Pomegranates, oranges, pistachio-nuts,
and various other fruits grow in profusion. The source of its fertility is
of course the river, and you can walk for miles among lanes and cultivated
ground, partially sheltered from the sun." And Lieutenant Kempthorne, in
his notes on that coast, says of the same tract: "It is termed by the
natives the Paradise of Persia. It is certainly most beautifully fertile,
and abounds in orange-groves, and orchards containing apples, pears,
peaches, and apricots; with vineyards producing a delicious grape, from
which was at one time made a wine called amber-rosolli" - a name not easy
to explain. 'Ambar-i-Rasul, "The Prophet's Bouquet!" would be too bold a
name even for Persia, though names more sacred are so profaned at Naples
and on the Moselle. Sir H. Rawlinson suggests 'Ambar-'asali, "Honey
Bouquet," as possible.
When Nearchus beached his fleet on the shore of Harmozeia at the mouth
of the Anamis (the River of Minao), Arrian tells us he found the country
a kindly one, and very fruitful in every way except that there were no
olives. The weary mariners landed and enjoyed this pleasant rest from
their toils. (Indica, 33; J. R. G. S. V. 274.)
[Illustration: MARCO POLO'S ITINERARIES
No. II.
Kerman to Hormuz (Bk I. Ch. 19)]
The name Formosa is probably only Rusticiano's misunderstanding of
Harmuza, aided, perhaps, by Polo's picture of the beauty of the plain.
We have the same change in the old Mafomet for Mahomet, and the converse
one in the Spanish hermosa for formosa. Teixeira's Chronicle says that
the city of Hormuz was founded by Xa Mahamed Dranku, i.e. Shah Mahomed
Dirhem-Ko, in "a plain of the same name."
The statement in Ramusio that Hormuz stood upon an island, is, I doubt
not, an interpolation by himself or some earlier transcriber.
When the ships of Nearchus launched again from the mouth of the Anamis,
their first day's run carried them past a certain desert and bushy island
to another which was large and inhabited. The desert isle was called
Organa; the large one by which they anchored Oaracta. (Indica, 37.)
Neither name is quite lost; the latter greater island is Kishm or
Brakht; the former Jerun,[2] perhaps in old Persian Gerun or
Geran, now again desert though no longer bushy, after having been for
three centuries the site of a city which became a poetic type of wealth
and splendour. An Eastern saying ran, "Were the world a ring, Hormuz would
be the jewel in it."
["The Yuean shi mentions several seaports of the Indian Ocean as carrying
on trade with China; Hormuz is not spoken of there. I may, however, quote
from the Yuean History a curious statement which perhaps refers to this
port. In ch. cxxiii., biography of Arsz-lan, it is recorded that his
grandson Hurdutai, by order of Kubilai Khan, accompanied Bu-lo no-yen on
his mission to the country of Ha-rh-ma-sz. This latter name may be
intended for Hormuz. I do not think that by the Noyen Bulo, M. Polo
could be meant, for the title Noyen would hardly have been applied to him.
But Rashid-eddin mentions a distinguished Mongol, by name Pulad, with
whom he was acquainted in Persia, and who furnished him with much
information regarding the history of the Mongols. This may be the Bu-lo
no-yen of the Yuean History." (Bretschneider, Med. Res. II. p. 132.) - H.
C.]
NOTE 2. - A spirit is still distilled from dates in Persia, Mekran, Sind,
and some places in the west of India. It is mentioned by Strabo and
Dioscorides, according to Kaempfer, who says it was in his time made under
the name of a medicinal stomachic; the rich added Radix Chinae,
ambergris, and aromatic spices; the poor, liquorice and Persian absinth.
(Sir B. Frere; Amoen. Exot. 750; Macd. Kinneir, 220.)
["The date wine with spices is not now made at Bender 'Abbas. Date
arrack, however, is occasionally found. At Kerman a sort of wine or arrack
is made with spices and alcohol, distilled from sugar; it is called
Ma-ul-Hayat (water of life), and is recommended as an aphrodisiac. Grain in
the Shamil plain is harvested in April, dates are gathered in August."
(Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p. 496.)
See "Remarks on the Use of Wine and Distilled Liquors among the
Mohammedans of Turkey and Persia," pp. 315-330 of Narrative of a Tour
through Armenia, Kurdistan, Persia, and Mesopotamia.... By the Rev.
Horatio Southgate,... London, 1840, vol. ii. - H. C.]
[Sir H. Yule quotes, in a MS. note, these lines from Moore's Light of the
Harem:
"Wine, too, of every clime and hue,
Around their liquid lustre threw
Amber Rosolli[3] - the bright dew
From vineyards of the Green Sea gushing."] See above, p. 114.
[Illustration: The Double or Latin Rudder, as shown in the Navicella of
Giotto. (From Eastlake.)]
The date and dry-fish diet of the Gulf people is noticed by most
travellers, and P. del a Valle repeats the opinion about its being the
only wholesome one. Ibn Batuta says the people of Hormuz had a saying,
"Khorma wa mahi lut-i-Padshahi," i.e. "Dates and fish make an Emperor's
dish!" A fish, exactly like the tunny of the Mediterranean in general
appearance and habits, is one of the great objects of fishery off the Sind
and Mekran coasts. It comes in pursuit of shoals of anchovies, very much
like the Mediterranean fish also. (I. B. II. 231; Sir B. Frere.)
[Friar Odoric (Cathay, I. pp. 55-56) says: "And there you find (before
arriving at Hormuz) people who live almost entirely on dates, and you get
forty-two pounds of dates for less than a groat; and so of many other
things."]
NOTE 3. - The stitched vessels of Kerman ([Greek: ploiaria rapta]) are
noticed in the Periplus. Similar accounts to those of our text are given
of the ships of the Gulf and of Western India by Jordanus and John of
Montecorvino.
