XXXII. 1330-1349 A.D. WANG TA-YUAN

A. Coral at Dondera Head

The Ta Fo shan lies between Ya-li (Galle) and Kao-lang-pu (Colombo).

In the keng-wu year of the Chih-shun period (A.D. 1330) in the tenth moon, in winter, for two days I was sailing along the base of this mountain. All night the moonlight made it as clear as day, the sea was calm, the water so clear that I could look down in it and see things floating about on the bottom. There was a tree in the waters which moved about. I pointed it out to the sailors and said to them, “Is this not a piece of pure lang-kan coral?” They replied, “It is not.”

“Is it then the shadow of the (magic) so-lo tree in the moon?” They answered, “It is not.”

Then I told a boy to get into the water and to fetch it. He pulled up a soft and slimy thing, and brought it out of the water when it became as hard as iron. I took it and examined it. It was barely a foot long. Then this branch curled up into a knot, and, strange to relate, on the branch there was a half-opened flower with a single stamen, of a reddish colour, and like a half opened peony, or a lotus flower.

The sailors, holding candles, stood around looking on. Then they all began hopping about like birds, laughing, and saying, “Why, this is the precious tree (i.e., the coral tree) which has bloomed. Truly, of the marvellous things of the sea there are some which are novel even to the Chinese; for over forty years we have never seen the like of this, and there is not a chance in a thousand that it could be found again, and now you, Sir, it is yours!”

The following day I composed a piece of poetry in the antique style in an hundred verses to commemorate the event, and stuck it away in my sleeve to carry home. When An Yü (Yü An ?), hsien-Sheng of Yü-Chang, saw it, he composed an additional piece of poetry. Down to the present day it has been kept in the Chün-tzû t’ang (at Nan-chang) as a curious record.

—Tao i chih lio, 79 Ta Fo shan, translated by Rockhill; T’oung Pao xvi pp. 383-384.

B. Colombo[^1]

(Kao-lang-pu) is at the foot of the Ta Fo shan. The whole shore of the bay is nothing but jagged rocks standing up or lying flat. The ground is damp, the soil is poor, and rice very dear. The climate is hot, the customs of the natives are boorish.

Sailors who have had the misfortune to be wrecked, and who have to stop for a while in this place, are fleeced by the ruler of whatever merchandise their junk may have on board, even the gold and jewels are sent to him. He looks upon them as sent by Heaven, and little he knows and cares that they were expected by the sailors’ wives and children to save them from starvation and cold.

The natives, men and women, do up their hair in a knot and wrap around them a sarong of Pa-ch’ ieh-na-chien (i.e., Javanese) cotton cloth. They boil sea-water to make salt, and ferment the juice of the sugar-cane to make spirits.

They have a ruler. The native products are red stones (rubies), the same as those of Seng-ka-la (i.e., near Beligam.)

The goods used (by the Chinese) in trading are Pa-tan (Shaliyat?) cotton stuffs, tin, samshu, rose-water, sapan-wood, gold and silver, and such like things.

—Tao i chih lio, 65 Kao-lang-pu, tr. Rockhill, T’oung Pao xvi pp. 384-5.

C. Pearl Fishing in the Gulf of Manar (?)

It was formerly called Wei yüan, but now it is called the “New Harbour.” The shore trends north and south; the inhabitants live scattered about. The soil, the climate, the customs, the people, are like those of (Sha-li)-pa-tan (Jurfattan).[^2]

Some eighty odd li away from the harbour at a spot in the sea called “Ta-lang pang-chu” (“Great-bright oyster pearls”), here the waters are very rich in pearl oysters. When about to begin gathering them, the chief kills a human being and some tens of animals in sacrifice to the gods of the sea. Then they make choice of the day, the boats, and the men, to gather the pearls.

Each boat has a crew of five men; two to row, two to manage the ropes. The fifth man hangs around his neck a bag, the mouth of which is held open by means of a bamboo ring, and, providing himself with a safety-rope, he ties a stone to his waist and lets himself sink down to the bottom of the sea. Then with his hand he pulls up the pearl-oysters and puts them in his bag. In response to his pulling the rope, the men in the boat, who are looking after it, pull him and the bag of pearl-oysters on his neck, into the boat. And so they do until the boats are full, when they go back to the government station, where, under the guard of soldiers, (the oysters) remain for a number of days until the meat rots. Then they remove the shells and wash away the rotten meat by stirring them around in a sieve, by which means the flesh is got rid of and the pearls are left. They are then classed by means of a very fine sieve, and the officials levy as duty five-tenths of the whole, and the five-tenths remaining are equally divided among the boat crews, if indeed the gods of the sea have not claimed the divers, for many of them get buried in the bellies of rapacious fish. Alas! how sad a fate.

Some sailor men, who are so lucky as to get their shares of profits for some years, sell their pearls for money to do some trading, and go home, happy with the large profits they have made, which establish them in opulence; but such are few indeed.

—Tao i chih lio. 72 Ti-san chiang,[^3] tr. Rockhill, T’oung Pao xvi pp. 385-7.

D. Northern Maldive Islands

(Pei Liu) is in a group of about a thousand islets and a myriad islands. When a ship sailing for the Western Ocean has passed near Seng-ka-la (Belligam, Ceylon), the set of the tidal current rapidly changes, and (if) it falls in with a head wind, it is driven at once to this country. The following year in the spring with the south-east wind the ship proceeds again northward. Around all the Liu (islands) there are in the waters rocky ledges with teeth as sharp as the point of a knife, which no vessel can withstand.[^4]

The native products are cocoa-nuts, cowrie shells, dried fish, and large cotton handkerchiefs.

