[The Chams, according to their tradition, had three capitals:
The most
ancient, Shri-Banoeuy, probably the actual Quang-Binh province;
Bal-Hangov, near Hue; and Bal-Angoue, in the Binh-Dinh province. In the
4th century, the kingdom of Lin-y or Lam-ap is mentioned in the Chinese
Annals. - H.C.]
NOTE 2. - The date of Marco's visit to Champa varies in the MSS.: Pauthier
has 1280, as has also Ramusio; the G.T. has 1285; the Geographic Latin
1288. I incline to adopt the last. For we know that about 1290, Mark
returned to Court from a mission to the Indian Seas, which might have
included this visit to Champa.
The large family of the king was one of the stock marvels. Odoric says:
"ZAMPA is a very fine country, having great store of victuals and all good
things. The king of the country, it was said when I was there [circa 1323],
had, what with sons and with daughters, a good two hundred children; for he
hath many wives and other women whom he keepeth. This king hath also 14,000
tame elephants.... And other folk keep elephants there just as commonly as
we keep oxen here" (pp. 95-96). The latter point illustrates what Polo says
of elephants, and is scarcely an exaggeration in regard to all the southern
Indo-Chinese States. (See note to Odoric u.s.)
NOTE 3. - Champa Proper and the adjoining territories have been from time
immemorial the chief seat of the production of lign-aloes or eagle-wood.
Both names are misleading, for the thing has nought to do either with
aloes or eagles; though good Bishop Pallegoix derives the latter name from
the wood being speckled like an eagle's plumage. It is in fact through
Aquila, Agila, from Aguru, one of the Sanskrit names of the article,
whilst that is possibly from the Malay Kayu (wood)-gahru, though the
course of the etymology is more likely to be the other way; and [Greek:
Aloae] is perhaps a corruption of the term which the Arabs apply to it,
viz. Al-'Ud, "The Wood."
[It is probable that the first Portuguese who had to do with eagle-wood
called it by its Arabic name, aghaluhy, or malayalam, agila; whence
pao de' aguila "aguila wood." It was translated into Latin as lignum
aquilae, and after into modern languages, as bois d'aigle,
eagle-wood, adlerholz, etc. (A. Cabaton, les Chams, p. 50.) Mr.
Groeneveldt (Notes, pp. 141-142) writes: "Lignum aloes is the wood of
the Aquilaria agallocha, and is chiefly known as sinking incense. The
Pen-ts'au Kang-mu describes it as follows: 'Sinking incense, also
called honey incense. It comes from the heart and the knots of a tree and
sinks in water, from which peculiarity the name sinking incense is
derived.... In the Description of Annam we find it called honey incense,
because it smells like honey.' The same work, as well as the Nan-fang
Ts'au-mu Chuang, further informs us that this incense was obtained in all
countries south of China, by felling the old trees and leaving them to
decay, when, after some time, only the heart, the knots, and some other
hard parts remained.
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