In Ziambar There Are Many Woods Of Black
Ebony, Of Great Value.
Sailing thence for 1500 miles, betwixt the south and southeast, we came to
Java[5], which is considered by mariners to be the largest island in the
world, being above 3000 miles in circumference.
It is governed by a king
who pays tribute to none; as, owing to the length and danger of the voyage,
the great khan has made no attempt to annex it to his vast dominions. The
merchants of Zaitum and Mangi, bring from thence abundance of gold and
spices. South and south-westwards six hundred miles, are the islands of
Sondur and Condur, both desolate, of which Sondur is the larger[6]. Fifty
miles south-east from them is a rich and great province, or island, called
Lochae[7]. The people are idolaters, and have both a king and language of
their own. In it there grows great plenty of Brazil wood; and it has much
gold, many elephants, wild beasts, and fowls, and an excellent fruit called
bercias, as large as lemons. The country is mountainous and savage, and the
king permits no person to come into his dominions, lest they should get
acquainted with the county and attempt its conquest. It produces abundance
of porcelain shells, which are transported to other places, where they
serve as money.
Five hundred miles southward from Lochae, is the isle of Pentan[8], a
savage place, which produces sweet trees in all its woods. For sixty miles
of this voyage, between Lochae and Pentan, the sea in many places is only
four fathoms deep Thirty miles to the south-east from Pentan, is the island
and kingdom of Malaiur[9], which has a king and a peculiar language of its
own, and has a great trade carried on in spices from Pentan.
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