets also of like kind he wears on his legs, and rings on his toes likewise. So let me tell you what this king wears, between gold and gems and pearls, is worth more than a city’s ransom. And ’tis no wonder; for he hath great store of such gear; and besides they are found in his kingdom. Moreover nobody is permitted to take out of the kingdom a pearl weighing more than half a saggio,[^13] unless he manages to do it secretly. This order has been given because the King desires to reserve all such to himself; and so in fact the quantity he has is something almost incredible. Moreover several times every year he sends his proclamation through the realm that if any one who possesses a pearl or stone of great value will bring it to him, he will pay for it twice as much as it cost. Everybody is glad to do this, and thus the King gets all into his own hands, giving every man his price.

Furthermore, this king hath some five hundred wives, for whenever he hears of a beautiful damsel he takes her to wife. Indeed he did a very sorry deed as I shall tell you. For seeing that his brother had a handsome wife, he took her by force and kept for himself. His brother, being a discreet man, took the thing quietly and made no noise about it. The King hath many children.

And there are about the King a number of Barons in attendance upon him. These ride with him, and keep always near him, and have great authority in the kingdom; they are called the King’s Trusty Lieges. And you must know that when the King dies, and they put him on the fire to burn him, these Lieges cast themselves into the fire round about his body, and suffer themselves to be burnt along with him. For they say they have been his comrades in this world, and that they ought also to keep him company in the other world.[^14]

When the King dies none of his children dares to touch his treasure.[^15] For they say, “as our father did gather together all this treasure, so we ought to accumulate as much in our turn.” And in this way it comes to pass that there is an immensity of treasure accumulated in this kingdom.

Here are no horses bred; and thus a great part of the wealth of the country is wasted in purchasing horses; I will tell you how.

You must know that the merchants of KIS and HORMES, DOFAR and SOER and ADEN collect great number of destriers and other horses, and these they bring to the territories of this King[^16] and of his four brothers, who are kings likewise as I told you. For a horse will fetch among them 500 saggi[^17] of gold, worth more than 100 marks of silver, and vast numbers are sold there every year. Indeed this King wants to buy more than 2,000 horses every year, and so do his four brothers who are kings likewise. The reason why they want so many horses every year is that by the end of the year there shall not be one hundred of them remaining, for they all die off. And this arises from mismanagement, for those people do not know in the least how to treat a horse; and besides they have no farriers. The horse-merchants not only never bring any farriers with them, but also prevent any farrier from going thither, lest that should in any degree baulk the sale of horses, which brings them in every year such vast gains. They bring these horses by sea aboard ship.[^18]

They have in this country the custom which I am going to relate. When a man is doomed to die for any crime, he may declare that he will put himself to death in honour of such or such an idol; and the government then grants him permission to do so. His kinsfolk and friends then set him upon a cart, and provide him with twelve knives, and proceed to conduct him all about the city, proclaiming aloud: “This valiant man is going to slay himself for the love of (such an idol).” And when they be come to the place of execution he takes a knife and sticks it through his arm, and cries: “I slay myself for the love of (such a god)!” Then he takes another knife and sticks it through his other arm, and takes a third knife and runs it into his belly, and so on until he kills himself outright. And when he is dead his kinsfolk take the body and burn it with a joyful celebration. Many of the women also, when their husbands die and are placed on the pile to be burnt, do burn themselves along with the bodies. And such women as do this have great praise from all.

The people are Idolaters, and many of them worship the ox, because (say they) it is a creature of such excellence. They would not eat beef for anything in the world, nor would they on any account kill an ox. But there is another class of people who are called Govy, and these are very glad to eat beef, though they dare not kill the animal. Howbeit if an ox dies, naturally or otherwise, then they eat him.

And let me tell you, the people of this country have a custom of rubbing their houses all over with cow-dung. Moreover all of them, great and small, King and Barons included, do sit upon the ground only, and the reason they give is that this is the most honourable way to sit, because we all spring from the Earth and to the Earth we must return; so no one can pay the Earth too much honour, and no one ought to despise it.