Every sea-trader takes one shipload of cowries to Wu-tieh (Orissa ?) (or) Peng-ka-la (Bengal), where he is sure to exchange it for a shipload of rice and more, for these people use cowries as money, and a very ancient style of currency it is.

—Tao i chih lio. 63 Pei Liu, tr. Rockhill. T’oung Pao xvi, pp. 387-8.

E. Kain Colan (Kāyangulam)

It is in the neighbourhood of the Tu-lan rocks. The soil is black and well suited for the raising of cereals. The people are indolent in their work of the tillage of the soil. They count yearly (to eke out their subsistence) on the contribution made them by the Wu-tieh (Orissa) rice trade. Sometimes through stress of weather (these Wu-tieh boats? or a boat?) arrive late after the departure of the horse ships (from Kan-mai-li, the Comoro Islands) and without a full cargo; the wind blows (too) violently (for them to proceed). Other times the wind is contrary, and it (or they) cannot reach the Sea of Lambri and escape the danger from the ragged rocks in (the bay of) Kao-lang-fu (Colombo), so they pass the winter in this place, remaining until the summer of the following year; when in the eighth or ninth moon ships come again (from Kan-mai-li ?), then they go on (in their company so as to escape the pirates which infested the coast?) to Ku-li-fo (Calicut) to trade.

As to the usages and customs, the clothing of both sexes is like that of Ku-li-fo (Calicut). They have village rulers, but no chieftains (or chief ruler).

The native products are pepper, cocoa-nuts, betel-nuts, and Liu fish (i.e., cobily mash, from the Maldive Islands).

The goods used (by the Chinese) in trading there are gold, iron, blue and white porcelain-ware, Pa-tan cotton cloth (Jurfattan cloth ?), satins of various colours, iron-ware and the like.

—Tao i chih lio, 82. Hsiao Kü-nan, tr. Rockhill. T’oung Pao xvi, pp. 445-7.

F. Hili (Ely)

This country is between Hsiao Kü-nan (Kain Colan) and Ku-li-fo (Calicut),[^5] it is also known (to the Chinese) as the Hsiao chiang-k’ou, or “Little Harbour.” The hill is bare and flat, it extends over several thousand (sic) li.

The dwellings of the people are scattered about close together on every side with a sufficiency of land to supply the wants of each family, though the soil is far from good for tilling.

The climate is hot, the usages of the people pure. They are hot-headed, and wherever they go, they carry about with them their bows and arrows. Men and women cut their hair and wrap around them Liu pu (i.e., cotton cloth from the Maldive Islands).

The natural products are pepper, superior to that of any other foreign port. It is impossible to state the number of plants which cover the hills (of Hsia-li). It is a creeper which grows like a wistaria vine, and which blooms in winter and bears fruit in summer. The people gather it and dry it in the sun to remove its pungent flavour. The pepper gatherers for the most part do not mind its flavour, but if they do, they get relief by using a decoction of Ch’üan-hsiung. The pepper of all other foreign parts is all the surplus product of this country.

—Tao i chih lio. 64. Hsia-li, tr. Rockhill. T’oung Pao xvi, p. 453.

G. Calicut

Ku-li-fo is the most important of all the maritime centers of trade. It is close to Hsi-lan (Ceylon) and is the principal port of the Western Ocean. The land is flat and the soil poor, though grain can be grown.

Each year they depend on the shipping from Wu-tieh (Orissa, for a sufficiency of grain). They cede the path to each other; they will not pick up things on the highways; their customs approach those of antiquity (in honesty). Should anyone steal an ox, the chief verifies the number of oxen, and (or) the rightful owner seizes all the property of the offender, and he is put to death.

The seat of government is far off in the hills, but the place where trading is carried on is on the sea-shore.

The native products include pepper very like that of Hsia-li (Hili). The people have public godowns in which they store it. Each po-ho (bahar) is of 375 catties weight. The customs dues are two tenths. There are also kajang leaves, p’i sang cloth, rose-water, jack-fruit, and catechu. The coral, pearls, and frankincense (obtained here), all come from Kan-mai-(li) and Fo-lang (Comoro Islands and the countries of the Franks?). The goods exported are the same as from Hsiao Kü-nan (Kain-Colan).

They have fine horses which come from the extreme West, and which are brought here by the shipload. Each horse will fetch from an hundred to a thousand pieces of gold, even going as high as four thousand, and the foreign people who fetch them thither would think the market a very bad one if they did not.

—Tao i chih lio 83. Ku-li-fo, tr. Rockhill: T’oung Pao xvi, pp. 454-5.

H. Jurfattan

This country is beyond Ku-li-fo (Calicut). The soil is fertile and level, (but) the cultivated fields few. The usages of the people are pleasing. As to the climate it is rather hot. Men and women wrap cotton cloth around them and wear a turban. They are sea-farers, and this is the principal port for the pearl trade.

When anyone of the people commits a crime, they draw a circle with lime on the ground and cause him to stand inside it, not allowing him to move. This is their most severe form of punishment.

The natural products are Pa-tan cotton cloth and pearls, all of which latter are brought here from the Ti-san chiang (Gulf of Manar, Ceylon?), their place of production, and where the pearl collectorate office gathers them all in and brings them over in small boats to this place (i.e. Jurfattan), where the rich (traders) use gold and silver to force down the prices (?). If a boat should come (from Ti-san-chiang) to try to sell (directly) to the Chinese, its profits will be insignificant indeed (i.e., the Jurfattan pearl traders will undersell them with the Chinese?).

—Tao i chih lio 66. Sha-li-pa-tan, tr. Rockhill: T’oung Pao xvi pp. 464-5.