The Date-Palm 389 



East-African coast. The early texts relating to Ta Ts'in do not mention 

 the palm; but at the end of the article Fu-lin (Syria), the T'an Su speaks 

 of two countries, M ffl Mo-lin (*Mwa-lin, Mwa-rin) and ^ f# H 

 Lao-p'o-sa (*Lav-bwi5-sar), as being situated 2000 li south-west of 

 Fu-lin, and sheltering a dark-complexioned population. The land is 

 barren, the people feed their horses on dried fish, and they themselves 

 subsist on dates. 1 Bretschneider 2 was quite right in seeking this 

 locality in Africa, but it is impossible to accept his suggestion that 

 "perhaps the Chinese names Mo-lin and Lao-p'o-sa are intended to 

 express the country of the Moors (Mauritania) or Lybia." Hirth 3 

 did not discuss this weak theory, and, while locating the countries 

 in question along the west coast of the Red Sea, did not attempt to 

 identify the transcriptions. According to Ma Twan-lin, the country 

 Mo-lin is situated south-west of the country ?& H H Yan-sa-lo, which 

 Hirth tentatively equated with Jerusalem. This is out of the question, 

 as Yah-sa-lo answers to an ancient Ah-sa5(sar)-la(ra). 4 Moreover, it 

 is on record in the T % ai pHn hwan yii ki 5 that Mo-lin is south-west of 

 # II $1 P'o-sa-lo (*Bwi5-sa5-la), so that this name is clearly identical 

 with that of Ma Twan-lin and the transcription of the T'ang Annals. 

 In my opinion, the transcription *Mwa-lin is intended for the Malindi 

 of Edrlsl or Mulanda of Yaqut, now Malindi, south of the Equator, in 

 Seyidieh Province of British East Africa. Edrlsl describes this place 

 as a large city, the inhabitants of which live by hunting and fishing. 

 They salt sea-fish for trade, and also exploit iron-mines, iron being the 

 source of their wealth. 6 If this identification be correct, the geographical 

 definition of the T'ang Annals (2000 It south-west of Fu-lin) is, of course, 

 deficient; but we must not lose sight of the fact that these data rest 

 on a hearsay report hailing from Fu-lin, and that, generally speaking, 

 Chinese calculations of distances on sea-routes are not to be taken too 

 seriously. 7 Under the Ming, the same country appears as jfefc ^ Ma-lin, 

 the king of which sent an embassy to China in 141 5 with a gift of 



1 In the transcription hu-man, as given above, followed by the explanation that 

 this is the "Persian jujube." The date is not a native of eastern Africa, nor does it 

 thrive in the tropics, but it was doubtless introduced there by the Arabs (cf. F. 

 Storbeck, Mitt. Sent. Or. Spr., 1914, II, p. 158; A. Engler, Nutzpflanzen Ost- 

 Afrikas, p. 12). 



2 Knowledge possessed by the Chinese of the Arabs, p. 25. 



3 China and the Roman Orient, p. 204. 



4 If Mo-lin was on the littoral of the Red Sea, it would certainly be an absurdity 

 to define its location as south-west of Jersualem. 



8 Ch. 184, p. 3. 



6 Dozy and de Goeje, Edrlsl's description de 1'Afrique, p. 56 (Leiden, 1866). 



7 Cf. Chinese Clay Figures, pp. 80-81, note. 



