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0337 The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 / Page 337 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000269
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CHAP. VIII.   TIIE CITY MALAIUI

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notice. This records that in the 2nd year of the Yuen, tribute was sent from Siam to the Emperor. " The Siamese had long been at war with the illaliyi or M AT'I U RH, but both nations laid aside their feud and submitted to China." ( līalentyn, V. p. 352 ; Crawl-1rd's Desc. Dict. art. 11Ialacca ; Lassen, IV. 541 segq. ; fount. Ind. Archip. V. 572, II. 608-609 ; De Barros, Dec. II. 1. vi. e. 1; Comentarios do grande Afonso d'Albogzrerque, Pt. III. cap. xvii. ; Couto, Dec. IV. liv. ii. ; Wade in Bowring's Kingdom and P'ople of Siam, I. 72.)

[From I-tsing we learn that going from China to India, the traveller visits the country of .Shih-li fizh-shi (Ç;- blzoja or simply Pula-shi = Bhôja), then Mo-lozaoyu, which seems to Professor Chavannes to correspond to the Malaiur of Marco Polo and to the modern Palembang, and which in the loth century formed a part of Çribh6dja identified by Professor Chavannes with Zabedj. (I-tsing, p. 36.) The Rev. S. Beal has some remarks on this question in the Merveilles de l'Inde, p. 251, and he says that he thinks " there are reasons for placing this country [Çrībhôja], or island, on the East coast of Sumatra, and near Palembang, or, on the Palembang River." Mr. Groeneveldt ( 7 'oung Pao, VII. abst. p. Io) gives some extracts from Chinese authors, and then writes : " We have therefore to find now a place for the Molayu of I-tsing, the Malaiur of Marco Polo, the Malayo of Alboquerque, and the TanaMalayu of De Barros, all which may be taken to mean the same place. I-tsing tells us that it took fifteen days to go from Bhôja to Molayu and fifteen days again to go from there to Kieh-ch'a. The latter place, suggesting a native name Kada, must have been situated in the north-west of Sumatra, somewhere near the present Atjeh, for going from there west, one arrived in thirty days at Magapatana, near Ceylon, whilst a northern course brought one in ten days to the Nicobar Islands. Molayu should thus lie half-way between Bhôja and Kieh-ch'a, but this indication must not be taken too literally where it is given for a sailing vessel, and there is also the statement of De Barros, which does not allow us to go too far away from Palembang, as he mentions Tana-Malayu next to that place. We have therefore to choose between the next three larger rivers : those of Jambi, Indragiri, and Kampar, and there is an indication in favour of the last one, not very strong, it is true, but still not to be neglected. I-tsing tells us : " Le roi me donna des secours grâce auxquels je parvins au pays de Mo-louo yu ; j'y séjournai derechef pendant deux mois. Je changeai de direction pour aller dans le pays de Kie-tcha." The change of direction during a voyage along the east coast of Sumatra from Palembang to Atjeh is nowhere very perceptible, because the course is throughout more or less north-west, still one may speak of a change of direction at the mouth of the River Kampar, about the entrance of the Strait of Malacca, whence the track begins to run more west, whilst it is more north before. The country of Kampar is of little importance now, but it is not improbable that there has been a Hindoo settlement, as the ruins of religious monuments decidedly Buddhist are still existing on the upper course of the river, the only ones indeed on this side of the island, it being a still unexplained fact that the Il indoos in Java have built on a very large scale, and those of Sumatra hardly anything at all."—Mr. Takakusu (A Record of the Buddhist Religion, p. xli.) proposes to place Shih-li-fuh-shi at Palembang and Mo-louo-yu farther on the northern coast of Sumatra.—(Cf. G. Schlegel, Geog. Notes, XVI. ; P. Pelliot, Bul. Ecole Franc. Ext. Orient, II. pp. 94-96. )—II. C.]