Page:The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea.djvu/256

 60. Colandia:—This name seems to be of Malay origin, and perhaps means no more than "ship." Koleh panjail, "sailing ship," is the name for the fast fishermen entered in modern Singapore regattas. (Pritchett, Sketches of Shipping and Craft, 166.)

The text is kolandiophonta, generally supposed to be corrupt, the onta being the present participle of "to be." But Rājendralāla Mitra (Antiquities of Orissa, I, 115) derives the word from the Sanscrit kolāntarapota, "ships for going to foreign shores."

The colandia which made the voyage to Chryse and were of great size, must have been similar to the Chinese junks or the Burmese laung-zát, kattu or Chindwin traders. The sea-trade of the Gulf of Tonkin was of very early date. Chinese annals mention voyages to Malacca prior to the Christian era, and probably as early as the 12th century B.C. This region, known to the Chinese as Yüé-cháng, was independent until the extension of the Chinese boundaries under the Han dynasty (2d century B.C.). The compass, or "south-pointing chariot," was known in the 11th century B.C., but, as