United States or Djibouti ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Commentary upon the foregoing Account, by Abu Zeid al Hasan of Siraff.
Being asked why he had deserted his own king, to whom he was so near in blood; he gave information of the revolutions which had happened at Basra, which had forced him to fly to Siraff; where, hearing of the glory of the emperor of China, and the abundance of every thing in his empire, he had been impelled by curiosity to visit it; but that he intended soon to return to the kingdom of his cousin, where he should make a faithful report of the magnificence of China, the vast extent of its provinces, and of the kind usage he had met with.
From Basra to Siraff is an hundred and twenty leagues; and when ships have loaded at this latter place they take in water there also. From thence they sail to a place called Mascat, in the extremity of the province of Oman, which is about two hundred leagues from Siraff.
It is difficult at this distance of time to ascertain the rout laid down by this author, on account of the changes of names. This mart of Siraff is not to be met with in any of our maps; but it is said by the Arabian geographers to have been in the gulf of Persia, about sixty leagues from Shiraz; and that on its decay, the trade was transferred to Ormuz. Renaud.
Both men and women are so exceedingly addicted to debauchery, that a foreign merchant has been known to send even for a king's daughter, to attend him at the fishing grounds, in quality of mistress; wherefore the Mahomedan doctors at Siraff, strictly warn young people not to go there.
Respecting the places whence ships depart and those they touch at, many persons affirm that the navigation is performed in the following order: Most of the Chinese ships take in their cargoes at Siraff , where also they ship their goods which come from Basra, Oman, and other ports; and this is done because there are frequent storms and many shallows in those seas.
There arose from all these confusions many unjust dealings with the merchants; and there was no grievance so intolerable, or treatment so bad, but what was exercised upon the Arab merchants, and captains of ships, extorting from them what was altogether uncustomary, seizing upon their effects, and behaving towards them quite contrary to all the ancient usages; so that our merchants were forced to return in crowds to Siraff and Oman .
An eye-witness told me that he went to see a whale which had been cast ashore, near Siraff, and found the people mounting on its back by means of ladders; that they dug pits in different parts of his body, and when the sun had melted the grease into oil, they collected this, and sold it to the masters of ships, who mixed it up with some other matter, used by seamen for the purpose of serving the bottoms of their vessels, and securing the seams of the planks, to prevent or to stop leaks.
If it certainly was built at Siraff, some adventurous Arabian crew must have doubled the south of Africa from the east, and perished when they had well nigh immortalized their fame, by opening up the passage by sea from Europe to India: And as the Arabian Moslems very soon navigated to Zanguebar, Hinzuan, and Madagascar, where their colonies still remain, this list is not impossible, though very unlikely.
The great troubles which have embroiled the affairs of this empire, putting a stop to the justice and righteousness there formerly practised, and interrupting the ordinary navigation from Siraff to China, was occasioned by the revolt of an officer named Baichu, in high employment, though not of the royal family.
Word Of The Day