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| 0333 |
The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.2 |
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an earlier date possessed the lower valley of the Menam, but, we see, did so no
longer.*
The name Lawek or Lovek is applied by writers of the 16th and 17th centuries to
the capital of what is still Kamboja, the ruins of which exist near Udong. Laweik
is mentioned along with the other Siamese or Laotian countries of Yuthia, Tennas-
serim, Sukkothai, Pichalok, Lagong, Lanchang (or Luang Prabang), Zimmé (or
Kiang-mai), and Kiang-Tung, in the vast list of states claimed by the Burmese
Chronicle as tributary to Pagán before its fall. We find in the Ain-i-Akbari a kind
of aloes-wood called Lawáki, no doubt because it came from this region.
The G. T. indeed makes the course from Sondur to Locac sieloc or S.E. ; but
Pauthier's text seems purposely to correct this, calling it, "v. c. milles oultre Sandur."
This would bring us to the Peninsula somewhere about what is now the Siamese
province of Ligor,† and this is the only position accurately consistent with the next
indication of the route, viz. a run of 500 miles south to the Straits of Singapore.
Let us keep in mind also Ramusio's specific statement that Locac was on terra
firma.
As regards the products named : (1) gold is mined in the northern part of the
Peninsula and is a staple export of Kalantan, Tringano, and Pahang, further down.
Barbosa says gold was so abundant in Malacca that it was reckoned by Bahars of 4
cwt. Though Mr. Logan has estimated the present produce of the whole
Peninsula at only 20,000 ounces, Hamilton, at the beginning of last century,
says Pahang alone in some years exported above 8 cwt. (2) Brazil-wood,
now generally known by the Malay term Sappan, is abundant on the coast.
Ritter speaks of three small towns on it as entirely surrounded by trees of this
kind. And higher up, in the latitude of Tavoy, the forests of sappan-wood
find a prominent place in some maps of Siam. In mediæval intercourse between the
courts of Siam and China we find Brazil-wood to form the bulk of the Siamese
present. ["Ma Huan fully bears out Polo's statement in this matter, for he says:
This Brazil (of which Marco speaks) is as plentiful as firewood. On Chêng-ho's chart
Brazil and other fragrant woods are marked as products of Siam. Polo's statement of
the use of porcelain shells as small change is also corroborated by Ma Huan." (G.
Phillips, Jour. China B.R.A.S., XXI., 1886, p. 37.)—H. C.] (3) Elephants are
abundant. (4) Cowries, according to Marsden and Crawford, are found in those
seas largely only on the Sulu Islands; but Bishop Pallegoix says distinctly that
they are found in abundance on the sand-banks of the Gulf of Siam. And I
see Dr. Fryer, in 1673, says that cowries were brought to Surat "from Siam and
the Philippine Islands."
For some centuries after this time Siam was generally known to traders by the
Persian name of Shahr-i-nao, or New City. This seems to be the name generally applied
to it in the Shijarat Malayu (or Malay Chronicle), and it is used also by Abijurrazzák.
It appears among the early navigators of the 16th century, as Da Gama, Varthema,
Giovanni d'Empoli and Mendez Pinto, in the shape of Sornau, Xarnau. Whether
this name was applied to the new city of Ayuthia, or was a translation of that of the
older Lopháburí (which appears to be the Sansk. or Pali Nava pura=New-City) I
do not know.
[Reinaud (Int. Abuifsda, p. CDXVI.) writes that, according to the Christian monk
of Nadjran, who crossed the Malayan Seas, about the year 980, at this time, the King
of Lukyn had just invaded the kingdom of Ṣanf and taken possession of it. According
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731
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