[8] It is probable, or rather certain, that Canton is here meant. - E.
[9] Meaning the Parsees or Guebres, the fire-worshippers of Persia. - E.
[10] It is probable that this Balhara, or king of the people with bored
ears, which plainly means the Indians, was the Zamorin or Emperor of
Calicut; who, according to the reports of the most ancient Portuguese
writers concerning India, was acknowledged as a kind of emperor in the
Indies, six hundred years before they discovered the route to India by
the Cape of Good Hope. - Harris.
The original editor of this voyage in English, Harris, is certainly
mistaken in this point. The Balhara was the sovereign of Southern
Seindetic India; of which dominion Guzerat was the principal
province. - E.
[11] This is a very early notice of the construction and use of clocks, or
machinery to indicate divisions of time, by means of weights. - E.
SECTION II.
Commentary upon the foregoing Account, by Abu Zeid al Hasan of Siraff.
Having very carefully examined the book I was desired to peruse, that I
might confirm what the author relates so far as he agrees with what I have
learnt concerning the affairs of navigation, the kingdoms on the coast, and
the state of the countries of which he treats, and that I might add what I
have elsewhere collected concerning these matters:
