The Account We Shall Afterwards
Give Of The Geographical Knowledge Of The Arabians, Renders It Unnecessary
To Present Any Abstract, In This Place, Of The Geographical Part Of His
Work; We Shall Therefore Confine Ourselves To The Notices Interspersed
Respecting Commerce.
The Arabians traded to nearly every port of India,
from Cashmere to Cape Comorin; and seem to have been protected and
particularly favoured in their commercial pursuits.
In the year 877 a great
rebellion occurred in China, and the Arabian merchants had been massacred
at Canfn. According to Massoudi, however, in his time this city had
recovered from its disasters; confidence had revived; the Arabian merchants
from Bassora, and other ports in Persia, resorted to it; and vessels from
India and the adjacent islands. He also describes a route to China by land
frequented by traders: this seems to have been through Korasin, Thibet, and
a country he calls Ilestan. With regard to the Arabian commerce with
Africa, the merchants settled at Omar traded to Sofala for gold, and to an
island, which is supposed to be Madagascar, where they had established
colonies.
Of the geographical knowledge displayed by the next Arabian traveller in
point of date, [Ebor->Ebn] Haukal, we shall at present take no notice, for
the reason already assigned; but confine ourselves to his notices regarding
commerce. According to him, the most wealthy merchants resided at Siraf,
where they traded very extensively and successfully in the commodities of
India and China. Hormus was the principal trading place in Karmania; Daibul
in Sind:
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