IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Citation Information
332
MARCO POLO BOOK III.
~
~
~
injuring the divers whilst engaged in seeking pearls
under water, one twentieth part of all that they take.
The fish-charmers are termed Abraiaman ,• and their
charm holds good for that day only, for at night they
dissolve the charm so that the fishes can work mischief
at their will. These Abraiaman know also how to
charm beasts and birds and every living thing. When
the men have got into the small boats they jump into the
water and dive to the bottom, which may be at a depth
of from 4 to i 2 fathoms, and there they remain as long
as they are able. And there they find the shells that
contain the pearls [_and these they put into a net bag
tied round the waist, and mount up to the surface with
them, and then dive anew. When they can't hold their
breath any longer they come up again, and after a little
down they go once more, and so they go on all dayj.2
- The shells are in fashion like oysters or sea-hoods.
And in these shells are found pearls, great and small, of
every kind, sticking in the flesh of the shell-fish.
In this manner pearls are fished in great quantities,
for thence in fact come the pearls which are spread all
over the world. And I can tell you the King of that
State hath a very great receipt and treasure from his
dues upon those pearls.
As soon as the middle of May is past, no more of
those pearl-shells are found there. It is true, however,
that a long way from that spot, some 30o miles distant,
they are also found ; but that is in September and the
first half of October.
il
NOTE I.—MAABAR (111d bar) was the name given by the Mahomedans at this time (13th and 14th centuries) to a tract corresponding in a general way to what we call the Coromandel Coast. The word in Arabic signifies the Passage or Ferry, and may have referred either to the communication with Ceylon, or, as is more probable, to its being in that age the coast most frequented by travellers from Arabia and the Gulf.* The name does not appear in Edrisi, nor, I believe, in any of the older geo-
* So the Barbary coast from Tunis westward was called by the Arabs 13 r-ul-'Adwalc, "Terra Transitis," because thence they used to pass into Spain. (J. As. for Jan. 1846, p. 228.)
~
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.