Text is about double the truth; but it
is exactly the same that Odoric and Conti assign.
No doubt it was a
tradition among the Arab seamen. They never visited the south coast, and
probably had extravagant ideas of its extension in that direction, as the
Portuguese had for long. Even at the end of the 16th century Linschoten
says: "Its breadth is as yet unknown; some conceiving it to be a part of
the Terra Australis extending from opposite the Cape of Good Hope.
However it is commonly held to be an island" (ch. xx.). And in the old
map republished in the Lisbon De Bairos of 1777, the south side of Java is
marked "Parte incognita de Java," and is without a single name, whilst a
narrow strait runs right across the island (the supposed division of Sunda
from Java Proper).
The history of Java previous to the rise of the Empire of Majapahit, in
the age immediately following our Traveller's voyage, is very obscure. But
there is some evidence of the existence of a powerful dynasty in the
island about this time; and in an inscription of ascertained date (A.D.
1294) the King Uttungadeva claims to have subjected five kings and to be
sovereign of the whole Island of Java (Jawa-dvipa; see Lassen, IV. 482).
It is true that, as our Traveller says, Kublai had not yet attempted the
subjugation of Java, but he did make the attempt almost immediately after
the departure of the Venetians.
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