2 



Description of the 



[No. 33, 



shell as obtained from the islands lying off tlie coast of Limyriee or Cana- 

 ra. But in early times they seem to have been more generally confound- 

 ed with the Maldives, the whole being known under the collective title 

 of Divi or " the Islands." It is thus that Ammianus Marcellinus in the 

 4th century alludes to them in his eulogium on the memory of the Empe- 

 ror Julian : " Inde nationibus Tndicis certatim cum donis optimates mit- 

 tentibus ante tempus abusque Divis et Serendivis." * 



The Persians and Arabs employed a similar collective designation in 

 speaking of them, viz. Dibajat j] which is merely the Hindu 



word with the Persian form of the plural, t The Arabian work Silsilah 

 ut Tawarikh, translated in part by M. Reinaud, enumerating the seven 

 seas traversed by the merchants trading to China in the 9th century, reck- 

 ons the number of the islands at 1,900, and describes them as lying be- 

 tween the seas of Herkend and al-Larevi [Larike of Ptolemy the modern 

 Guzerat] as producing amber (ambergris) and cocoanuts, with a currency 

 of cowrees, and governed by a woman. No distinct mention of the Lacca- 

 dives occurs in Ibn Batuta, who visited Malabar in the early part of the 

 14th century and resided for some time in the Maldive Islands. He 

 found the greater part of the southern coast both of Malabar and Coro- 

 mandel in the possession of Mohammedan or Arab rulers, and makes par- 

 ticular mention of the chief of Honore ^ j^j^] named Jemal-ud-Din whom 

 he accompanied in a hostile expedition against the island of Sindaboor. 



J»A-i Js!-^ The force was conveyed in 52 vessels and the island 

 was occupied not without resistance. It is difficult to identify the place here 

 indicated. None of the Laccadives appear likely to have been of suffici- 

 ent importance to draw down such an invasion, and yet it cannot refer either 

 to the Maldives or Ceylon, both of which Avere subsequently visited by the 

 traveller and described in great detail. From Sindaboor he retiu^ned af- 

 ter some months to the mainland to look after some property left at Cou- 

 1am (^i or Quilon),and thence proceeding northward through Calicut, he 

 once more repaired to Honore and again by sea to Sindaboor, but finding 

 his patron Jemal-ud-Din besieged there by an infidel king, he sailed for 

 the Maldives [^^^i^^-^iUj^i j] where he arrived after a voyage of ten 

 days. 



His description of these is very minute and agrees with that of the 

 Silsilah ut Tawarikh above quoted. He reckons them at about 2,000 in 

 number, alludes to their disposition in atoUs or circular reefs, to the pro- 

 duction of the cocoanut, the circulation of cowries for money, and the do- 

 mination of a female Sovereign. From this period we have no further 

 mention of the Laccadives until their discovery by Pe Gama in 1499. 



* Lib. 22. c. 7. 



t Keinaud, Rcl. des. Voy. I. Iv. 



