XXXVI., [p. 439.]
At the time of Chau Ju-kwa, Aden was perhaps the most important port of Arabia for the African and Arabian trade with India and the countries beyond. It seems highly probable that the Ma-li-pa of the Chinese must be understood as including Aden, of which they make no mention whatsoever, but which was one of “the great commercial centres of the Arabs.” Hirth and Rockhill, p. 25 n.
XXXVI., [pp. 442] seq.
THE CITY OF ESHER.
Shehr, a port on the Hadhramaut coast, is mentioned by Chau Ju-kwa under the name of Shï ho among the dependencies of the country of the Ta-shï (Arabs). (Hirth and Rockhill, p. 116.)
XXXVIII., [pp. 444–445.]
DUFAR.
We read in the Ying yai shêng lan: “This country [Tsu fa erh] is between the sea and the mountains. To the east and south is nothing but the sea. To the north and west are ranges of mountains. One reaches it from the kingdom of Ku-li (Calicut) journeying north-westward for ten days and nights. It has no walled towns or villages. The people all follow the religion of the Moslims. Their physical appearance is good, their culture is great, the language sincere.
“The native products are frankincense, which is the sap of a tree. There is also dragon’s blood, aloes, myrrh, an-hsi-hsiang (benzoin), liquid storax, muh-pieh-tzŭ (Momordica cochinchinensis), and the like, all of which they exchange for Chinese hempen cloth, silks, and china-ware.” (Rockhill, T’oung Pao, XVI., 1915, pp. 611–612.)
The Sing ch’a shêng lan mentions: “The products are the tsu-la-fa (giraffe), gold coins, leopards, ostriches, frankincense, ambergris.” (Ibid., p. 614.)