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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
274
MARCO POLO BOOK III.
and the great expense of an expedition thither. The
merchants of Zayton and Manzi draw annually great
returns from this country.1
•
NOTE I.—Here Marco speaks of that Pearl of Islands, Java. The chapter is a digression from the course of his voyage towards India, but possibly he may have touched at the island on his previous expedition, alluded to in note 2, eh. v. Not more, for the account is vague, and where particulars are given not accurate. Java does not produce nutmegs or cloves, though doubtless it was a great mart for these and all the products of the Archipelago. And if by treasure he means gold, as indeed Ramusio reads, no gold is found in Java. Barbosa, however, has the same story of the great amount of gold drawn from Java ; and De Barros says that Sunda, i.e. Western Java, which the Portuguese regarded as a distinct island, produced inferior gold of 7 carats, but that pepper was the staple, of which the annual supply was more than 30,000 cwt. (Ram. I. 318-319 ; De Barros, Dec. IV. liv. i. cap. 12. )
The circuit ascribed to Java in Pauthier's Text is 5000 miles. Even the 3000 which we take from the Geog. Text is about double the truth ; but it is exactly the
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Ship of the Middle Ages in the Java Seas. (From Bas-relief at Boro Bodor.)
Can rezt.e V$l.e bienent grant .quantité be ncz, e be 1nerranz qe hi =tent be
lnnittt.ez merranbi.ez •et hi taut grant gaagne."
same that Odoric and Conti assign. No doubt it was a tradition among the Arab seamen. They never visited the south coast, and probably had extravagant ideas of its extension in that direction, as the Portuguese had for long. Even at the end of the 16th century Linschoten says : " Its breadth is as yet unknown ; some conceiving it to be a part of the Terra Australis extending from opposite the Cape of Good Hope. However it is commonly held to be an island" (ch. xx. ). And in the old map republished in the Lisbon De Barros of 1777, the south side of Java is marked " Parte incognita de Java," and is without a single name, whilst a narrow strait runs right across the island (the supposed division of Sunda from Java Proper).
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