Makaraenae] of Stephen of Byzantium, and the Makuran
of Tabari, and Moses of Chorene. Even were it not a Dravidian name, in no
old Aryan dialect could it signify fish-eaters." (Curzon, Persia, II. p.
261, note.)
"It is to be noted that Kesmacoran is a combination of Kech or Kej and
Makran, and the term is even to-day occasionally used." (Major P.M.
Sykes, Persia, p. 102.) - H.C.]
We may add a Romance definition of India from King Alisaunder: -
"Lordynges, also I fynde,
At Mede so bigynneth Ynde:
Forsothe ich woot, it stretcheth ferest
Of alle the Londes in the Est,
And oth the South half sikerlyk,
To the cee taketh of Affryk;
And the north half to a Mountayne,
That is ycleped Caucasayne." - L 4824-4831.
It is probable that Polo merely coasted Mekran; he seems to know nothing
of the Indus, and what he says of Mekran is vague.
NOTE 2. - As Marco now winds up his detail of the Indian coast, it is
proper to try to throw some light on his partial derangement of its
geography. In the following columns the first shows the real
geographical order from east to west of the Indian provinces as named by
Polo, and the second shows the order as he puts them. The Italic names
are brief and general identifications.
Real order. Polo's order.
1. Mutfili (Telingana) 1. Mutfili
MAABAR, / 2. St. Thomas's (Madras). 2. St. Thomas's
including | 3. Maabar Proper, Kingdom of (Lar, west of do.).
| Sonder Bandi (Tanjore) 3. Maabar proper, or Soli.
\ 4. Cail (Tinnevelly). 4. Cail.
5. Comari (C. Comorin). 5. Coilum.
MELIBAR, / 6. Coilum (Travancore). 6. Comari.
including \ 7. Eli (Cananore). 7. Eli.
GUZERAT, / 8. Tana (Bombay). 8. (MELIBAR).
or LAR, | 9. Canbaet (Cambay). 9. (GOZURAT).
including | 10. Semenat (Somnath). 10. Tana.
\ 11. Kesmacoran (Mekran). 11. Canbaet.
12. Semenat.
13. Kesmacoran.
It is difficult to suppose that the fleet carrying the bride of Arghun
went out of its way to Maabar, St. Thomas's, and Telingana. And on the
other hand, what is said in chapter xxiii. on Comari, about the North Star
not having been visible since they approached the Lesser Java, would have
been grossly inaccurate if in the interval the travellers had been north
as far as Madras and Motupalle. That passage suggests to me strongly that
Comari was the first Indian land made by the fleet on arriving from the
Archipelago (exclusive perhaps of Ceylon). Note then that the position
of Eli is marked by its distance of 300 miles from Comari, evidently
indicating that this was a run made by the traveller on some occasion
without an intermediate stoppage. Tana, Cambay, Somnath, would follow
naturally as points of call.
In Polo's order, again, the positions of Comari and Coilum are transposed,
whilst Melibar is introduced as if it were a country westward (as Polo
views it, northward we should say)[1] of Coilum and Eli, instead of
including them, and Gozurat is introduced as a country lying eastward
(or southward, as we should say) of Tana, Cambaet, and Semenat, instead of
including them, or at least the two latter.
