The Balhara Is The Most Illustrious Sovereign In All The Indies, And
Though All The Other Kings In India Are Masters And Independent Each In
Their Own Dominions, They Thus So Far Acknowledge His Preeminence, That
When He Sends Ambassadors To The Other Princes, They Are Received With
Extraordinary Honours.
This king makes magnificent presents after the
manner of the Arabs, and has vast numbers of horses and elephants, and
great treasures in money.
His silver coin is what we call Thartarian drams,
being equal to one and a half of the Arabian dram. They are coined with the
die of the prince, and bear the year of his reign, counting from the last
year of the reign of his predecessor. They compute not their years from the
era of Mahomed, like the Arabs, but only by the years of their successive
kings. Most of these princes live a long time, many of them having reigned
above fifty years; and those of the country believe that the length of
their lives and reigns is granted in recompence of their kindness to the
Arabs; for there are no princes more heartily affectionate to the Arabs,
and their subjects profess the same kindness for us. Balhara is not a
proper name, but an appellative, common to all those kings, like Cosroes
and some others. The country under the dominion of the prince begins on the
coast of the province called Kamcam, and reaches by land to the confines of
China. He is surrounded by the dominions of many kings, who are at war with
him, yet he never marches against them.
One of these is the king of Harez, who has very numerous forces, and is
stronger in cavalry than all the other princes of the Indies. He is an
enemy to the Arabs, neither is there any prince in India who has a greater
aversion to the Mahomedans; though he confesses their king to be the
greatest of princes. His dominions are on a promontory, where are much
riches, many camels, and abundance of other cattle. The inhabitants traffic
for silver, and they say there are mines of that metal on the continent.
There are no robbers in this country, nor in the rest of the Indies. On one
side of this country is that of Tafek, which is not of very great extent.
This king has the finest white women in all the Indies; but he is awed by
the kings about him, as his army is very small. He has a great affection
for the Arabs as well as the Balhara. These kingdoms border upon the lands
of a king called Rami, who is at war with the king of Harez, and with the
Balhara likewise. This prince is not much considered, either for the
dignity of his birth or the antiquity of his kingdom; but his forces are
more numerous than those of the Balhara, and even than those of the kings
of Harez and Tafek. It is said that he appears in the field at the head of
fifty thousand elephants, and commonly marches in the rainy season, because
his elephants cannot move at any other time, as they are unable to bear
thirst. His army is said commonly to contain from ten to fifteen thousand
tents. In this country they make cotton garments of such extraordinary
fineness and perfection, as is to be seen nowhere else. These garments are
mostly round, and are wove so extremely fine, that they may be drawn
through a moderately sized ring. Shells are current in this country as
small money; and they have abundance of gold and silver, aloes wood, and
sable skins, of which they make their horse-furniture.
In this country is the famous Karkandan, that is the rhinoceros, or
unicorn, which has but one horn on his forehead, on which there is a round
spot with the representation of a man; the whole horn being black, except
the spot in the middle which is white. The rhinoceros is much smaller than
the elephant, and resembles the buffalo from the neck downwards, and excels
all other creatures in extraordinary strength. His leg is all one
thickness, from the shoulder to the foot, and the hoof is not cloven. The
elephant flies from the rhinoceros, whose lowing is like that of an ox,
with something of the cry of the camel. His flesh is not forbidden, and we
have eaten of it; There are great numbers of this creature in the fens of
this country, as also in all the other provinces of India; but the horns of
these are most esteemed, having generally upon them the figures of men,
peacocks, fishes and other resemblances. The Chinese adorn their girdles
with these sorts of figures, so that some of their girdles are worth two or
three thousand pieces of gold in China, and sometimes more, the price
augmenting with the beauty of the figures. All these things are to be
purchased in the kingdom of Rahmi, for shells, which are the current money
of the country.
After this country, there is an inland state distant from the coast, and
called Kaschbin, of which the inhabitants are white, and bore their ears.
They have camels, and their country is for the most part desert, and full
of mountains. Farther on the coast, there is a small kingdom called
Hitrange, which is very poor; but in its bay, the sea throws up great
quantities of ambergris, and they have elephants teeth and pepper; but the
inhabitants eat this last green, because of the small quantity they gather.
Beyond these, there are other kingdoms, but their numbers and names are
unknown. Among these is one named Mujet, the inhabitants of which are white
and dress after the Chinese manner; their country is full of mountains,
having white tops, and of very great extent, in which there are great
quantities of musk; esteemed the most exquisite of any in the world. They
have continual war with all the surrounding kingdoms; The kingdom of Mabet
is beyond that of Mujet, wherein are many cities, and the inhabitants have
even a greater resemblance to the Chinese than those of Mujet; for they
have officers or eunuchs like those who govern the cities among the
Chinese.
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