And about that race of Govis, I should tell you that nothing on earth would induce them to enter the place where Messer St. Thomas is—I mean where his body lies, which is in a certain city of the province of Maabar. Indeed, were even 20 or 30 men to lay hold of one of these Govis and to try to hold him in the place where the Body of the Blessed Apostle of Jesus Christ lies buried, they could not do it! Such is the influence of the Saint; for it was by people of this generation that he was slain, as you shall presently hear.

No wheat grows in this province, but rice only.

And another strange thing to be told is that there is no possibility of breeding horses in this country, as hath often been proved by trial. For even when a great blood-mare here has been covered by a great blood-horse, the produce is nothing but a wretched wry-legged weed, not fit to ride.[^19]

The people of the country go to battle all naked, with only a lance and a shield; and they are most wretched soldiers. They will kill neither beast nor bird, nor anything that hath life; and for such animal food as they eat, they make the Saracens, or others who are not of their own religion, play the butcher.

It is their practice that every one, male and female, do wash the whole body twice every day; and those who do not wash are looked on much as we look on the Patarins.[^20] [You must know also that in eating they use the right hand only, and would on no account touch their food with the left hand. All cleanly and becoming uses are ministered to by the right hand, whilst the left is reserved for uncleanly and disagreeable necessities, such as cleansing the secret parts of the body and the like. So also they drink only from drinking vessels, and every man hath his own; nor will any one drink from another’s vessel. And when they drink they do not put the vessel to the lips, but hold it aloft and let the drink spout into the mouth. No one would on any account touch the vessel with his mouth, nor give a stranger drink with it. But if the stranger have no vessel of his own they will pour the drink into his hands and he may thus drink from his hands as from a cup.]

They are very strict in executing justice upon criminals, and as strict in abstaining from wine. Indeed they have made a rule that wine-drinkers and seafaring men are never to be accepted as sureties. For they say that to be a seafaring man is all the same as to be an utter desperado, and that his testimony is good for nothing. Howbeit they look on lechery as no sin.

[They have the following rule about debts. If a debtor shall have been several times asked by his creditor for payment, and shall have put him off from day to day with promises, then if the creditor can once meet the debtor and succeed in drawing a circle round him, the latter must not pass out of this circle until he shall have satisfied the claim, or given security for its discharge. If he in any other case presume to pass the circle he is punished with death as a transgressor against right and justice. And the said Messer Marco, when in this kingdom on his return home, did himself witness a case of this. It was the King, who owed a foreign merchant a certain sum of money, and though the claim had often been presented, he always put it off with promises. Now, one day when the King was riding through the city, the merchant found his opportunity, and drew a circle round both King and horse. The King, on seeing this, halted, and would ride no further; nor did he stir from the spot until the merchant was satisfied. And when the bystanders saw this they marvelled greatly, saying that the King was a most just King indeed, having thus submitted to justice.]

You must know that the heat here is sometimes so great that ’tis something wonderful. And rain falls only for three months in the year, viz., in June, July and August.[^21] Indeed but for the rain that falls in these three months, refreshing the earth and cooling the air, the drought would be so great that no one could exist.

They have many experts in an art which they call Physiognomy, by which they discern a man’s character and qualities at once.

They also know the import of meeting with any particular bird or beast; for such omens are regarded by them more than by any people in the world.

Thus if a man is going along the road and hears some one sneeze, if he deems it (say) a good token for himself he goes on, but if otherwise he stops a bit, or peradventure turns back altogether from his journey.

As soon as a child is born they write down his nativity, that is to say the day and hour, the month, and the moon’s age. This custom they observe because every single thing they do is done with reference to astrology, and by advice of diviners skilled in Sorcery and Magic and Geomancy, and such like diabolical arts; and some of them are also acquainted with Astrology.

