A feeble form of the tale is quoted contemptuously by Garcias
from one Francisco de Tamarra. And Haxthausen found it as a popular legend
in Armenia. (S. Epiph. de XIII. Gemmis, etc., Romae, 1743; Jaubert,
Edrisi, I. 500; J.A.S.B. XIII. 657; Lane's Ar. Nights, ed. 1859,
III. 88; Rem. Nouv. Mel. Asiat. I. 183; Raineri, Fior di Pensieri di
Ahmed Teifascite, pp. 13 and 30; Tzetzes, Chil. XI. 376; India in XVth
Cent. pp. 29-30; J. C. Scal. de Subtilitate, CXIII. No. 3; An. des
Voyages, VIII. 195; Garcias, p. 71; Transcaucasia, p. 360; J.A.S.B.
I. 354.)
The story has a considerable resemblance to that which Herodotus tells of
the way in which cinnamon was got by the Arabs (III. 111). No doubt the
two are ramifications of the same legend.
NOTE 3. - Here buckram is clearly applied to fine cotton stuffs. The
districts about Masulipatam were long famous both for muslins and for
coloured chintzes. The fine muslins of Masalia are mentioned in the
Periplus. Indeed even in the time of Sakya Muni Kalinga was already famous
for diaphanous muslins, as may be seen in a story related in the Buddhist
Annals. (J.A.S.B. VI.
