XXIX. ABULFEDA—b. 1273 A.D. d. 26TH OCT. 1331 A.D.[^1]

(A) South India

A traveller states the following: Div is an island which faces Kanbāit (Cambay) from the southern side. Its inhabitants practise piracy and live in reed huts. Their drink is rain water.

A traveller says that the country which extends from Sindāpūr to Hannaur (Honavar) towards the east leads to Malabar. Hannaur is a pretty little town with numerous orchards. All Malabar is covered with forest and with trees entangling one another, thanks to the abundance of water. From Hannaur one goes to Basarour (Barcelore), a small place; beyond it, one comes to Mañarūr (Mangalore), one of the largest towns of Malabar. Its king is an infidel. Mañarūr is to the East of the localities already mentioned. After a three days’ journey from Mañarur, one comes across a big mountain which projects into the sea and is seen by sailors from a distance; it is called Ra’s Hailī (promontory of Illy). At the extremity of Malabar we have Tandiyūr, a small place to the east of Ra’s Hailī, and there we find many gardens. The other localities of Malabar are Schāliyāt (Jaliat) and Schinkilī. One of these places is inhabited by Jews, but the narrator has omitted to note which.[^3] Kaulam is the last town of Malabar, the pepper country.

The first locality in the Coromandel from the side of Malabar is Ra’s Komhōrī (Cape Comorin), mountain and town. Another town of Coromandel, Manifattan, is situated on the coast. The capital of Coromandel is Biyyardāwal. It is the residence of the Sultan of Coromandel. Horses are brought to him from other countries.

—Geographie D’Aboulfeda, II ii. ed. M. Stanislas Guyard, pp. 115-6.

(B) Coromandel (Ma’bar)

According to Ibn Sa’id, 142° Long. and 17° 25 Lat. Third climate. Extremity of India. It has been seen said above that Ma’bar is the name of a region; it is hence possible that the situation indicated here refers to the capital mentioned above, Biyyardāwal.

The Coromandel, says Ibn Sa’id, is celebrated by the reports of travellers. It is from there that they export a muslin which has passed into proverb for its fineness. To the north lie the mountains adjacent to the country of Balhara, who is one of the kings of India; to the west the river of Suliyan falls in the sea. The Coromandel is three or four days’ journey to the East of Caoulem. I should add that this ought to be with an inclination towards the south.

—Geographie D’Aboulfeda—M. Stanislas Guyard, II, ii (1883) p. 121.

(C) 12°. Caoulem (Kaulam)

According to Ibn Sa’id, 132° of longitude and 12° latitude, according to the Aṭwāl, 110° longitude 13° 30’ latitude. First climate. At the extremity of the Pepper country (Malabar).

Caoulem, says Ibn Sa’id, is the last town in the Pepper country towards the east. One sets sail from this town in order to go to Aden. A traveller has told me that Caoulem is a town situated on a gulf at the very end of the Pepper country and that it includes a quarter for the Mussulmans and a Mosque. The town is built on a Sandy Plain. The orchards there are always numerous. One notices the boqqam tree (brazil) which looks like a pomegranate and whose leaf is like that of a Jujube tree.

—Geographie D’Aboulféda : M. Stanislas Guyard II ii p. 121.