The city has now completely disappeared, and over the space of about one square mile of its site may be seen, here and there, the foundations of houses, those near the sea being the most visible. In the neighbourhood are several hundred reservoirs, and many Mussulman tombs, some of which are enclosed within domed buildings that had some pretensions to architecture (Persian Gulf Pilot, 1870, 148).
Kais is mentioned by many authors as being a place of considerable importance. It was the ancient Καταία (Nearchi Paraplus ex Arriano, 31; Hudson edition, i), is called Keis by the Arabs, is named Ken by Kinnear (Memoirs of the Persian Empire, 17), and appears in the Admiralty chart as Kais or Gais, inhabited by pearl fishers. Yagout (Barbier de Meynard, Dict. Géog., etc., 499) in the 13th century says of Kisch, that it was the residence of the sovereigns of Oman, whose authority extended over all the sea, on which they were very powerful; it was the place of call for vessels trading between Fars and India, and a celebrated pearl fishery. Kazvini (Kosmographie, 235) speaks of Kis as the resort of merchants who went there to trade; and Benjamin of Tudela, a century earlier, describes it as being a port of transit.
The ancient town of Harira is now represented by tottering masses of masonry; a portion of a minaret of well cut stone, and many fallen pillars of the mosque to which the minaret belonged, being the only architectural remains. Great quantities of broken pottery, some of fine quality, lie scattered among the débris. At a distance of a quarter of a mile are large reservoirs for water, all faced with masonry, but in a sad state of decay; some measure 120 ft. in length, by 24 ft., and are 24 ft. in depth.
Admitting the authority of a Persian manuscript, says Ouseley (l. c., i, 170), the name of the island may be assigned to the 10th century, when one Keis, the son of a poor widow in Siraf, embarked for India with his sole property, a cat. There he arrived at a fortunate time, for the king’s palace was infested with mice. Keis produced his cat, the noxious animals disappeared, and the adventurer of Siraf was magnificently rewarded. He returned to his home, but afterwards settled with his mother and brothers on the island, which was named Keis, or, according to the Persians, Keish. Modern attempts to rationalise Whittington may surely be given up, observes Colonel Yule with reference to this story related by Wassaf.—Ed.
[(18.)] “Walaschoen.”—This name, employed also by Orientals, is now Badakshan, called Badashan by Marco Polo, who says that rubies were found in the province. Ibn Haukal was also aware that Badakshan yielded rubies and lapis-lazuli, and Ibn Batouta asserts that the rubies (balas rubies) from the mountains of Badakshan were commonly called Ak Balaksh. A river flowed from these mountains, the water of which was as white as that of the sea. He adds that Jengiz, king of the Tatars, ruined the country, so that it never flourished afterwards. Judging, however, from Schiltberger’s account, it is probable that its condition had improved.
The unicorns may have been horses of a good breed, as alluded to by Marco Polo (Yule, i, 166), who states that, “not long ago they possessed in that province a breed of horses from the strain of Alexander’s horse, Bucephalus, all of which had from their birth a particular mark on the forehead”. If we consider that in the time of Timour, the nationality of the inhabitants, the military administration, and the breed of horses in this country, were the same as in the days of Kublai, the ruler had, no doubt, ever been a “None”, Nono, which Marco Polo (idem, i, 183) gives as the equivalent for Count. Whatever the origin and primitive significations of this term, I may, perhaps, not be far out in asserting, that in the present instance it designated a noyon or myriarch, such as was Jebe, the vanquisher of the Russians at the battle of the Kalka in 1223 (Berezin, Nashestvye Mongolov, 226), and Noë, Duke of Sousdal, who, at about the same period, gave to Julian the missionary, letters of recommendation to Bela IV., King of Hungary (Kunik, Outch. Zap., etc., iii, 739), and Tolak Timour the cruel governor of Soudak (Zap. Odess. Obstschest., v, 507).—Bruun.
(18A.) When Captain Wood was in Badakshan, he was told that the valley of Meshid was extremely populous in former times, and a legend was current to the effect that it used to be greatly infested with scorpions (Journey to the Source of the River Oxus, 1872). Colonel Yule thinks, that if the existence of unicorns was not a mere fable, the animal referred to was probably the rhinoceros, at that time common in the country near Peshawur—not very far from Badakshan.—Ed.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
[(1.)] “Marburtirudt.”—These measurements agree so exactly with the dimensions to be found in Herodotus, who gives the height of the walls of Babylon at 200 cubits and their thickness at 50 cubits, that the extent of the city, 480 stadia, was probably obtained from the same source. But four stadia do not make one Italian mile. The Italian mile is equal to eight stadia, 480 stadia are, therefore, 60 Italian, or 55-1/5 English miles, no great difference from the 75 miles or 25 leagues noted in the text as being the extent of the wall of Babylon.
The Tower of Babel, represented as being 54 stadia from the city, must have been distant 6.75 Italian, or 6.21 English miles, precisely the position of Birs Nimroud—Prison of Nimrod—called “Marburtirudt”, for Marbout Nimroud. It was to these ruins that Benjamin of Tudela (Ritter, Die Erdkunde etc., x, 263) referred when describing the tower constructed before the dispersion of the people, situated on the right bank of the Euphrates, and one and a half hour’s journey from Hillah; it measured 240 yards in diameter, and was about 100 canna in height; a gallery conducted to the summit, whence the view around extended over the plain to a distance of eight leagues. Schiltberger expresses himself to the same effect when he says, “in several places it is x leagues in length and in breadth”. In adding that the tower stood on the Chaldæan side of the Arabian desert, he has no intention of directing us to Arabia proper, but to Irak Araby, the country of the ancient Chaldæans.—Bruun.