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.
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