They do this because the drink makes him more fierce and bold, and
of more service in battle.[NOTE 5]
As there is no more to say on this subject I will go on to tell you about
the Great Province of ABASH, which constitutes the MIDDLE INDIA; - but I
must first say something about India in general.
You must understand that in speaking of the Indian Islands we have
described only the most noble provinces and kingdoms among them; for no
man on earth could give you a true account of the whole of the Islands of
India. Still, what I have described are the best, and as it were the
Flower of the Indies. For the greater part of the other Indian Islands
that I have omitted are subject to those that I have described. It is a
fact that in this Sea of India there are 12,700 Islands, inhabited and
uninhabited, according to the charts and documents of experienced mariners
who navigate that Indian Sea.[NOTE 6]
INDIA THE GREATER is that which extends from Maabar to Kesmacoran; and it
contains 13 great kingdoms, of which we have described ten. These are all
on the mainland.
INDIA THE LESSER extends from the Province of Champa to Mutfili, and
contains eight great kingdoms. These are likewise all on the mainland. And
neither of these numbers includes the Islands, among which also there are
very numerous kingdoms, as I have told you.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1. - ZANGIBAR, "the Region of the Blacks," known to the ancients as
Zingis and Zingium. The name was applied by the Arabs, according to De
Barros, to the whole stretch of coast from the Kilimanchi River, which
seems to be the Jubb, to Cape Corrientes beyond the Southern Tropic,
i.e. as far as Arab traffic extended; Burton says now from the Jubb to
Cape Delgado. According to Abulfeda, the King of Zinjis dwelt at Mombasa.
In recent times the name is by Europeans almost appropriated to the Island
on which resides the Sultan of the Maskat family, to whom Sir B. Frere
lately went as envoy. Our author's "Island" has no reference to this; it
is an error simply.
Our traveller's information is here, I think, certainly at second hand,
though no doubt he had seen the negroes whom he describes with such
disgust, and apparently the sheep and the giraffes.
NOTE 2. - These sheep are common at Aden, whither they are imported from
the opposite African coast. They have hair like smooth goats, no wool.
Varthema also describes them (p. 87). In the Cairo Museum, among ornaments
found in the mummy-pits, there is a little figure of one of these sheep,
the head and neck in some blue stone and the body in white agate.
