— 80 — 



The soil is barren and yields only little rice; the climate is warm 

 and in the 4th and 5th month there are heavy rains. 



Men and women have their hair in a knot and wear a short jacket 

 with a sarong of striped stuff. They chiefly live from piracy and when they 

 see native vessels, they go out with rnany hundreds of small boats to attack 

 thera ; when there is a favorable wind these ships may escape , but othervvise 

 they are plundered and the crew killed. Therefore ships are very careful 

 in this neighbourhood. 



NORTHERN COAST OF SUMATRA. 



Poli. 



ïïistory of the Liang dynasty (502 — 556). Book 54. 



The kingdom of Poli (*) is situated to the south-east of Canton, on 

 an island in the sea; the distance from Canton is two nionths, traveling 

 daily. From east to west the country is fifty days broad and from north 

 to south it has twenty days; there are one hundred and thirty six villages 

 in it. The climate is warm, just as the summer in China; rice ripens twice 

 a year and plants and trees are very luxuriant. The sea produces spotted 

 conches and cauries. They have a kind of stone, called kampara ( 2 ), which 

 is soft when flrst taken and may be cut into figures and dried, after which 

 it becomes very hard. The people of this country use cotton for their clothes 

 and make also sarongs of it. 



The king uses a texture of flowered silk wrapped round his body; 

 on his head he wears a golden hat of more than one foot high, its shape 

 resembling the one called pien ( 3 ) in China and adorned with various pre- 

 cious stones. He carries a sword inlaid with gold and sits on a golden 

 throne, with his feet on a silver footstool. His female servants adorn them- 

 selves with golden flowers and all kinds of valuables, and some of tliem 

 carry white feather-dusters or fans of peacock-feathers. 



O gl 5f|J Po-li, Pa-li, Pa-ri or Ba-ri. 



C) $y J?f /fffi! wc ' iavc no * ; ' )C0U a ' J ^ c *'° ^ racc this name, perliaps il may bc kam par, 

 after a river found in Sumatra. 



