— 88 — 



Hsing-ch'a Shêng-lan (1436), 



Going from Malacca witli a fair wind, it takes about nine clays to 

 arrive at this country. The people live along the seashore and the land is 

 not very fertile; it produces pepper, which grows against trees and poles-, 

 the leaves are like those of flat beans , the flowers are yellow and white and 

 hang down in clusters, like those of the coir-palm. One po-ho (*), being a 

 native weight equal to three hundred and twenty caties official weight, costs 

 twenty pieces of silver, weighing 6 taels. 



The golden dinar ( 2 ) is a golden coin, twenty of which weigh 5 taels 

 and 2 mace of gold ( 3 ). 



Their manners and customs are pure; many people live from fishing: 

 in the morning they put out to sea in boats made out of one tree and they 

 return at night. 



The men wrap up their hair in a white handkerchief and tie a 

 coarse cloth round their loins ; the women bind up their hair in a knot , 

 have the upper part of the body naked and round the lower part a coloured 

 cloth. 



They make salt out of seawater and wine from the fruit of a palni- 

 tree ( 4 ). 



Articles of import are green and white earthenware , copper and iron, 

 Java-cloth ( 5 ), coloured silks, etc. 



History of the Ming dynasty (1368—1643). Book 325. 



Sumatra ( 6 ) is situated at the west of Malacca , at a distance of seven 

 days if the wind is fair. It is a centre of intercourse in the western seas. 

 In the beginning of the reign of the emperor Ch'êng-tsu (1403 — 1424), 



(') i|[£ /fj|T bahar or bahara, a commercial weight Varying much in different places, and 

 still in use during the first times of European interconrse. 



o töfö. 



( 3 ) ïhis would give 10 grammes for the weight of a dinar. 



O 7& jjfm "Tf* , Kadjang-fruit. Kadjang is the Malay name for mats made from different 



palm-leaves, chiefiy of the nipa-palm (nipa fruticans). It may bc that this palm-tree is meaut 

 here, but the author is certainly mistaken in saying that winc is made from the lïuits, as only the 

 sap from the Üowcrstalks is used for this purpose. 



( s ) JjV Pjjï 'f^J wc have been unablc to ascertain what kind of cloth is mcant here. 



