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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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CHAP XIV. THE ISLAND OF SEILAN
315
half of the island. The Singhalese Chronicle represents Prakrama to have recovered it from them, but they are so soon again found in full force that the completeness of this recovery may be doubted. There were also two invasions of Malays (favaku) during this reign, under the lead of a chief called Chandra Banu. On the second occasion this invader was joined by a large Tamul reinforcement. Sir E. Tennent suggests that this Chandra Banu may be Polo's Sende-main or Sendernaz, as Ramusio has it. Or he may have been the Tamul chief in the north ; the first part of the name may have been either Chandra or Sundara.
NOTE 4.—Kazwini names the brazil, or sapan-wood of Ceylon. Ibn Batuta speaks of its abundance (IV. 166) ; and Ribeyro does the like (ed. of Columbo, 1847, p. 16) ; see also Ritter, VI. 39, 122 ; and Trans. R. A. S. I. 539.
Sir E. Tennent has observed that Ibn Batuta is the first to speak of the Ceylon cinnamon. It is, however, mentioned by Kazwini (circa A.D. 1275), and in a letter written from Mabar by John of Montecorvino about the very time that Marco was in these seas. (See Ethe's Kazwini, 229, and Cathay, 213. )
[Mr. G. Phillips, in the four. China B. R. A. Soc., XX. 1885, pp. 209-226 ; XX I. 1886, pp. 30-42, has given, under the title of The Seaports of India and Ceylon, a translation of some parts of the Ying-yai-shénb -lan, a work of a Chinese Mahomedan, Ma-Huan, who was attached to the suite of Chêng-Ho, an envoy of the Emperor Yong-Lo (A.D. 1403-1425) to foreign countries. Mr. Phillips's translation is a continuation of the Notes of Mr. W. P. Groeneveldt, who leaves us at Lambri, on the coast of Sumatra. Ma-Huan takes us to the Ts'zli-lan Islands (Nicobars) and to Hsi-lan-kuo (Ceylon), whose " people," he says (p. 214), " are abundantly supplied with all the necessaries of life. They go about naked, except that they wear a green handkerchief round their loins, fastened with a waist-band. Their bodies are clean-shaven, and only the hair of their heads is left. . . . They take no meal without butter and milk, if they have none and wish to eat, they do so unobserved and in private. The betel-nut is never out of their mouths. They have no wheat, but have rice, sesamum, and peas. The cocoa-nut, which they have in abundance, supplies them with oil, wine, sugar, and food." Ma-Huan arrived at Ceylon at Piehlo-li, on the 6th of the I Ith moon (seventh year, Siian Têh, end of 1432). Cf. Sylvain Lévi, Ceylon et la Chine, f As., Mai-juin, 1900, p. 41 I segq.
Odoric and the Adjaîb do not mention cinnamon among the products of Ceylon ; this omission was one of the arguments of Dr. Schumann (Ezglznz. No. 73 zu Petermann's Mitt., 1883, p. 46) against the authenticity of the Adjaîb. These arguments have been refuted in the Livre des Het-veil/es de l'Inde, p. 265 segq.
Nicolo Conti, speaking of the " very noble island called Zeilan," says (p. 7) : " Here also cinnamon grows in great abundance. It is a tree which very much resembles our thick willows, excepting that the branches do not grow upwards, but are spread out horizontally : the leaves are very like those of the laurel, but are somewhat larger. The bark of the branches is the thinnest and best, that of the trunk of the tree is thicker and inferior in flavour. The fruit resembles the berries of the laurel ; an odoriferous oil is extracted from it adapted for ointments, which are much used by the Indians. When the bark is stripped off, the wood is used for fuel."—H. C.]
NOTE 5.—There seems to have been always afloat among Indian travellers, at least from the time of Cosmas (6th century), some wonderful story about the ruby or rubies of the king of Ceylon. With Cosmas, and with the Chinese Hiuen Tsang, in the following century, this precious object is fixed on the top of a pagoda, " a hyacinth, they say, of great size and brilliant ruddy colour, as big as a great pine-cone ; and when 'tis seen from a distance flashing, especially if the sun's rays strike upon it, 'tis a glorious and incomparable spectacle." Our author's contemporary, Hayton, had heard of the great ruby : " The king of that Island of Celan hath the largest and finest ruby in existence. When his coronation takes place this ruby is placed in his hand, and he goes round the city on horseback holding it in his hand, and thence-
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