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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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390
MARCO POLO I3ooK III.
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bring copper in ballast. They also bring hither cloths
of silk and gold, and sendels ; also gold and silver,
cloves and spikenard, and other fine spices for which
there is a demand here, and exchange them for the
products of these countries.
Ships come hither from many quarters, but especially
from the great province of Manzi.' Coarse spices are
exported hence both to Manzi and to the west, and that
which is carried by the merchants to Aden goes on to
Alexandria, but the ships that go in the latter direction
are not one to ten of those that go to the eastward ; a
very notable fact that I have mentioned before.
Now I have told you about the kingdom of Melibar ;
we shall now proceed and tell you of the kingdom of
Gozurat. And you must understand that in speaking of
these kingdoms we note only the capitals ; there are
great numbers of other cities and towns of which we
shall say nothing, because it would make too long a
story to speak of all.
gr
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1
NOTE r.—Here is another instance of that confusion which dislocates Polo's descriptions of the Indian coast ; we shall recur to it under ch. xxx.
Malabar is a name given by the Arabs, and varies in its form : Ibn Batuta and
Kazwini write it ,4?, j, al-Malíbár, Edrisi and Abulfeda ' ), al-
Zlfaníbár, etc., and like variations occur among the old European travellers. The country so-called corresponded to the Kerala of the Brahmans, which in its very widest sense extended from about lat. I5' to Cape Comorin. This, too, seems to be the extension which Abulfeda gives to Malabar, viz., from Hunáwar to Kumhári ; Rashiduddin includes Sindábúr, i.e. Goa. But at a later date a point between Mt. d'Ely and Mangalore on the north, and Kaulam on the south, were the limits usually assigned to Malabar.
NOTE 2.—" Il font eschiel en la mer" (G.T.). Escliiel is the equivalent of the Italian schera or schiera, a troop or squadron, and thence applied to order of battle, whether by land or sea.
NOTE 3.—The northern part of Malabar, Canara, and the Konkan, have been nests of pirates from the time of the ancients to a very recent date. Padre Paolino specifies the vicinity of Mt. d'Ely as a special haunt of them in bis day, the latter half of last century. Somewhat further north Ibn Batuta fell into their hands, and was
stripped to his drawers. '
NOTE 4.—There is something to be said about these Malabar spices. The cinnamon of Malabar is what we call cassia, the canella erossa of Conti, the canela brava of the Portuguese. Notices of it will be found in Rlieede (I. 107) and in Garcia
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