That there was a dynasty of Maliks of Hormuz, however, at this
period we must believe on the concurring testimony of Marco, of Wassaf,
and of Thuran Shah. There was also, it would seem, another
quasi-independent principality in the Island of Kais. (Hammer's Ilch.
II. 50, 51; Teixeira, Relacion de los Reyes de Hormuz; Khan. Notice,
p. 34.)
The ravages of the Tartars which drove the people of Hormuz from their
city may have begun with the incursions of the Nigudaris and Karaunahs,
but they probably came to a climax in the great raid in 1299 of the
Chaghataian Prince Kotlogh Shah, son of Dua Khan, a part of whose bands
besieged the city itself, though they are said to have been repulsed by
Bahauddin Ayas.
[The Dynasty of Hormuz was founded about 1060 by a Yemen chief Mohammed
Dirhem Ko, and remained subject to Kerman till 1249, when Rokn ed-din
Mahmud III. Kalhati (1242-1277) made himself independent. The immediate
successors of Rokn ed-din were Saif ed-din Nazrat (1277-1290), Masa'ud
(1290-1293), Bahad ed-din Ayaz Sayfin (1293-1311). Hormuz was captured by
the Portuguese in 1510 and by the Persians in 1622. - H. C.]
NOTE 7. - The indications of this alternative route to Kerman are very
vague, but it may probably have been that through Finn, Tarum, and the
Sirjan district, passing out of the plain of Hormuz by the eastern flank
of the Ginao mountain. This road would pass near the hot springs at the
base of the said mountain, Sarga, Khurkhu, and Ginao, which are described
by Kaempfer. Being more or less sulphureous they are likely to be useful in
skin-diseases: indeed, Hamilton speaks of their efficacy in these. (I.
95.) The salt-streams are numerous on this line, and dates are abundant.
The bitterness of the bread was, however, more probably due to another
cause, as Major Smith has kindly pointed out to me: "Throughout the
mountains in the south of Persia, which are generally covered with dwarf
oak, the people are in the habit of making bread of the acorns, or of the
acorns mixed with wheat or barley. It is dark in colour, and very hard,
bitter, and unpalatable."
Major St. John also noticed the bitterness of the bread in Kerman, but his
servants attributed it to the presence in the wheat-fields of a bitter
leguminous plant, with a yellowish white flower, which the Kermanis were
too lazy to separate, so that much remained in the thrashing, and imparted
its bitter flavour to the grain (surely the Tare of our Lord's
Parable!).
[General Houtum-Schindler says (l.c. p. 496): "Marco Polo's return journey
was, I am inclined to think, via Urzu and Baft, the shortest and most
direct road. The road via Tarum and Sirjan is very seldom taken by
travellers intending to go to Kerman; it is only frequented by the
caravans going between Bender 'Abbas and Bahramabad, three stages west of
Kerman.
