Is the last kingdom named by Marco Polo [coming
from the east], and the first by the Malay annalist [coming from the west];
and as it is known to modern geographers, this corroboration doubly settles
the identity and position of all.
Thus all the six cities or kingdoms
mentioned by Marco Polo were situated on the north coast of Sumatra, now
commonly known as the Pedir coast." I have given the conclusion arrived at
by Mr. J.T. Thomson in his paper, Marco Polo's Six Kingdoms or Cities in
Java Minor, identified in translations from the ancient Malay Annals,
which appeared in the Proc.R.G.S. XX. pp. 215-224, after the second
edition of this Book was published and Sir H. Yule added the following note
(Proc., l.c., p. 224): "Mr. Thomson, as he mentions, has not seen my
edition of Marco Polo, nor, apparently, a paper on the subject of these
kingdoms by the late Mr. J.R. Logan, in his Journal of the Indian
Archipelago, to which reference is made in the notes to Marco Polo. In
the said paper and notes the quotations and conclusions of Mr. Thomson have
been anticipated; and Fansur also, which he leaves undetermined,
identified." - H.C.]
[1] I formerly supposed Al-Ramni, the oldest Arabic name of
Sumatra, to be a corruption of Lambri; but this is more probably of
Hindu origin. One of the Dvipas of the ocean mentioned in the
Puranas is called Ramaniyaka, "delightfulness." (Williams's
Skt.
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