244),
who certainly does speak of visiting "the city of Kais, called also
Siraf." And Polo, neither here nor in Bk. III. ch. xl., speaks of Kisi as
an island. I am inclined, however, to think that this was from not having
visited it. Ibn Batuta says nothing of Siraf as a seat of trade; but the
historian Wassaf, who had been in the service of Jamaluddin al-Thaibi, the
Lord of Kais, in speaking of the export of horses thence to India, calls
it "the Island of Kais." (Elliot, III. 34.) Compare allusions to this
horse trade in ch. xv. and in Bk. III. ch. xvii. Wassaf was precisely a
contemporary of Polo.
NOTE 3. - The name is Bascra in the MSS., but this is almost certainly
the common error of c for t. BASRA is still noted for its vast
date-groves. "The whole country from the confluence of the Euphrates and
Tigris to the sea, a distance of 30 leagues, is covered with these trees."
(Tav. Bk. II. ch. iii.)
NOTE 4. - From Baudas, or Baldac, i.e. Baghdad, certain of these rich silk
and gold brocades were called Baldachini, or in English Baudekins.
From their use in the state canopies and umbrellas of Italian dignitaries,
the word Baldacchino has come to mean a canopy, even when architectural.
[Baldekino, baldacchino, was at first entirely made of silk, but
afterwards silk was mixed (sericum mixtum) with cotton or thread.
