The Ain-I-Akbari
Says This Article Was Usually Brought To India From Achin And
Tenasserim.
Both this and spikenard are mentioned by Polo's contemporary,
Kazwini, among the products of Java (probably Sumatra), viz., Java
Lign-aloes (al-' Ud al-Jawi), camphor spikenard (Sumbul), etc.
Narawastu is the name of a grass with fragrant roots much used as a
perfume in the Archipelago, and I see this is rendered spikenard in a
translation from the Malay Annals in the Journal of the Archipelago.
With regard to the kingdoms of the island which Marco proceeds to
describe, it is well to premise that all the six which he specifies are to
be looked for towards the north end of the island, viz., in regular
succession up the northern part of the east coast, along the north coast,
and down the northern part of the west coast. This will be made tolerably
clear in the details, and Marco himself intimates at the end of the next
chapter that the six kingdoms he describes were all at this side or end
of the island: "Or vos avon contee de cesti roiames que sunt de ceste
partie de scele ysle, et des autres roiames de l'autre partie ne voz
conteron-noz rien." Most commentators have made confusion by scattering
them up and down, nearly all round the coast of Sumatra. The best remarks
on the subject I have met with are by Mr. Logan in his Journal of the
Ind. Arch. II. 610.
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