"De deverses maineres labores a bestes et ausiaus mout richement."]
NOTE 4. - Paulus Jovius in the 16th century says, I know not on what
authority, that Kerman was then celebrated for the fine temper of its
steel in scimitars and lance-points. These were eagerly bought at high
prices by the Turks, and their quality was such that one blow of a Kerman
sabre would cleave an European helmet without turning the edge. And I see
that the phrase, "Kermani blade" is used in poetry by Marco's contemporary
Amir Khusru of Delhi. (P. Jov. Hist. of his own Time, Bk. XIV.;
Elliot, III. 537.)
There is, or was in Pottinger's time, still a great manufacture of
matchlocks at Kerman; but rose-water, shawls, and carpets are the
staples of the place now. Polo says nothing that points to shawl-making,
but it would seem from Edrisi that some such manufacture already existed
in the adjoining district of Bamm. It is possible that the "hangings"
spoken of by Polo may refer to the carpets. I have seen a genuine Kerman
carpet in the house of my friend, Sir Bartle Frere. It is of very short
pile, very even and dense; the design, a combination of vases, birds, and
floral tracery, closely resembling the illuminated frontispiece of some
Persian MSS.
The shawls are inferior to those of Kashmir in exquisite softness, but
scarcely in delicacy of texture and beauty of design.
