But It Is Worthy Of Note That Ramusio Has Cubebs Instead Of Turbit.
The Former Does Not Seem Now To Be A Product Of Western India, Though
Garcia Says That A Small Quantity Grew There, And A Dutch Report Of 1675
In Valentyn Also Mentions It As An Export Of Malabar.
(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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 389 of 701
Words from 202154 to 202662
of 370046
