He Speaks Incidentally Of
The Genoese Merchants Frequenting It.
John Marignolli, who was there about
1347, calls it "a wondrous fine sea-port, and a city of incredible size,
where our Minor Friars have three very fine churches; ...
And they have a
bath also, and a fondaco which serves as a depot for all the merchants."
Ibn Batuta about the same time says: "The first city that I reached after
crossing the sea was ZAITUN.... It is a great city, superb indeed; and in
it they make damasks of velvet as well as those of satin (Kimkha and
Atlas), which are called from the name of the city Zatuniah; they are
superior to the stuffs of Khansa and Kharbalik. The harbour of Zaitun is
one of the greatest in the world - I am wrong; it is the greatest! I
have seen there about an hundred first-class junks together; as for small
ones, they were past counting. The harbour is formed by an estuary which
runs inland from the sea until it joins the Great River."
[Mr. Geo. Phillips finds a strong argument in favour of Changchau being
Zayton in this passage of Ibn Batuta. He says (Jour. China Br.R.A.
Soc. 1888, 28-29): "Changchow in the Middle Ages was the seat of a great
silk manufacture, and the production of its looms, such as gauzes, satins
and velvets, were said to exceed in beauty those of Soochow and Hangchow.
According to the Fuhkien Gazetteer, silk goods under the name of Kinki,
and porcelain were, at the end of the Sung Dynasty, ordered to be taken
abroad and to be bartered against foreign wares, treasure having been
prohibited to leave the country. In this Kinki I think we may recognise
the Kimkha of IBN BATUTA. I incline to this fact, as the characters Kinki
are pronounced in the Amoy and Changchow dialects Khimkhi and Kimkhia.
Anxious to learn if the manufacture of these silk goods still existed in
Changchow, I communicated with the Rev. Dr. TALMAGE of Amoy, who, through
the Rev. Mr. Ross of the London Mission, gave me the information that
Kinki was formerly somewhat extensively manufactured at Changchow,
although at present it was only made by one shop in that city. IBN BATUTA
tells us that the King of China had sent to the Sultan, five hundred
pieces of Kamkha, of which one hundred were made in the city of Zaitun.
This form of present appears to have been continued by the Emperors of the
Ming Dynasty, for we learn that the Emperor Yunglo gave to the Envoy of
the Sultan of Quilon, presents of Kinki and Shalo, that is to say,
brocaded silks and gauzes. Since writing the above, I found that Dr. HIRTH
suggests that the characters Kinhua, meaning literally gold flower in the
sense of silk embroidery, possibly represent the mediaeval Khimka. I
incline rather to my own suggestion. In the Pei-wen-yun-fu these
characters Kien-ki are frequently met in combination, meaning a silk
texture, such as brocade or tapestry.
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