National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

CHAP. XXXII. p. 407.   SCOTRA.

I2I

XXXII., pp. 406-7. Speaking of Scotra, Marco (II., p. 406) says :

" The ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a

great object of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with barbed

iron darts, which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot come out

again. A long cord is attached to this end, to that a small buoy which

floats on the surface, so that when the whale dies they know where to

find it. They then draw the body ashore and extract the ambergris

from the stomach and the oil from the head."

Chau Ju-kwa, at Chung-li (Somali Coast), has (p. 131) :

" Every year there are driven on the coast a great many dead

fish measuring two hundred feet in length and twenty feet

through the body. The people do not eat the flesh of these

fish, but they cut out their brains, marrow, and eyes, from which

they get oil, often as much as three hundred odd töng (from a

single fish). They mix this oil with lime to caulk their boats,

and use it also in lamps. The poor people use the ribs of these

fish to make rafters, the backbones for door leaves, and they

cut off vertebre to make mortars with."

SCOTRA.

XXXII., p. 407. " And you must know that in this island there are

the best enchanters in the world. It is true that their Archbishop

forbids the practice to the best of his ability ; but 'tis all to no purpose,

for they insist that their forefathers followed it, and so must they also.

I will give you a sample of their enchantments. Thus, if a ship be

sailing past with a fair wind and a strong, they will raise a contrary

wind and compel her to turn back. In fact they make the wind blow

as they list, and produce great tempests and disasters ; and other such

sorceries they perform, which it will be better to say nothing about in

our Book."

Speaking of Chung-li (Somali Coast), Chau Ju-kwa writes,

p. 130: " There are many sorcerers among them who are able

. to change themselves into birds, beasts, or aquatic animals, and

by these means keep the ignorant people in a state of terror.

If some of them in trading with some foreign ship have a quarrel,

the sorcerers pronounce a charm over the ship, so that it can

neither go forward nor backward, and they only release the ship

when it has settled the dispute. The government has formally

forbidden this practice."

Hirth and Rockhill add, p. 132 : " Friar Joanno dos Santos

(A.D. 1597) says : ` In the Ile of Zanzibar dwelt one Chande, a

•