[All parents who have male children, as soon as these have attained the age of 13, dismiss them from their home, and do not allow them further maintenance in the family. For they say that the boys are then of an age to get their living by trade; so off they pack them with some twenty or four-and-twenty groats, or at least with money equivalent to that. And these urchins are running about all day from pillar to post, buying and selling. At the time of the pearl-fishery they run to the beach and purchase, from the fishers or others, five or six pearls, according to their ability, and take these to the merchants, who are keeping indoors for fear of the sun, and say to them: “These cost me such a price; now give me what profit you please on them.” So the merchant gives something over the cost price for their profit. They do in the same way with many other articles, so that they become trained to be very dexterous and keen traders. And every day they take their food to their mothers to be cooked and served, but do not eat a scrap at the expense of their fathers.]

In this kingdom and all over India the birds and beasts are entirely different from ours, all but one bird which is exactly like ours, and that is the Quail. But everything else is totally different. For example they have bats,—I mean those birds that fly by night and have no feathers of any kind; well, their birds of this kind are as big as a goshawk! Their goshawks again are as black as crows, a good deal bigger than ours, and very swift and sure.

Another strange thing is that they feed their horses with boiled rice and boiled meat,[^22] and various other kinds of cooked food. That is the reason why all the horses die off.

They have certain abbeys in which are gods and goddesses to whom many young girls are consecrated; their fathers and mothers presenting them to that idol for which they entertain the greatest devotion. And when the (monks) of a convent desire to make a feast to their god, they send for all those consecrated damsels and make them sing and dance before the idol with great festivity. They also bring meats to feed their idol withal; that is to say, the damsels prepare dishes of meat and other good things and put the food before the idol, and leave it there a good while, and then the damsels all go to their dancing and singing and festivity for about as long as a great Baron might require to eat his dinner. By that time they say the spirit of the idols has consumed the substance of the food, so they remove the viands to be eaten by themselves with great jollity. This is performed by these damsels several times every year until they are married.

[The reason assigned for summoning the damsels to these feasts is, as the monks say, that the god is vexed and angry with the goddess, and will hold no communication with her; and they say that if peace be not established between them things will go from bad to worse, and they never will bestow their grace and benediction. So they make those girls come in the way described, to dance and sing, all but naked, before the god and the goddess. And those people believe that the god often solaces himself with the society of the goddess.]

The men of this country have their beds made of very light canework, so arranged that, when they have got in and are going to sleep, they are drawn up by cords nearly to the ceiling and fixed there for the night. This is done to get out of the way of tarantulas which give terrible bites, as well as of fleas and such vermin, and at the same time to get as much air as possible in the great heat which prevails in that region. Not that everybody does this, but only the nobles and great folks, for the others sleep on the streets.

Now I have told you about this kingdom of the province of Maabar, and I must pass on to the other kingdoms of the same province, for I have much to tell of their peculiarities.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii. chh. xvi-xvii.

C. Of the place where lieth the body of St. Thomas the Apostle; and of the miracle thereof

The body of Messer St. Thomas the Apostle lies in this province of Maabar at a certain little town having no great population; ’tis a place where few traders go, because there is very little merchandise to be got there, and it is a place not very accessible. Both Christians and Saracens, however, greatly frequent it in pilgrimage. For the Saracens also do hold the Saint in great reverence, and say that he was one of their own Saracens and a great prophet, giving him the title of Avarian, which is as much as to say “Holy Man.” The Christians who go thither in pilgrimage take of the earth from the place where the Saint was killed, and give a portion thereof to any one who is sick of a quartan or a tertian fever; and by the power of God and of St. Thomas the sick man is incontinently cured. The earth, I should tell you, is red. A very fine miracle occurred there in the year of Christ, 1288, as I will now relate.

