For the sketch of it given here, states that this building
differed essentially from any type of Hindu architecture with which he was
acquainted, but being without inscription or sculpture it was impossible
to assign to it any authentic origin. Negapatam was, however, celebrated
as a seat of Buddhist worship, and this may have been a remnant of their
work. In 1846 it consisted of three stories divided by cornices of stepped
brickwork. The interior was open to the top, and showed the marks of a
floor about 20 feet from the ground. Its general appearance is shown by
the cut. This interesting building was reported in 1859 to be in too
dilapidated a state for repair, and now exists no longer. Sir W. Elliot
also tells me that collectors employed by him picked up in the sand, at
several stations on this coast, numerous Byzantine and Chinese as well
as Hindu coins.[8] The brickwork of the pagoda, as described by him, very
fine and closely fitted but without cement, corresponds to that of the
Burmese and Ceylonese mediaeval Buddhist buildings. The architecture has
a slight resemblance to that of Pollanarua in Ceylon (see Fergusson, II.
p. 512). (Abulf. in Gildemeister, p. 185; Nelson, Pt. II. p. 27
seqq.; Taylor's Catalogue Raisonne, III. 386-389.)
Ma'bar is mentioned (Ma-pa-'rh) in the Chinese Annals as one of the
foreign kingdoms which sent tribute to Kublai in 1286 (supra, p. 296);
and Pauthier has given some very curious and novel extracts from Chinese
sources regarding the diplomatic intercourse with Ma'bar in 1280 and the
following years. Among other points these mention the "five brothers who
were Sultans" (Suantan), an envoy Chamalating (Jumaluddin) who had
been sent from Ma'bar to the Mongol Court, etc. (See pp. 603 seqq.)
NOTE 2. - Marco's account of the pearl-fishery is still substantially
correct. Bettelar, the rendezvous of the fishery, was, I imagine, PATLAM
on the coast of Ceylon, called by Ibn Batuta Batthala. Though the centre
of the pearl-fishery is now at Aripo and Kondachi further north, its site
has varied sometimes as low as Chilaw, the name of which is a corruption
of that given by the Tamuls, Salabham, which means "the Diving," i.e.
the Pearl-fishery. Tennent gives the meaning erroneously as "the Sea of
Gain." I owe the correction to Dr. Caldwell. (Ceylon, I. 440; Pridham,
409; Ibn Bat. IV. 166; Ribeyro, ed. Columbo, 1847, App. p. 196.)
[Ma Huan (J. North China B.R.A.S. XX. p. 213) says that "the King (of
Ceylon) has had an [artificial] pearl pond dug, into which every two or
three years he orders pearl oysters to be thrown, and he appoints men to
keep watch over it. Those who fish for these oysters, and take them to the
authorities for the King's use, sometimes steal and fraudulently sell
them." - H.C.]
The shark-charmers do not now seem to have any claim to be called
Abraiaman or Brahmans, but they may have been so in former days. At the
diamond mines of the northern Circars Brahmans are employed in the
analogous office of propitiating the tutelary genii. The shark-charmers
are called in Tamul Kadal-Katti, "Sea-binders," and in Hindustani
Hai-banda or "Shark-binders." At Aripo they belong to one family,
supposed to have the monopoly of the charm. The chief operator is (or was,
not many years ago) paid by Government, and he also received ten oysters
from each boat daily during the fishery. Tennent, on his visit, found the
incumbent of the office to be a Roman Catholic Christian, but that did not
seem to affect the exercise or the validity of his functions. It is
remarkable that when Tennent wrote, not more than one authenticated
accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of the
British occupation.
The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions, viz. in
March and April, just between the cessation of the north-east and
commencement of the south-west monsoon. His statement of the depth is
quite correct; the diving is carried on in water of 4 to 10 fathoms deep,
and never in a greater depth than 13.
I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as
practised in September and October; but the time implies shelter from the
south-west Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side of the island,
where in 1750 there was a fishery, at Trincomalee. (Stewart in Trans.
R.A.S. III. 456 seqq.; Pridham., u.s.; Tennent, II. 564-565;
Ribeyro, as above, App. p. 196.)
[1] So the Barbary coast from Tunis westward was called by the Arabs
Bar-ul-'Adwah, "Terra Transitus," because thence they used to
pass into Spain. (J. As. for Jan. 1846, p. 228.)
[2] Wassaf has Fitan, Mali Fitan, Kabil and meant the names so, as
he shows by silly puns. For my justification in presuming to correct
the names, I must refer to an article, in the J. R. As. Soc.,
N.S. IV. p. 347, on Rashiduddin's Geography.
[3] The same information is given in almost the same terms by Rashiduddin.
(See Elliot, I. 69.) But he (at least in Elliot's translation)
makes Shaikh Jumaluddin the successor of the Devar, instead of
merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is evidently a mistake,
probably of transcription, and Wassaf gives us the true version.
The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of At-Thaibi (or
Thibi) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea at
this time, (1) The Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin Ibrahim At Thaibi was
Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince of Kais
and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time of his death
(1306) governor of Shiraz.
