Hardly have been applied to him.
But Rashid-eddin mentions a distinguished Mongol, by name Pulad, with
whom he was acquainted in Persia, and who furnished him with much
information regarding the history of the Mongols. This may be the Bu-lo
no-yen of the Yuean History." (Bretschneider, Med. Res. II. p. 132.) - H.
C.]
NOTE 2. - A spirit is still distilled from dates in Persia, Mekran, Sind,
and some places in the west of India. It is mentioned by Strabo and
Dioscorides, according to Kaempfer, who says it was in his time made under
the name of a medicinal stomachic; the rich added Radix Chinae,
ambergris, and aromatic spices; the poor, liquorice and Persian absinth.
(Sir B. Frere; Amoen. Exot. 750; Macd. Kinneir, 220.)
["The date wine with spices is not now made at Bender 'Abbas. Date
arrack, however, is occasionally found. At Kerman a sort of wine or arrack
is made with spices and alcohol, distilled from sugar; it is called
Ma-ul-Hayat (water of life), and is recommended as an aphrodisiac. Grain in
the Shamil plain is harvested in April, dates are gathered in August."
(Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 496.)
See "Remarks on the Use of Wine and Distilled Liquors among the
Mohammedans of Turkey and Persia," pp. 315-330 of Narrative of a Tour
through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia.... By the Rev.
Horatio Southgate,... London, 1840, vol. ii. - H. C.]
[Sir H. Yule quotes, in a MS. note, these lines from Moore's Light of the
Harem:
"Wine, too, of every clime and hue,
Around their liquid lustre threw
Amber Rosolli[3] - the bright dew
From vineyards of the Green Sea gushing."] See above, p. 114.
[Illustration: The Double or Latin Rudder, as shown in the Navicella of
Giotto. (From Eastlake.)]
The date and dry-fish diet of the Gulf people is noticed by most
travellers, and P. del a Valle repeats the opinion about its being the
only wholesome one. Ibn Batuta says the people of Hormuz had a saying,
"Khorma wa mahi lut-i-Padshahi," i.e. "Dates and fish make an Emperor's
dish!" A fish, exactly like the tunny of the Mediterranean in general
appearance and habits, is one of the great objects of fishery off the Sind
and Mekran coasts. It comes in pursuit of shoals of anchovies, very much
like the Mediterranean fish also. (I. B. II. 231; Sir B. Frere.)
[Friar Odoric (Cathay, I. pp. 55-56) says: "And there you find (before
arriving at Hormuz) people who live almost entirely on dates, and you get
forty-two pounds of dates for less than a groat; and so of many other
things."]
NOTE 3. - The stitched vessels of Kerman ([Greek: ploiaria rapta]) are
noticed in the Periplus. Similar accounts to those of our text are given
of the ships of the Gulf and of Western India by Jordanus and John of
Montecorvino.