A certain Baron of that country, having great store of a certain kind of corn that is called rice, had filled up with it all the houses that belonged to the church, and stood round about it. The Christian people in charge of the church were much distressed by his having thus stuffed their houses with his rice; the pilgrims too had nowhere to lay their heads; and they often begged the pagan Baron to remove his grain, but he would do nothing of the kind. So one night the Saint himself appeared with a fork in his hand, which he set at the Baron’s throat, saying: “If thou void not my houses, that my pilgrims may have room, thou shalt die an evil death,” and therewithal the Saint pressed him so hard with the fork that he thought himself a dead man. And when morning came he caused all the houses to be voided of his rice, and told everybody what had befallen him at the Saint’s hands. So the Christians were greatly rejoiced at this grand miracle, and rendered thanks to God and to the blessed St. Thomas. Other great miracles do often come to pass there, such as the healing of those who are sick or deformed, or the like, especially such as be Christians.

The Christians who have charge of the church have a great number of the Indian Nut trees, whereby they get their living; and they pay to one of those brother Kings six groats for each tree every month (year?).

Now, I will tell you the manner in which the Christian brethren who keep the church relate the story of the Saint’s death.[^23]

They tell that the Saint was in the wood outside his hermitage saying his prayers; and round about him were many peacocks, for these are more plentiful in that country than anywhere else. And one of the Idolaters of that country being of the lineage of those called Govi that I told you of, having gone with his bow and arrows to shoot peafowl, not seeing the Saint, let fly an arrow at one of the peacocks; and this arrow struck the holy man in the right side, insomuch that he died of the wound, sweetly addressing himself to the Creator. Before he came to that place where he thus died he had been in Nubia, where he converted much people to the faith of Jesus Christ.

The children that are born here are black enough, but the blacker they be the more they are thought of; wherefore from the day of their birth their parents do rub them every week with oil of sesamé, so that they become as black as devils. Moreover, they make their gods black and their devils white, and the images of their saints they do paint black all over.

They have such faith in the ox, and hold it for a thing so holy, that when they go to the wars they take of the hair of the wild-ox, whereof I have elsewhere spoken, and wear it tied to the necks of their horses; or, if serving on foot, they hang this hair to their shields, or attach it to their own hair. And so this hair bears a high price, since without it nobody goes to the wars in any good heart. For they believe that any one who has it shall come scatheless out of battle.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii. ch. xviii.

D. Concerning the Kingdom of Mutfil (Mōṭupalli)

When you leave Maabar and go about 1,000 miles in a northerly direction you come to the kingdom of Mutfili.[^24] This was formerly under the rule of a King, and since his death, some forty years past, it has been under his Queen, a lady of much discretion, who for the great love she bore him never would marry another husband.[^25] And I can assure you that during all that space of forty years she had administered her realm as well as ever her husband did, or better; and as she was a lover of justice, of equity, and of peace, she was more beloved by those of her kingdom than ever was Lady or Lord of theirs before. The people are Idolaters, and are tributary to nobody. They live on flesh, and rice, and milk.

It is in this kingdom that diamonds are got; and I will tell you how. There are certain lofty mountains in those parts; and when the winter rains fall, which are very heavy, the waters come roaring down the mountains in great torrents. When the rains are over, and the waters from the mountains have ceased to flow, they search the beds of the torrents and find plenty of diamonds. In summer also there are plenty to be found in the mountains, but the heat of the sun is so great that it is scarcely possible to go thither, nor is there then a drop of water to be found. Moreover in those mountains great serpents are rife to a marvellous degree, besides other vermin, and this owing to the great heat. The serpents are also the most venomous in existence, insomuch that any one going to that region runs fearful peril; for many have been destroyed by these evil reptiles.

