The Portuguese have setim. But I
willingly accept Sir Henry Yule's suggestion that the origin of the word
is Zayton; cf. zeitun [Arabic] olive.
"The King [of Bijanagar] ... was clothed in a robe of zaitun satin."
(Elliot, IV. p. 113, who adds in a note zaitun: Olive-coloured?) And
again (Ibid. p. 120): "Before the throne there was placed a cushion of
zaituni satin, round which three rows of the most exquisite pearls were
sewn." - H.C.]
(Recherches, etc., II. 229 seqq.; Martini, circa p. 110; Klaproth,
Mem. II. 209-210; Cathay, cxciii. 268, 223, 355, 486; Empoli in
Append. vol. iii. 87 to Archivio Storico Italiano; Douet d'Arcq. p.
342; Galv., Discoveries of the World, Hak. Soc. p. 129; Marsden, 1st ed.
p. 372; Appendix to Trade Report of Amoy, for 1868 and 1900. [Heyd,
Com. Levant, II. 701-702.])
NOTE 3. - We have referred in a former note (ch. lxxvii. note 7) to an
apparent change in regard to the Chinese consumption of pepper, which is
now said to be trifling. We shall see in the first chapter of Bk. III.
that Polo estimates the tonnage of Chinese junks by the number of baskets
of pepper they carried, and we have seen in last note the large estimate
by Giov.
