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70

EARLY ARAB GEOGRAPHERS.

In the year 692 A.H. (1293 A.D.) the Dewar died, and his wealth and possessions fell into the hands of his adversaries and opponents, and Shaikh Jamálu-d-dín who succeeded him, obtained, it is said, an accession of 7,000 bullock loads of jewels, gold, etc., and Takíu-d dín, according to previous agreement, became his lieutenant.
The people of the country are very black by reason of their being near the equator. There is a large temple called Lútar.[1]


There are two courses, or roads, from this place: one leads by sea to Chín and Máchín, passing by the island of Silán.[2] It is four parasangs long, and four wide. It is parallel to the equator. Sarandíp is at the foot of the Júdí[3] mountain, and is called in the language of Hind Samkáda-díp (Sinhaladíp), i.e. the sleeping-place of the lion, because its appearance is like a lion in repose,[4] and as that etymology is not known to the common people, they call it Sarandíp. The whole of the country is exactly under the Line. Rubies and other precious stones are found there. In the forests there are wolves and elephants, and even the Rukh is said to be there. The men are all Buddhists, and bow to, and worship images.
The Island of Lámurí,[5] which lies beyond it, is very large. It has a separate king.
Beyond it lies the country of Súmútra [Sumatra],[6] and beyond

  1. [So in first edition. A. has , B. , C. Binákití .]
  2. [A. , B. , C. , Binákití .]
  3. [All the MSS. read Júdí. Sir H. Elliot thought this a mistake for Janúbí, “southern.”]
  4. Lassen, Ind. Alterth. I. 201.
  5. According to the Shajrat Malayu and Marco Polo, Lambri is one of the districts of Sumatra, situated in the north-east coast—converted by the Arabs into Ramry. M. Gildemeister considers it to be the same as Ramnad (de Reb. Ind., p. 69). M. Reinaud considers it to be Manar (Fragments, p. 123); M. Dulaurier cites several reasons why it can be no where else than in Sumatra (Jour. Asiatique, 4th Ser. T. VIII. 117, 200). It may be presumed that the Lámurí of our author is the same place as is indicated by Lambri and Bamry. There is at the present day a large island, called Ramry, off the coast of Arracan, but that cannot well be the place indicated
  6. This is distinctly called a country (wiláyat) in the Persian, balad in the Arabic. It is usually said that mediæval writers called the island of Sumatra by the name of Java, and that Sumatra was one of its towns. Java itself was called Múl Jáva. See Journal Asiatique, 4th Series, Tom. IX. pp. 119, 124, 244.