Now among these mountains there are certain great and deep valleys, to the bottom of which there is no access. Wherefore the men who go in search of the diamonds take with them pieces of flesh, as lean as they can get, and these they cast into the bottom of a valley. Now there are numbers of white eagles that haunt those mountains and feed upon the serpents. When the eagles see the meat thrown down they pounce upon it and carry it up to some rocky hill-top where they begin to rend it. But there are men on the watch, and as soon as they see that the eagles have settled they raise a loud shouting to drive them away. And when the eagles are thus frightened away the men recover the pieces of meat, and find them full of diamonds which have stuck to the meat down in the bottom.[^26] For the abundance of diamonds down there in the depths of the valleys is astonishing, but nobody can get down; and if one could, it would be only to be incontinently devoured by the serpents which are so rife there.

There is also another way of getting the diamonds. The people go to the nests of those white eagles, of which there are many, and in their droppings they find plenty of diamonds which the birds have swallowed in devouring the meat that was cast into the valleys. And, when the eagles themselves are taken, diamonds are found in their stomachs.

So now I have told you three different ways in which these stones are found. No other country but this kingdom of Mutfili produces them, but there they are found both abundantly and of large size. Those that are brought to our part of the world are only the refuse, as it were, of the finer and larger stones. For the flower of the diamonds and other large gems, as well as the largest pearls, are all carried to the Great Kaan and other Kings and Princes of those regions; in truth they possess all the great treasures of the world.

In this kingdom also are made the best and most delicate buckrams,[^27] and those of highest price; in sooth they look like tissue of spider’s web! There is no King nor Queen in the world but might be glad to wear them. The people have also the largest sheep in the world, and great abundance of all the necessaries of life. There is now no more to say; so I will next tell you about a province called Lar from which the Abraiaman come.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii. ch. xix.

E. Concerning the Province of Lar whence the Brahmins come

Lar is a province lying towards the west when you quit the place where the Body of St. Thomas lies; and all the Abraiaman in the world come from that province.[^28]

You must know that these Abraiaman are the best merchants in the world, and the most truthful, for they would not tell a lie for anything on earth. [If a foreign merchant who does not know the ways of the country applies to them and entrusts his goods to them, they will take charge of these, and sell them in the most loyal manner, seeking zealously the profit of the foreigner and asking no commission except what he pleases to bestow]. They eat no flesh, and drink no wine, and live a life of great chastity, having intercourse with no women except with their wives; nor would they on any account take what belongs to another; so their law commands. And they are all distinguished by wearing a thread of cotton over one shoulder and tied under the other arm, so that it crosses the breast and the back.

They have a rich and powerful King who is eager to purchase precious stones and large pearls; and he sends these Abraiaman merchants into the kingdom of Maabar called SOLI,[^29] which is the best and noblest Province of India, and where the best pearls are found, to fetch him as many of these as they can get, and he pays them double the cost price for all. So in this way he has a vast treasure of such valuables.

These Abraiaman are Idolaters; and they pay greater heed to signs and omens than any people that exists. I will mention as an example one of their customs. To every day of the week they assign an augury of this sort. Suppose that there is some purchase in hand, he who proposes to buy, when he gets up in the morning takes note of his own shadow in the sun, which he says ought to be on that day of such and such a length; and if his shadow be of the proper length for the day he completes his purchase; if not, he will on no account do so, but waits till his shadow corresponds with that prescribed. For there is a length established for the shadow for every individual day of the week; and the merchant will complete no business unless he finds his shadow of the length set down for that particular day. [Also to each day in the week they assign one unlucky hour, which they term Choiach.[^30] For example, on Monday the hour of Half-tierce, on Tuesday that of Tierce, on Wednesday Nones, and so on.]

Again, if one of them is in the house, and is meditating a purchase, should he see a tarantula (such as are very common in that country) on the wall, provided it advances from a quarter that he deems lucky, he will complete his purchase at once; but if it comes from a quarter that he considers unlucky he will not do so on any inducement. Moreover, if in going out, he hears any one sneeze, if it seems to him a good omen he will go on, but if the reverse he will sit down on the spot where he is, so long as he thinks that he ought to tarry before going on again. Or, if in travelling along the road he sees a swallow fly by, should its direction be lucky he will proceed, but if not he will turn back again; in fact they are worse (in these whims) than so many Patarins!

