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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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Citation Information
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CHAP. XXVIII. THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET
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Canara ; but the gum is exported from Bombay. The tree is the Chioroxylon Dzupada of Buchanan, and is, I imagine, the Dupu or Incense Tree of Rheede. (Hoyt. lilalab. IV.) The tree is a fine one, and forms beautiful avenues in Malabar and Canara. The Hindus use the resin as an incense, and in Malabar it is also made into candles which burn fragrantly and with little smoke. It is, or was, also used as pitch, and is probably the thus with which Indian vessels, according to Joseph of Cranganore (in Novus Orbis), were payed. Garcia took it for the ancient Cancanzunz, but this Dr. Birdwood identifies with the next, viz.:—
Gardenia lucida (Roxb.). It grows in the Konkan districts, producing a fragrant resin called Dikanzáli in India, and by the Arabs Kankham.
Balsanzode;zdron 11lukul, growing in Sind, Kattiawár and the Deesa District, and producing the Indian Bdelliwn, Muukl of the Arabs and Persians, used as an incense and as a cordial medicine. It is believed to be the BUÄÄa mentioned in the Periplus as exported from the Indus, and also as brought down with Costus through Ozene (Ujjain) to Barygaza (Baroch—see Müller's Geog Græc. Minor. I. 287, 293). It is mentioned also (Ilfu~.1) by Albiruni as a special product of Kachh, and is probably the incense of that region alluded to by Hiuen Tsang. (See last chapter, note 3.) It is of a yellow, red, or brownish colour. (Eng. Cyc. art. Bdellium ; Dowson's Elliot, I. 66 ; Reinaud in./ As. sér. IV. tom. iv. p. 263).
Canarium strictum (Roxb.), of the Western Ghats, affording the Black Dammar of Malabar, which when fresh is aromatic and yellow in colour. It abounds in the country adjoining Tana. The natives use it as incense, and call the tree Dhzíp (incense) and Gugul (Bdellum).
Besides these resinous substances, the Costus of the Ancients may be mentioned (Sansk. h ushth ), being still exported from Western India, as well as from Calcutta, to China, under the name of Putchok, to be burnt as incense in Chinese temples. Its identity has been ascertained in our own day by Drs. Royle and Falconer, as the root of a plant which they called Aucklandia Costus. But the identity of the Pucho (which he gives as the Malay name) with Costus was known to Garcia. Alex. Hamilton, at the beginning of last century, calls it Ligna Dulcis (sic), and speaks of it as an export from Sind, as did the author of the Periplus 1600 years earlier.
My own impression is that 11lzukl or Bdellium was the brown incense of Polo, especially because we see from Albiruni that this was regarded as a staple export from neighbouring regions. But Dr. Birdwood considers that the Black Dammar of Canarium strictunz is in question. (Report on Indian Guez-Resins, by 117r. Dalzell of Bot. Gard. Bombay, 1866 ; Birdwood's Bombay Products, 2nd ed. pp. 282, 287, etc. ; Drzury's Useful Plants of India, 2nd ed. ; Garcia; A. Hamilton, I. 127 ; Ezzg . Cyc., art. Putclzzuk ; Bzuchanan's Journey, II. 44, 335, etc.)
CHAPTER XXVIII.
CONCERNING THE KINGDOM OF CAMBAET.
CAMBAET is ag reat kingdom lying further west. The
people are Idolaters, and have a language of their own,
and a king of their own, and are tributary to nobody.1
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