They Have A Vein Of A Certain Earth Which Has The Required Quality, And
This They Put Into A Great Flaming Furnace, Whilst Over The Furnace There
Is An Iron Grating.
The smoke and moisture, expelled from the earth of
which I speak, adhere to the iron grating, and thus form Tutia, whilst
the slag that is left after burning is the Spodium.[NOTE 2]
NOTE 1. - KUH-BANAN is mentioned by Mokaddasi (A.D. 985) as one of the
cities of Bardesir, the most northerly of the five circles into which he
divides Kerman. (See Sprenger, Post- und Reise-routen des Orients, p.
77.) It is the subject of an article in the Geog. Dictionary of Yakut,
though it has been there mistranscribed into Kubiyan and Kukiyan. (See
Leipzig ed. 1869, iv. p. 316, and Barbier de Meynard, Dict. de la
Perse, p. 498.) And it is also indicated by Mr. Abbott (J. R. G. S.
XXV. 25) as the name of a district of Kerman, lying some distance to the
east of his route when somewhat less than half-way between Yezd and
Kerman. It would thus, I apprehend, be on or near the route between Kerman
and Tabbas; one which I believe has been traced by no modern traveller. We
may be certain that there is now no place at Kuh-Banan deserving the title
of une cite grant, nor is it easy to believe that there was in Polo's
time; he applies such terms too profusely. The meaning of the name is
perhaps "Hill of the Terebinths, or Wild Pistachioes," "a tree which grows
abundantly in the recesses of bleak, stony, and desert mountains, e.g.
about Shamakhi, about Shiraz, and in the deserts of Luristan and Lar."
(Kaempfer, 409, 413.)
["It is strange that Marco Polo speaks of Kubenan only on his return
journey from Kerman; on the down journey he must have been told that
Kubenan was in close proximity; it is even probable that he passed there,
as Persian travellers of those times, when going from Kerman to Yazd, and
vice versa, always called at Kubenan." (Houtum-Schindler, l.c. p.
490.) In all histories this name is written Kubenan, not Kuhbenan; the
pronunciation to-day is Kobenan and Kobenun. - H. C.]
I had thought my identification of Cobinan original, but a communication
from Mr. Abbott, and the opportunity which this procured me of seeing his
MS. Report already referred to, showed that he had anticipated me many
years ago. The following is an extract: "Districts of Kerman * * * Kooh
Benan. This is a hilly district abounding in fruits, such as grapes,
peaches, pomegranates, sinjid (sweet-willow), walnuts, melons. A great
deal of madder and some asafoetida is produced there. This is no doubt
the country alluded to by Marco Polo, under the name of Cobinam, as
producing iron, brass, and tutty, and which is still said to produce iron,
copper, and tootea." There appear to be lead mines also in the district,
as well as asbestos and sulphur. Mr. Abbott adds the names of nine
villages, which he was not able to verify by comparison. These are Puz,
Tarz, Gujard, Aspaj, Kuh-i-Gabr, Dahnah, Bughin, Bassab, Radk. The
position of Kuh Banan is stated to lie between Bahabad (a place also
mentioned by Yakut as producing Tutia) and Ravi, but this does not help
us, and for approximate position we can only fall back on the note in Mr.
Abbott's field-book, as published in the J. R. G. S., viz. that the
District lay in the mountains E.S.E. from a caravanserai 10 miles S.E.
of Gudran. To get the seven marches of Polo's Itinerary we must carry the
Town of Kuh Banan as far north as this indication can possibly admit,
for Abbott made only five and a half marches from the spot where this
observation was made to Kerman. Perhaps Polo's route deviated for the sake
of the fresh water. That a district, such as Mr. Abbott's Report speaks
of, should lie unnoticed, in a tract which our maps represent as part of
the Great Desert, shows again how very defective our geography of Persia
still is.
["During the next stage to Darband, we passed ruins that I believe to be
those of Marco Polo's 'Cobinan' as the modern Kuhbenan does not at all fit
in with the great traveller's description, and it is just as well to
remember that in the East the caravan routes seldom change." (Captain P.
M. Sykes, Geog. Jour. X. p. 580. - See Persia, ch. xxiii.)
Kuh Banan has been visited by Mr. E. Stack, of the Indian Civil Service.
(Six Months in Persia, London, 1882, I. 230.) - H. C.]
NOTE 2. - Tutty (i.e. Tutia) is in modern English an impure oxide of
zinc, collected from the flues where brass is made; and this appears to be
precisely what Polo describes, unless it be that in his account the
production of tutia from an ore of zinc is represented as the object and
not an accident of the process. What he says reads almost like a condensed
translation of Galen's account of Pompholyx and Spodos: "Pompholyx is
produced in copper-smelting as Cadmia is; and it is also produced from
Cadmia (carbonate of zinc) when put in the furnace, as is done (for
instance) in Cyprus. The master of the works there, having no copper ready
for smelting, ordered some pompholyx to be prepared from cadmia in my
presence. Small pieces of cadmia were thrown into the fire in front of the
copper-blast. The furnace top was covered, with no vent at the crown, and
intercepted the soot of the roasted cadmia. This, when collected,
constitutes Pompholyx, whilst that which falls on the hearth is called
Spodos, a great deal of which is got in copper-smelting." Pompholyx, he
adds, is an ingredient in salves for eye discharges and pustules. (Galen,
De Simpl. Medic., p. ix. in Latin ed., Venice, 1576.) Matthioli, after
quoting this, says that Pompholyx was commonly known in the laboratories
by the Arabic name of Tutia.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 163 of 335
Words from 165216 to 166235
of 342071