These Abraiaman are very long-lived, owing to their extreme abstinence in eating. And they never allow themselves to be let blood in any part of the body. They have capital teeth, which is owing to a certain herb they chew, which greatly improves their appearance, and is also very good for the health.

There is another class of people called Chughi,[^31] who are indeed properly Abraiaman, but they form a religious order devoted to the Idols. They are extremely long-lived, every man of them living to 150 or 200 years. They eat very little, but what they do eat is good; rice and milk chiefly. And these people make use of a very strange beverage; for they make a potion of sulphur and quicksilver mixt together and this they drink twice every month. This, they say, gives them long life; and it is a potion they are used to take from their childhood.

There are certain members of this Order who lead the most ascetic life in the world, going stark naked; and these worship the Ox. Most of them have a small ox of brass or pewter or gold which they wear tied over the forehead.[^32] Moreover they take cow-dung and burn it, and make a powder thereof; and make an ointment of it, and daub themselves withal, doing this with as great devotion as Christians do show in using Holy Water. [Also if they meet any one who treats them well, they daub a little of this powder on the middle of his forehead].

They eat not from bowls or trenchers, but put their victuals on leaves of the Apple of Paradise and other big leaves; these, however, they use dry, never green. For they say the green leaves have a soul in them, and so it would be a sin. And they would rather die than do what they deem their Law pronounces to be sin. If any one asks how it comes that they are not ashamed to go stark naked as they do, they say, “We go naked because naked we came into the world, and we desire to have nothing about us that is of this world. Moreover, we have no sin of the flesh to be conscious of, and therefore we are not ashamed of our nakedness, any more than you are to show your hand or your face. You who are conscious of the sins of the flesh do well to have shame, and to cover your nakedness.”

They would not kill an animal on any account, not even a fly, or a flea, or a louse, or anything in fact that has life; for they say these have all souls, and it would be sin to do so. They eat no vegetable in a green state, only such as are dry. And they sleep on the ground stark naked, without a scrap of clothing on them or under them, so that it is a marvel they don’t all die, in place of living so long as I have told you. They fast every day in the year, and drink nought but water. And when a novice has to be received among them they keep him awhile in their convent, and make him follow their rule of life. And then, when they desire to put him to the test, they send for some of those girls who are devoted to the Idols, and make them try the continence of the novice with their blandishments. If he remains indifferent they retain him, but if he shows any emotion they expel him from their society. For they say they will have no man of loose desires among them.

They are such cruel and perfidious Idolaters that it is very devilry! They say that they burn the bodies of the dead, because if they were not burnt worms would be bred which would eat the body; and when no more food remained for them these worms would die, and the soul belonging to that body would bear the sin and the punishment of their death. And that is why they burn their dead!

Now I have told you about a great part of the people of the great Province of Maabar and their customs; but I have still other things to tell of this same Province of Maabar, so I will speak of a city thereof which is called Cail.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii, ch. xx.

F. Concerning the City of Cail (Kāyal)

Cail[^33] is a great and noble city, and belongs to Ashar, the eldest of the five brother Kings.[^34] It is at this city that all the ships touch that come from the west, as from Hormos and from Kis and from Aden, and all Arabia, laden with horses and with other things for sale. And this brings a great concourse of people from the country round about, and so there is great business done in this city of Cail.

The King possesses vast treasures, and wears upon his person great store of rich jewels. He maintains great state and administers his kingdom with great equity, and extends great favour to merchants and foreigners, so that they are very glad to visit his city.

This King has some 300 wives; for in those parts the man who has most wives is most thought of.

As I told you before, there are in this great province of Maabar five crowned Kings, who are all own brothers born of one father and one mother, and this king is one of them. Their mother is still living. And when they disagree and go forth to war against one another, their mother throws herself between them to prevent their fighting. And should they persist in desiring to fight, she will take a knife and threaten that if they will do so she will cut off the paps that suckled them and rip open the womb that bare them, and so perish before their eyes. In this way hath she full many a time brought them to desist. But when she dies it will most assuredly happen that they will fall out and destroy one another.

