The Travels Of Marco Polo - Volume 2 Of 2 By Marco Polo And Rustichello Of Pisa











































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This City of Calatu stands at the mouth of the Gulf, so that no ship can
enter or go forth - Page 449
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This City Of Calatu Stands At The Mouth Of The Gulf, So That No Ship Can Enter Or Go Forth Without The Will Of The Chief.

And when the Melic of Hormos, who is Melic of Calatu also, and is vassal to the Soldan of Kerman, fears anything at the hand of the latter, he gets on board his ships and comes from Hormos to Calatu.

And then he prevents any ship from entering the Gulf. This causes great injury to the Soldan of Kerman; for he thus loses all the duties that he is wont to receive from merchants frequenting his territories from India or elsewhere; for ships with cargoes of merchandize come in great numbers, and a very large revenue is derived from them. In this way he is constrained to give way to the demands of the Melic of Hormos.

This Melic has also a castle which is still stronger than the city, and has a better command of the entry to the Gulf.[NOTE 3]

The people of this country live on dates and salt fish, which they have in great abundance; the nobles, however, have better fare.

There is no more to say on this subject. So now let us go on and speak of the city of Hormos, of which we told you before.

NOTE 1. - Kalhat, the Calaiate of the old Portuguese writers, is about 500 m by shortest sea-line north-east of Dhafar. "The city of Kalhat," says Ibn Batuta, "stands on the shore; it has fine bazaars, and one of the most beautiful mosques that you could see anywhere, the walls of which are covered with enamelled tiles of Kashan.... The city is inhabited by merchants, who draw their support from Indian import trade.... Although they are Arabs, they don't speak correctly. After every phrase they have a habit of adding the particle no. Thus they will say 'You are eating, - no?' 'You are walking, - no?' 'You are doing this or that, - no?' Most of them are schismatics, but they cannot openly practise their tenets, for they are under the rule of Sultan Kutbuddin Tehemten Malik, of Hormuz, who is orthodox" (II. 226).

Calaiate, when visited by d'Alboquerque, showed by its buildings and ruins that it had been a noble city. Its destruction was ascribed to an earthquake. (De Barros, II. ii. 1.) It seems to exist no longer. Wellsted says its remains cover a wide space; but only one building, an old mosque, has escaped destruction. Near the ruins is a small fishing village, the people of which also dig for gold coins. (J.R.G.S. VII. 104.)

What is said about the Prince of Hormuz betaking himself to Kalhat in times of trouble is quite in accordance with what we read in Teixeira's abstract of the Hormuz history. When expelled by revolution at Hormuz or the like, we find the princes taking refuge at Kalhat.

NOTE 2. - "Of the interior." Here the phrase of the G.T. is again "en fra tere a mainte cite et castiaus." (See supra, Bk.

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