“The climate is irregular. In their usages they have the rectitude of olden times.
“Men and women twist up their hair; they wear a short seamless shirt. The occupation of the people is netting birds and beasts for food.
“They boil sea-water to make salt and ferment the juice of the sugar-cane to make spirits. They have a ruler.
“The native products comprise red sandal-wood, dark red sugar-cane, elephants’ tusks, ambergris, native gold, ya tsui tan-fan, lit., ‘duck-bill sulphate of copper.’
“The goods used in trading are ivory boxes, trade silver, coloured satins, and the like.” (Rockhill, T’oung Pao, XVI., 1915, pp. 622–3.) Cf. Chau Ju-kwa, p. 126.
XXXIV., [p. 423.] “There is a great deal of trade, and many merchants and vessels go thither. But the staple trade of the Island is elephants’ teeth, which are very abundant; and they have also much ambergris, as whales are plentiful.”
Chau Ju-kwa has, p. 126: “The products of the country [Ts’öng-pa] consist of elephants’ tusks, native gold, ambergris and yellow sandal-wood.”
XXXVI., [p. 438.]
ADEN.
In the Ying yai shêng lan we read that “the kingdom (of A-tan) is on the sea-coast. It is rich and prosperous, the people follow the doctrine of the Moslims and their speech is Arabic. Their tempers are overbearing and violent. They have seven to eight thousand well-trained soldiers, horse and foot, whom the neighbouring countries fear.” (W. W. Rockhill, T’oung Pao, XVI., 1915, p. 607.) There is a description of the giraffe under the name of K’i lin; it “has forelegs over nine feet long, its hind ones are about six feet. Beside its ears grow fleshy horns. It has a cow’s tail and a deer’s body. It eats millet, beans, and flour cakes” (p. 609). In the Si Yang Chao kung tien lu (1520 A.D.), we have a similar description: “Its front legs are nine feet long, its hind legs six feet. Its hoofs have three clefts, it has a flat mouth. Two short fleshy horns rise from the back of the top of its head. It has a cow’s tail and a deer’s body. This animal is called K’i lin; it eats grain of any kind.” (Ibid.) Cf. Ferrand, J. Asiatique, July–Aug., 1918, pp. 155–158.