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.
In seven days journey from thence I came to Oulam[22], which is the
entrance of the kingdom of these people, who worship the sun, and are prone
to astrology, being of the children of Chus. They are men of a dark
complexion, sincere and faithful in all their dealings. When any strangers
arrive in their haven, their names are all set down by three secretaries,
who carry their lists to the king; afterwards they introduce the merchants
to him, and he receives all their goods under his protection, causing them
to be landed at a place where they may remain in safety, even without a
watch. There is a particular magistrate to whom all things that happen to
be lost, or casually removed, are brought, and who returns them to the
owners, on giving the marks or description of their property; and this
strict fidelity and honest dealing is universal over all this kingdom. In
this country, from the passover to the beginning of the succeeding year,
the sun shines with such insufferable heat, that the people remain shut up
in their houses from the third hour of the day until evening; and then
lamps are lighted up in all the streets and markets, and the people labour
at their respective callings all night. In this country pepper grows on
trees, planted in the fields belonging to every city, all the inhabitants
having their proper gardens particularly assigned and known. The shrub is
small, and produces a white seed or berry, which, after being gathered, is
first steeped in hot water, and then dried in the sun, when it becomes
black. Cinnamon and ginger are likewise found here, and many other kinds of
spices.
In this country the bodies of the dead are embalmed with divers drugs and
spices, and set up in niches in regular order, covered over with nets; they
there dry up completely without corruption, and every one knows his
ancestors for many generations back.
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