National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
| |||||||||
|
Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
I 18 MARCO POLO.
VOL. II. BK. III.
Gondophernēs is to be found anywhere outside India, save in the
tradition about St. Thomas."
p. 357.
CALAMINA.
On this city of the martyrdom of St. Thomas, see Indian
Antiquary, XXXII., pp. 148 seq. in Mr. Philipps' paper, and
XXXIII., Jan., 1904, pp. 31-2, a note signed W. R. P.
p. 361. " In this kingdom [Mutfili] also are made the best
and most delicate buckrams, and those of highest price ; in sooth they
look like tissue of spider's web ! "
In Nan p'i (in Malabar) Chau Ju-kwa has (p. 88) : " The
native products include pearls, foreign cotton-stuff of all colours
(i.e. coloured chintzes) and tou-lo mién (cotton-cloth)." Hirth
and Rockhill remark that this cotton-cloth is probably the
buckram which looks like tissue of spider's web " of which Polo
speaks, and which Yule says was the famous muslin of Masuli-
patam. Speaking of Cotton, Chau Ju-kwa (pp. 217-8) writes :
The ki pi' tree resembles a small mulberry-tree, with a
hibiscus-like flower furnishing a floss half an inch and more in
length, very much like goose-down, and containing some dozens
of seeds. In the south the people remove the seed from the floss
by means of iron chopsticks, upon which the floss is taken in the
hand and spun without troubling about twisting together the
thread. Of the cloth woven therefrom there are several qualities ;
the most durable and the strongest is called t'ou-lo-mién ; the
second quality is called fan-p?' or ` foreign cloth ' ; the third ` tree
cotton ' or mu-mién ; the fourth ki-pu. These textures are some-
times dyed in various colours and brightened with strange
patterns. The pieces measure up to five or six feet in breadth."
XXI., p. 373.
THE CITY OF CALL.
Prof. E. H. PARKER writes in the Journal of the North-China
Branch of the Royal Asiatic Soc., X X XVI I., 1906, p. 196 " Yule's
identification of Kayal with the Kolkhoi of Ptolemy is supported
by the Sung History, which calls it both Ko-ku-lo and Ku-lo ;
it was known at the beginning of the tenth century and was
visited by several Chinese priests. In I41I the Ming Dynasty
actually called it Ka-i-léh and mention a chief or king there
named Ko-pu-che-ma."
|
Copyright (C) 2003-2019 National Institute of Informatics and The Toyo Bunko. All Rights Reserved.