— 84 — 



in order to make cloth of them ; the coarser kind is called ku-pa (*) and the 

 finer cloth fieh ( 2 ). They hold their markets at night and cover their faces. 



The king's family name is Ch'a-ri-ya-ka ( 3 ) and his own name Hu-lu- 

 na-po C 1 ); his dignity is hereditary. His dress consists of a piece of flowered 

 silk or cotton , adorned with pearls , wrapped ronnd his body ; he sits on a 

 golden throne and on both sides are attendants with white dusters and fans of 

 peacock-feathers. When he goes out, he sits in a chariot drawn by elephants, 

 with a canopy of feathers and embroiclered curtains , whilst music is made by 

 sounding gongs, beating drums and blowing conches. 



At the east of this country is situated the land of the Rakcha's ( 5 ), 

 which has the same customs as Poli. 



The country called Poli (Pali , Pari or Bari) in the three preceding articles , 

 is said by all Chinese geographers to be the northem coast of Sumatra, and its neigh- 

 bourhood to the Nicobar-islands is a sufficiënt proof that they are right. It is true 

 that the direction of these islands is Avrongly given, but this occurs often in those 

 earlier times and especially in those cases where, as here, the notice has been com- 

 piled from other sources, by an author who understood nothing of and cared little 

 about the subject. 



It is probable that here , as in other instances , the whole country has been 

 called after the capital or chief native establishment on the coast; what particular 

 place this may have been , we have no means to ascertaiu. The rulërs were Hindoo's , 

 professing the Buddhist religion, and it seems that an extensive part of the country 

 recognised their authority. 



Prom this time the name of Poli disappears and it seem that intercourse 

 with China ceased completely as well, for we do not find it mentioned agaan 

 before the beginning of the 1 5th century, and the T'hai-ping Hoan-yü Ki , a universal 

 geography published between 976 — 983, only gives an abstract from the three articles 

 we translated just now , without adducing any new material. 



(') "i" |=J sometimes writteu "^ J^ , transcription of the Malay name for cotton : kapas, 



ha/pa and kapeh. 



(') 7^(1 TplJ 3ÏK "ÜW. ^ 1C * wo i!rst charadcrs are a comnion transcriptiop of the word 

 Kchatü'iya, Üie caste of warriors and kings. 



(") m$&M^, 



O ^PÜ 7^(1 • '^ s ' ias ' )CCU ' 01 :i ' Ü11 S' ^ me *' ie nn,nc °' " u ' Nicobar-islands, probably on 

 account of the wildness and had reputation of their inhabitants. 



