(V., Ceylon, P.
243.) There Is Some Ambiguity In Statements About It, Because Its Popular
Name Kabab-Chini Seems To Be Also Applied To The Cassia Bud.
Cubeb
pepper was much used in the Middle Ages as a spice, and imported into
Europe as such.
But the importation had long practically ceased, when its
medical uses became known during the British occupation of Java, and the
demand was renewed.
Budaeus and Salmasius have identified this drug with the [Greek: komakon],
which Theophrastus joins with cinnamomum and cassia as an ingredient in
aromatic confections. The inducement to this identification was no doubt
the singular resemblance which the word bears to the Javanese name of
cubeb pepper, viz., Kumukus. If the foundation were a little firmer this
would be curious evidence of intercourse and trade with Java in a time
earlier than that of Theophrastus, viz., the 4th century B.C.
In the detail of 3 cargoes from Malabar that arrived at Lisbon in
September 1504 we find the following proportions: Pepper, 10,000
cantars; cinnamon, 500; cloves, 450; zz. (i.e. zenzaro, ginger),
130; lac and brazil, 750; camphor, 7; cubebs, 191; mace, 2-1/2; spikenard,
3; lign-aloes, 1-1/3.
(Buchanan's Mysore, II. 31, III. 193, and App. p. v.; Garcia, Ital.
version, 1576, f. 39-40; Salmas. Exerc. Plin. p. 923; Bud. on Theoph.
1004 and 1010; Archiv. St. Ital., Append. II. p. 19.)
NOTE 5. - We see that Marco speaks of the merchants and ships of Manzi, or
Southern China, as frequenting Kaulam, Hili, and now Malabar, of which
Calicut was the chief port. This quite coincides with Ibn Batuta, who says
those were the three ports of India which the Chinese junks frequented,
adding Fandaraina (i.e. Pandarani, or Pantalani, 16 miles north of
Calicut), as a port where they used to moor for the winter when they spent
that season in India. By the winter he means the rainy season, as
Portuguese writers on India do by the same expression (IV. 81, 88, 96). I
have been unable to find anything definite as to the date of the cessation
of this Chinese navigation to Malabar, but I believe it may be placed
about the beginning of the 15th century. The most distinct allusion to it
that I am aware of is in the information of Joseph of Cranganore, in the
Novus Orbis (Ed. of 1555, p. 208). He says: "These people of Cathay are
men of remarkable energy, and formerly drove a first-rate trade at the
city of Calicut. But the King of Calicut having treated them badly, they
quitted that city, and returning shortly after inflicted no small
slaughter on the people of Calicut, and after that returned no more. After
that they began to frequent Mailapetam, a city subject to the king of
Narsingha; a region towards the East, ... and there they now drive their
trade." There is also in Caspar Correa's account of the Voyages of Da Gama
a curious record of a tradition of the arrival in Malabar more than four
centuries before of a vast merchant fleet "from the parts of Malacca, and
China, and the Lequeos" (Lewchew); many from the company on board had
settled in the country and left descendants. In the space of a hundred
years none of these remained; but their sumptuous idol temples were still
to be seen. (Stanley's Transl., Hak. Soc., p. 147.)[1] It is probable
that both these stories must be referred to those extensive expeditions to
the western countries with the object of restoring Chinese influence which
were despatched by the Ming Emperor Ch'eng-Tsu (or Yung-lo), about 1406,
and one of which seems actually to have brought Ceylon under a partial
subjection to China, which endured half a century. (See Tennent, I. 623
seqq.; and Letter of P. Gaubil in J.A. ser. II. tom. x. pp. 327-328.)
["So that at this day there is great memory of them in the ilands
Philippinas, and on the cost of Coromande, which is the cost against the
kingdome of Norsinga towards the sea of Cengala: whereas is a towne called
unto this day the soile of the Chinos, for that they did reedifie and make
the same. The like notice and memory is there in the kingdom of Calicut,
whereas be many trees and fruits, that the naturals of that countrie do
say, were brought thither by the Chinos, when that they were lords and
gouernours of that countrie." (Mendoza, Parke's transl. p. 71.)] De
Barros says that the famous city of Diu was built by one of the Kings of
Guzerat whom he calls in one place Dariar Khan, and in another
Peruxiah, in memory of victory in a sea-fight with the Chinese who then
frequented the Indian shores. It is difficult to identify this King, though
he is represented as the father of the famous toxicophagous Sultan Mahmud
Begara (1459-1511). De Barros has many other allusions to Chinese
settlements and conquests in India which it is not very easy to account
for. Whatever basis of facts there is must probably refer to the
expeditions of Ch'eng-Tsu, but not a little probably grew out of the
confusion of Jainas and Chinas already alluded to; and to this I
incline to refer Correa's "sumptuous idol-temples."
There must have been some revival of Chinese trade in the last century, if
P. Paolino is correct in speaking of Chinese vessels frequenting
Travancore ports for pepper. (De Barros, Dec. II. Liv. ii. cap. 9, and
Dec. IV. Liv. v. cap. 3; Paolino, p. 74.)
[1] It appears from a paper in the Mackenzie MSS. that down to Colonel
Mackenzie's time there was a tribe in Calicut whose ancestors were
believed to have been Chinese. (See Taylor's Catal. Raisonne,
III. 664.) And there is a notable passage in Abdurrazzak which says
the seafaring population of Calicut were nicknamed Chini
bachagan, "China boys." (India in XVth Cent. p. 19.)
CHAPTER XXVI.
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