Departing From These Countries, I Returned To Khosistan, Through Which The
Tigris Runs Into Hodu, The Indian Sea, Or Persian Gulf, And In Its
Passage Encompasses The Island Of Nekrokis[19] Near Its Mouth, Which Is Six
Days Journey In Extent.
There is only one canal of fresh water in this
island, and they have no other water to drink but what is gathered during
rain, and preserved, in cisterns, for which reason the land is not
cultivated.
Yet it is famous for commerce with India, and the islands of
the Indian sea; and merchants from Sennar, Arabia, and Persia, bring
thither all sorts of silk and purple manufactures, hemp, cotton, flax, and
Indian cloth, with plenty of wheat, barley, millet, and rice. The Indian
merchants bring also great quantities of spices, and the natives act as
factors and interpreters, by which they make great gains; but in that place
there are not above 500 Jews. Sailing thence with a favourable wind, I
arrived, in ten days, at Kathipha[20], where are 5000 Jews. In these places
pearls are found, made by a wonderful artifice of nature; for on the 24th
of the month Nisan[21] a certain dew falls into the waters, which, being
sucked in by the oysters, they sink immediately to the bottom of the sea,
and afterwards, about the middle of the month Tisri, men dive to the
bottom, and bring up great quantities of the oysters by means of cords,
from which they take out the pearls.
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