Adgamad
Being Destroyed, Cannot Now Be Ascertained, But It Must Have Stood On
The Fine Plain Above Described, And At The Bottom Of These Southern
Mountains.
Reobarle is not to be found In our maps, but must have been
a name for the province of Ormus.
- E.
[9] There is a series of corruptions or absurdities here: a Malabar
government under a Sultan Asiden, or Asi-o-din, situated at Dely,
conquered by a secret expedition from Turkestan, requires a more
correct edition of the original of Marco Polo to render intelligible.
We can suppose a tribe of Indians or Blacks not far from Gombroon, to
have been under the rule of a mussel man Sultan, and conquered or
subverted by a Tartar expedition from Touran, or the north of Persia:
But this remains a mere hypothetical explanation. - E.
[10] For this paragraph, the editor is indebted to Mr Pinkerton, Mod. Geog.
II. xxii. who has had the good fortune to procure what he thinks an
original edition from the MS. of Marco Polo. - E.
[11] By some singular negligence in translating, Mr Pinkerton, in the
passage quoted in the preceding note, has ridiculously called this
country the plain of Formosa, mistaking the mere epithet,
descriptive of its beauty in the Italian language, for its name. The
district was obviously a distinct small kingdom, named Ormus from its
capital city; which, from its insular situation, and great trade with
India, long maintained a splendid independence. - E.
[12] The two Mahometan travellers of the ninth century, give precisely the
same account of the ships of Siraf, in the same gulf of Persia. - E.
SECTION IV.
Account of several other Countries, and their Principal Curiosities.
From Kerman[1], in three days riding, you come to a desert which extends to
Cobin-ham[2], seven days journey across, the desert. In the first three
days you have no water, except a few salt, bitter ponds, of a green colour,
like the juice of herbs; and whoever drinks even a small quantity of this
water, cannot escape a dysentery, and even beasts that are compelled to
drink of it, do not escape without a scouring. It is therefore necessary
for travellers to carry water along with them, that they may avoid the
inconvenience and danger of thirst. In the fourth day you find a
subterranean river of fresh water[3]. The three last days of this desert
are like the first three. Cobin-ham is a great city, where great mirrors of
steel are made[4]. Tutia also, which is a cure for sore eyes, and spodio
are made here in the following manner: From the mines of this country they
dig a certain earth, which is thrown into furnaces, from which the vapours,
forced downwards, through an iron grate, condense below into tutia of
tutty[5], and the grosser matter remaining in the furnace is called spodio.
Leaving Cobin-ham, you meet with another desert of eight days journey in
extent, and terribly barren, having neither trees or water, except what is
extremely bitter, insomuch, that beasts refuse to drink of it, except when
mixed with meal, and travellers are therefore obliged to carry water along
with them.
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