A. D.I 295- 459 



Ganhau, ftore of frankincenfe ; in Cambaia, indigo, buckram, and 

 cotton. 



In Bengal the people live on flefh, rice, and milk. They have great 

 plenty of cotton, and carry on a vafl trade in the manufadures of it. 

 They have alfo abundance of fpikenard, galingal, ginger, and other fpices. 



In Bafcia and Thebet, countries lying north from India, corals are 

 reckoned more pretious than any other article *, 



In Carandana, and many other provinces lying round it, an ounce of 

 gold is exchanged for five ounces of filver f . 



In the province of Chinchintalas there is a mountain containing mines 

 of fteel and andanicum if, and alfo falamander's wool (afbellos), whereof 

 a cloth is made, which fire cannot confume. 



Magafter (Madagafcar) is 1 ,000 miles fouth from Socotora, and is one 

 of the richeft and largefl: illands in the world, being 3,000 miles in cir- 

 cuit. It is inhabited by Saracens ; and vafl: quantities of elephant's teeth 

 are brought from it. 



Zenfibar (apparently the Zanguebar of modern maps) is alfo faid to 

 be a very extenfive country. 



The vefl^els of India have many cabins on their decks, and each mer-* 

 chant has his own cabin. They carry from two to four mafl:s, which 

 are fet up and lowered at pleafure. The hold is divided by water-tight 

 partitions ; fo that, if a leak fprings in one room, the goods in the 

 others are not wetted by it. They are double-planked, and calked with 

 oakum, nailed with iron, and covered with a compofition of oil, lime, 

 and hemp. They carry from five to fix thoufand bags of pepper, and 

 from 150 to 300 men. They row with oars, which require four men 

 to each of them. They have fmaller vefi^els for tenders befides the 

 boats carried on their decks. Every year they put on a new flieathing 

 above the old ; and after fix fuch courfes the fhips are broken up §. 



Thefe accounts of the vafl and rich countries of the Eafl; laid open 

 a new world to the curiofity and fpeculation of the Europeans, and in- 

 flamed them with the defire of dilcovering a way to reach them by fea, 

 which, after an interval of two centuries, was at lafl; accomplifhed ||. 



* The great demand for corals in India, pro- of timber very different from that of Tylos in the 



bably for the fupply of thofe countries, was noted days of Theophraftiis, (fee above, p. 59) or 



by Pliny. Sec above, p. 167, note f . the very durable teek of the modern fliip-builders 



f The well-informed auihor of the Periplus of of Hindooftan. 

 the Erythrjean fea obferved that there was a con- {{ The narrative of Marco Polo proved a power- 



fiderable profit made in India by exchanging one ful ftimulua to Chriftopher Colon in his project of 



kind of money for another : (fee above, p. 170) reaching India by a weftern courfe, in which, ac- 



and there is ftiU a great difference in the propor- cording to the received geography, he (hould fail 



tions between the pretious metals in India and in only 135 degrees weft from the meridian of Ferro, 



Europe. inftead of 225 degrees, befides the great circuit 



J This is believed to be that mofl excellent kind round Africa, in failing to it by an eaftem courfe: 



of fteel, which in antient times was carried from for India was his objedl ; he had no conception of 



India to Europe. See above, p. 160, note*. another great continent. \_H'tJl. del Almirantc Don 



^ Thefe (hort-lived fliips muft have been built Chr. Colon, a. 7, 8 ; written by his fon.] 



3 M a 