[All the people of this city, as well as of the rest of India, have a custom of perpetually keeping in the mouth a certain leaf called Tembul, to gratify a certain habit and desire they have, continually chewing it and spitting out the saliva that it excites. The Lords and gentlefolks and the King have these leaves prepared with camphor and other aromatic spices, and also mixt with quicklime. And this practice was said to be very good for the health. If any one desires to offer a gross insult to another, when he meets him he spits this leaf or its juice on his face. The other immediately runs before the King, relates the insult that has been offered him, and demands leave to fight the offender. The King supplies the arms, which are sword and target, and all the people flock to see, and there the two fight till one of them is killed. They must not use the point of the sword, for this the King forbids].

—Op. cit. Bk. iii. ch. xxi.

G. Of the Kingdom of Coilum

When you quit Maabar and go 500 miles towards the south-west you come to the kingdom of Coilum.[^35] The people are Idolaters, but there are also some Christians and some Jews. The natives have a language of their own, and a King of their own, and are tributary to no one.

A great deal of brazil is got here which is called brazil Coilumin from the country which produces it; ’tis of very fine quality.[^36] Good ginger also grows here, and it is known by the same name of Coilumin after the country. Pepper too grows in great abundance throughout this country, and I will tell you how. You must know that the pepper-trees are (not wild but) cultivated, being regularly planted and watered; and the pepper is gathered in the months of May, June, and July.

They have also abundance of very fine indigo. This is made of a certain herb which is gathered, and (after the roots have been removed) is put into great vessels upon which they pour water and then leave it till the whole of the plant is decomposed. They then put this liquid in the sun, which is tremendously hot there,[^37] so that it boils and coagulates, and becomes such as we see it. [They then divide it into pieces of four ounces each, and in that form it is exported to our parts].[^38] And I assure you that the heat of the sun is so great there that it is scarcely to be endured; in fact if you put an egg into one of the rivers it will be boiled, before you have had time to go any distance, by the mere heat of the sun!

The merchants from Manzi, and from Arabia, and from the Levant come thither with their ships and their merchandise and make great profits both by what they import and by what they export.

There are in this country many and divers beasts quite different from those of other parts of the world. Thus there are lions black all over, with no mixture of any other colour; and there are parrots of many sorts, for some are white as snow with red beak and feet, and some are red, and some are blue, forming the most charming sight in the world; there are green ones too. There are also some parrots of exceeding small size, beautiful creatures. They have also very beautiful peacocks, larger than ours, and different; and they have cocks and hens quite different from ours; and what more shall I say? In short, everything they have is different from ours, and finer and better. Neither is their fruit like ours, nor their beasts, nor their birds; and this difference all comes of the excessive heat.

Corn they have none but rice. So also their wine they make from (palm-)sugar; capital drink it is, and very speedily it makes a man drunk. All other necessaries of man’s life they have in great plenty and cheapness. They have very good astrologers and physicians. Man and woman, they are all black, and go naked, all save a fine cloth worn about the middle. They look not on any sin of the flesh as a sin. They marry their cousins german, and a man takes his brother’s wife after the brother’s death; and all the people of India have this custom.

There is no more to tell you there; so we will proceed, and I will tell you of another country called Comari.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii, ch. xxii.

H. Of the Country called Comari

Comari[^39] is a country belonging to India, and there you can see something of the North Star, which we had not been able to see from the Lesser Java thus far. In order to see it you must go some 30 miles out to sea, and then you see it about a cubit above the water.

This is a very wild country, and there are beasts of all kinds there, especially monkeys of such peculiar fashion that you would take them for men! There are also gatpauls[^40] in wonderful diversity, with bears, lions, and leopards, in abundance.

—Op. cit. Bk. iii. ch. xxiii.