Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

1,30 BASKA. 137
It appears that this is the only manner in which we may account for the twenty-nine
generations referred to by Chan Ju-kua, whose informant ought to have spoken of twenty-four
generations, and not twenty-nine, if he had looked upon the Prophet as the genealogical head.
On the other hand the «six, or seven hundred years» of his text can only refer to the Prophet
5 himself, who died in 632 A. D. We may be allowed to look upon this passage as a clue helping
us to fix the time of Chau Ju-kua's collecting his notes as falling between the years 1242 and
1258, the reign of the last Abbaside Caliph Musta'§im.
The only event Chau appears to have known of in the life of the Prophet is that mentioned
previously in the vaguest terms (supra, p. 117) and which corresponds roughly with A. D. 610, the
10 date of Mohammed's Call. Six hundred years counted from that date (or even for that matter from
632, when the Prophet died) brings us down to the first half of the thirteenth century, which
agrees with the previous conclusions.
3) Conf. supra, p. 103 our author's description of the ruler of Ta-ts'in. The «golden moon»
on the top of the king's baldachin must have been a crescent, since, as an emblem, it would
15 otherwise have been taken for «a sun». The origin of the crescent among the Turks is wrapped in
mystery, and this passage, (written before the year 1178), seems to support A. Mailer's con-
jecture, who finds it mentioned by Mirkhond in connection with Sebuktegin, tenth century; see
A. Mttller, Der Islam im Morgeu- und Abendland, Berlin, 1887, II, 72, note.
4) The Ling-wai-tai-ta differs slightly here; it says: bAII the people eat cakes, meat and
20 su-lo, but rarely fish, vegetables or rice "What is called pliable opaque glass is a product
of this country)) (^fr gS J^ 5^ J^ ^- 1^ ^Jr -fft^ ). j^ I suppose annealed glass is
referred to. Our author in the next paragraph refers to polished (ground, or engraved ^ffi ^P,)
opaque glass. The term nien-hua is not clear; I incline for «engrav(d». See infra, p. 138, andPt. II,
Ch. XXXir. On su-lo see p. 139 n. 1,
25 5) He yd. Hist, du Commerce, If, 711 states that in the Middle Ages Damascus was par
ticularly celebrated for its glass, as was also Kadesia near Baghdad, and other places in Irak.
The remark about cutting the finger nails and the daily prayers is a repetition of what
he states in another passage, supra, p. 116 lines 9—10.
31.
80 BASRA.
Pi-ssi-io m
M I)-
"When the lord of the Pi-ssi-lo country shows himself in public, he is
accompanied by more than a thousand mounted retainers in full armour of
iron, the officers wearing coats of mail (5I 3^ ^ ^ ^)- He receives the
35 orders of Pai-ta.
The people live on baked meal cakes, and mutton. Their ahnanack is
tolerably correct, as regards the hot and cold seasons of the year, but they
do not know of the new and full moon days (as holidays).
The products of the country are camels, sheep and dates. The Ki-shi
40 and Wong-man countries send every year trading parties to this country.