— 73 — 



means the same as sovereign of the country. Afterwards the place where 

 their first chief lived, was called Chan-pi (Djambi) also. 



The country has changed its old capital for Kukang (Palembang); for- 

 merly it was a rich country , but since the conquest by Java it has gradually 

 become poorer and few trading vessels go there. lts customs and products 

 have been described in the history of the Sung dynasty. 



In the begiimiug of the 15th century the Eastem Coast of Sumatra was also 

 visited by the famous imperia! envoy Chêng Ho (s. above p. 41), and one of his 

 followers (s. above p. 45) has given us the following account of the country , wliich 

 has evidently been used also by the authors of the history of the Ming dynasty. 



Ying-yai Shêng-lan (1416). 



Ku-kang is the same country which was formerley called San-bo-tsai ; 

 it is also called Palembang ( ] ) and is under the supremacy of Java, It 

 borders on Java at the east and on Malacca at the west, in the south are 

 large mountains and in the north it extends to the sea. Erom whatever 

 place ships come, they enter the Strait ot'Banka ( 2 ) at the Fresh-water river ( 3 ) 

 and near a place with many pagodas built of bricks, after which the mer- 

 chants go up the river in smaller craft, and so arrive at the capital. 



A large number of the inhabitants are people from Canton, Chang- 

 chou and Ch'üan-chou ( 4 ), who have run away and established themselves 

 here. The people of this country are very rich, the soil being most fertile, 

 and there is a proverb saying: //when one sows for one year, he can recolt 

 for three", which is not at all exaggerated. 



The country is not large. The people exercise themselves much in 

 fighting on the water and as there is more water than land, only the houses 

 of the chiefs stand on shore , whilst the rest of the people build their houses 

 on rafts, which are attached to piles, so that they rise with the water and 

 cannot be flooded. When they want to go and live in another place, they 

 pull up the piles and remove with their whole house, which is very con- 

 venient. 



O jfó IfïïFl T'an-kang, must have been the Chinese name for the Palembang-river. 

 ^ Üt 3§C m^ 7& y H * ^ e ^ wo ^ a ^ er P^ aces i n the province of Eukien. 



