The Travels Of Pedro Teixeira; With His "Kings Of Harmuz," And Extracts
From His "King Of Persia." Translated And Annotated By William F.
Sinclair, Bombay Civil Service (Rtd.); With Further Notes And An
Introduction By Donald Ferguson, London:
Printed for the Hakluyt Society,
MDCCCCII, 8 vo.
Pp. cvii-292.
See Appendix A. A Short Narrative of the Origin of the Kingdom of Harmusz,
and of its Kings, down to its Conquest by the Portuguese; extracted from
its History, written by Torunxa, King of the Same, pp. 153-195. App. D.
Relation of the Chronicle of the Kings of Ormuz, taken from a Chronicle
composed by a King of the same Kingdom, named Pachaturunza, written in
Arabic, and summarily translated into the Portuguese language by a friar
of the order of Saint Dominick, who founded in the island of Ormuz a house
of his order, pp. 256-267.
See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, s.v. Ormus.
Mr. Donald Ferguson, in a note, p. 155, says: "No dates are given in
connection with the first eleven rulers of Hormuz; but assuming as correct
the date (1278) given for the death of the twelfth, and allowing to each
of his predecessors an average reign of thirteen years, the foundation of
the kingdom of Hormuz would fall in A.D. 1100. Yule places the founding
somewhat earlier; and Valentyn, on what authority I know not, gives A.D.
700 as the date of the founder Muhammad."
XIX., I., p. 116; II., p. 444.
DIET OF THE GULF PEOPLE.
Prof. E.H. Parker says that the T'ang History, in treating of the Arab
conquests of Fuh-lin [or Frank] territory, alludes to the "date and dry
fish diet of the Gulf people." The exact Chinese words are: "They feed
their horses on dried fish, and themselves subsist on the hu-mang, or
Persian date, as Bretschneider has explained." (Asiatic Quart. Rev.,
Jan., 1904, p. 134.)
Bretschneider, in Med. Researches, II., p. 134, n. 873, with regard to
the dates writes: "Wan nien tsao, 'ten thousand years' jujubes'; called
also Po-sze tao, or 'Persian jujubes.' These names and others were
applied since the time of the T'ang dynasty to the dates brought from
Persia. The author of the Pen ts'ao kang mu (end of the sixteenth
century) states that this fruit is called k'u-lu-ma in Persia. The
Persian name of the date is khurma."
Cf. CHAU JU-KWA, p. 210.
XXII., p. 128 n.
TUN-O-KAIN.
Major Sykes had adopted Sir Henry Yule's theory of the route from
Kuh-benan to Tun. He has since altered his opinion in the Geographical
Journal, October, 1905, p. 465: "I was under the impression that a route
ran direct from Kubunan to Tabas, but when visiting this latter town a few
months ago I made careful inquiries on the subject, which elicited the fact
that this was not the case, and that the route invariably followed by
Kubunan-Tabas caravans joined the Kerman-Ravar-Naiband route at Chah-Kuru,
12 miles south of Darbana. It follows this track as far as Naiband, whence
the route to Tabas branches off; but the main caravan route runs via
Zenagan and Duhuk to Tun. This new information, I would urge, makes it
almost certain that Ser Marco travelled to Tun, as Tabas falls to the west
of the main route. Another point is that the district of Tabas only grows
four months' supplies, and is, in consequence, generally avoided by
caravans owing to its dearness.
"In 1893 I travelled from Tun to the south across the Lut as far as Chah
Kuru by this very route, and can testify to the general accuracy of Ser
Marco's description,[1] although there are now villages at various points
on the way. Finally, as our traveller especially mentions Tonocain, or Tun
va Kain, one is inclined to accept this as evidence of first-rate
importance, especially as it is now corroborated by the information I
gained at Tabas. The whole question, once again, furnishes an example of
how very difficult it is to make satisfactory inquiries, except on the
spot."
It was also the opinion (1882) of Colonel C.E. Stewart, who says: "I was
much interested in hearing of Kuh Banan, as it is one of the places
mentioned by Marco Polo as on his route. Kuh Banan is described as a group
of villages about 26 miles from the town of Rawar, in the Karman district.
I cannot help thinking the road travelled by Marco Polo from Karman to
Kain is the one by Naiband. Marco Polo speaks of Tun-o-Cain, which,
Colonel Yule has pointed out, undoubtedly means Tun and Kain. At present
Tun does not belong to the Kain district, but to the Tabbas district, and
is always spoken of as Tun-o-Tabbas; and if it belonged, as I believe it
formerly did, to the Kain district, it would be spoken of as Tun-o-Kain,
exactly as Marco Polo does. Through Naiband is the shortest and best road
to either Tun or Kain." (Proc. Royal Geog. Soc., VIII., 1886, p. 144.)
Support to Yule's theory has been brought by Sven Hedin, who devotes a
chapter to Marco Polo in his Overland to India, II., 1910, Chap. XL.,
and discusses our traveller's route between Kuh-benan and Tabbas, pp. 71
seq.:
"As even Sykes, who travelled during several years through Persia in all
directions, cannot decide with full certainty whether Marco Polo travelled
by the western route through Tebbes or the eastern through Naibend, it is
easy to see how difficult it is to choose between the two roads. I cannot
cite the reasons Sir Henry Yule brings forward in favour of the western
route - it would take us too far. I will, instead, set forth the grounds of
my own conviction that Marco Polo used the direct caravan road between
Kuh-benan and Tebbes.
"The circumstance that the main road runs through Naibend is no proof, for
we find that Marco Polo, not only in Persia but also in Central Asia,
exhibited a sovereign contempt for all routes that might be called
convenient and secure.
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