Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

14
IXTRODUCTION.
aAgain going westward one day one comes to the country of Wu-la ^
«Now (7^) the Fu-li-la river—(^ %\] ^j ^Rf) of the realm of the
Ta-shi flows southward into the sea. Small boats ascend it two days and
reach the country of Mo-lo (^ ^), an important market (g ^) of the 5
Ta-shi 2.
((Again going overland (from Mo-lo?) in a north-westerly direction for
one thousand li one comes to the capital of the Prince of the Mau-mon
(M P^ 3E)' (wliich is called) the city of Fu-ta^ (|f ^ ^)».
By the beginning of the seventh century the foreign colony at Canton, 10
mostly composed of Persians and Arabs, must have been a numerous one, for
Islam seems to have been brought there between 618 and 626. There is even
some evidence for believing that the Moslim had also settlements at that time
in Ts'uan-chou and Yang-ch6u; Ts'uan-chou, however, became of importance
in their China trade only in the ninth century*. By the middle of the eighth 15
of the chief)). He also notes that the chief of Kalhat was subject to Hormuz». Yule's Marco
Polo, II, 448.
1) Wu-la is, I think, to he identified with Sohar in Oman, on account of the indications
concerning its position given in the text. It is probably the same as Chau-Ju-kua's Wu-pa
(infra, Chs. XXVI and XXVIII). 20
2) Mo-lo I am disposed to identify with Old Hormuz, which lay at a distance of two post-
stages, or half a day's march, from the coast, at the head of a creek called Al-Jir, according to
Istakhri, aby which after one league ships come up thereto from the seaw. Le Strange, Lands
of the Eastern Caliphate, 318. Ibn Batuta, Voyages, II, 230 calls Old Hormuz Mughostan, which
maybe the original of the Chinese name Mo-lo. On Old Hormuz, see Yule, Marco Polo, 1, 113 and 25
Heyd, Histoire du Commerce, II, 133. Assuming that the identification of Mo-lo with Hormuz is
correct, it is interesting to note that this is the only reference in Chinese works to this great
port of the Persian Gulf. This is another proof that the Chinese cannot have taken any personal
part in the sea trade with Persia in the eighth century, as Geo. Phillips (J. R. A. S. 1895, 525)
thinks they did. The Al-Jir of Istakhri is the present Minab river. 30
3) Mau-mon is Arabic Momenin «the Faithful)). The title Ameer al Momemn, or 'Commander
of the Faithful' was first assumed by Omar (635—644). Caliph (Successor) of the Prophet of
the Lord, was, he said 'too long and cumbersome a name, while the other was easier and more
fit for common use.' Muir, Annals of early Caliphate, 285. This is the earliest occurrence of this
title in Chinese works. 35
Fu-ta might be the city of Fostat, the modern Cairo, which is spoken of by Chau Ju-kua
(infra Ch. XXXVI) as el Kahira (K'ifi-ye). Fostat was founded in or about A. D. 641. It is possible,
though, that the first character of this name is incorrectly written in our text and that it should
be Fo (;p|) and that Baghdad is meant. This city was founded by the Caliph Mansur in 762.
4) W. F. Mayers, quoting the Min-shu, says that sometime between A. D. 618 and 626 40
four disciples of Mohammed are supposed to have brought Islamism to China. One taught at
Canton, one in Yang-chou and the two others at Ts'iian-ch6u. China Review, VI, 276. The Pan-
yfl-hi6n-chi, as quoted by Edkins in Opium, Historical note, etc., 5, says Mohammed sent
his mother's brother to China. See also Dabry de Thiersant, Mahom6tanisme en Chine,
I, 86—97, and G. Dev6ria, Origine de I'Islamisme en Chine, 319—325. 45