18-1/.] Periplw of the Erythrean Sea, fyc. 75 



Rhinoceros's Horn. — This appears to be the article which is mention- 

 ed under the term PwoKepws in the Periplus. The Rhinoceros's horn 

 was considered an antidote to poison, and was, therefore, highly valued 

 in ancient times. These horns were no doubt exported from Assam 

 where the Rhinoceros abounds. The horn of the Rhinoceros of Bengal 

 was considered superior to that of every other country of Asia. Lin- 

 schoten remarks that this was owing " to the herbs which Bengala 

 yieldeth, for in other places they were not near the price of these." 

 The two Mahomedan travellers of the 9th century state that the 

 Chinese purchased the horns of Rhinoceroses in the kingdom of Rami, 

 in the fens of which country they are said to abound (the marshes of 

 Bengal) and that they adorned their girdles with these, some of which 

 were valued at 3000 pieces of gold in China. 



Tabasheer. — This is supposed by some to be the a«\i KaXa^ivov of the 

 Periplus. It is designated the sugar or manna of bamboos. It occurs 

 in the works of the old travellers under the name of Spodiom de Canna. 

 Barett mentions it as an export from Bengal to Goa in the 16 th century. 

 It is also noticed, as an article of traffic in other parts of India. Csesai 

 Frederick remarks : " From Cambara cometh the Spodiom which 

 congealeth in certain canes (bamboos) whereof I found many in Pegu, 

 of which I made my house there, because as I said before they make 

 their houses there of woven canes like mats." Odoricus, who travelled in 

 India in the early part of the 14th century, speaks of canes named " Cas- 

 sam, of which they make sails (masts) for ships, and in which are found 

 certain stones, one of which stones whosoever carrieth it about with 

 him cannot be wounded with any iron, and therefore the men of the 

 country for the most part carry such stones wherever they go." (Hak- 

 lyut's voyages, p. 162.) 



Dacca, 16M April, 1846. 



APPENDIX. 



Note I. 

 Sir Wm. Jones mentions "the similarity of some proper names on the 

 borders of India to those of Arabia, as the river Arabius, a place called Araba 

 a people named Aribes or Arabics and another called Sabi." (Discourse on 

 the Arabs, As. Res. Vol. ii. p. 7-) Words allied to the latter term occiii in 

 Ptolemy's Geography of the countries of India and were perhaps the names of 

 Sabrean commercial settlements. Supara or Sippara (the Sefareh of Arabian 



l 2 



