Page:HMElliotHistVol1.djvu/119

Rh tho island of Kísh. From Kambáya to the isle of Aubkín, two-and-a-half days’ sail. From Aubkia to Debal, two days. Kambáya is fertile in wheat and rice. Its mountains produce the Indian kaná. The inhabitants are idolaters (Buddhists). From hence to the island of Mand, the inhabitants of which are thieves, the passage is six miles. To Kúlí on the shore, also six miles; and to Súbára, about five days. Súbára is situated one-and-a-half mile from the sea. It is a populous, busy town, and is considered one of the entrepots of India. They fish for pearls here. It is in the vicinity of Bára, a small island, on which some cocoa-nut trees and the costus grow. From Súbára to Sindán is considered five days. Súbára is a mile-and-a-half from the sea. It is populous, and the people are noted for their industry and intelligence. They are rich and of a warlike temper. The town is large, and has an extensive commerce both in exports and imports. East of Sindán there is an island bearing the same name and dependent on India. It is large and well cultivated, and the cocoa-nut palm, kaná, and rattan grow there. Saimúr, five days from Sindán, is a large well-built town. Cocoa-nut trees grow here in abundance; henna also grows here, and the mountains produce many aromatic plants, which are exported. Five miles by sea (from Kúlam Malí) lies the island of Malí, which is large and pretty. It is an elevated plateau, but not very hilly, and is covered with vegetation. The pepper vine grows in this island, as in Kandarína and Jirbatan, but it is found nowhere else but in these three places. It is a shrub, having a trunk like that of the vine; the leaf is like the convolvulus, but longer; it bears grapes like those of the Shabúka, each bunch of which is sheltered by a leaf which curls over when the fruit is ripe. White pepper is what is gathered as it begins to ripen, or even before. Ibn Khurdádba states that the leaves curl over the bunches to protect them from the rain, and that they return to their natural position when the rain is over—a surprising fact! Kambáya, Súbára, Sindán, and Saimúr form part of India. The last named belongs to a country whose king is called Balhárá: his kingdom is vast, well-peopled, commercial, and fertile. It pays