Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

26
is Mu-lan-p'i^ (tj^ ^ J^)
extreme west.
ISTRODUCTION.
as the commercial centre of the countries of the
«To the south of San-fo-ts'i (here Sumatra) is the Great Southern Ocean-
Sea and in this Ocean-Sea there are islands inhabited by a myriad and more
of peoples. Beyond these to the south one cannot go. 6
«To the east of Java (Sho-p'o) is the Great Eastern Ocean-Sea,— where
(the surface of) the waters begins to go downward (;^ ^ }Df %);
there is
the kingdom of women. Still further to the east is the place where the
wei-lu (^ ^) drains into the world from which men do not return «.
(jflH:)
In a slightly north-easterly direction there is only Kau-li(N. W. Korea) and lo
Pai-ts'i (N. Korea).
«It is impossible to enumerate the countries in the South-Western Ocean,
but if we take Tongking (Kiau-chi) as a central point, we have to the south
of it Annam (Chan-ch'6ng), Kamboja (Chon-la) and Fo-lo-an» (# /^
^). To the north-west of Kiau-chi is Ta-li (Yun-nan), the Hei-shui, or 15
'Black Water'* (^^ 7JC), and the T'u-fan (the Tibetans), and beyond this to
the west a big sea called the Sea of Ceylon^ (^ ^ '/$). In this sea is a
big island called the country of Si-lan (Ceylon). Crossing westward there are
again countries; in the south there is Ku-lin (^ [^,
Quilon); in the north
is Ta-ts*in (the empire of the Caliphs) and the T'ien-chu of Wang-sho-ch'6ng^ 20
(^ -^ M ^ ^
Central India).
«Still beyond (this Sea of Ceylon) there is another sea called the 'Eastern
Sea of the Arabs', and beyond it to the west are the countries of the Arabs. The
lands of the Arabs are very broad and their kingdoms very many, too numer-
ous to enumerate. In the west beyond them is the sea called the ((Western Sea 25
1) Mu-lan-p'i appears to be a transcription of tlie Atahic Mmabit, the Almoravides or
Almorabethum, wlio reigned in northwestern Africa and in Spain between 1073 and 1 147.
2) On this old notion of a hole in the Pacific into which the waters of the Ocean emptied,
see infra, p. 75, and Chs. XXXVIII, 4, and XLVI.
3) Fo-lo-an is identified with Beranang on the Langat Eiver, west coast of the Malay 30
Peninsula. Chau Ju-kua (Ch. VII) says it was a dependency of San-fo-ts'i.
4) According to the earliest geographical notions of the Chinese (Shu-king, Tribute of Yfl,
Pt. I, 71, Pt. II, 6) the Black W^ater formed the western boundary of China, and emptied into
the Southern Sea. See Legge, Shu-king, Pt. III. Bk. I, 123, and Chavannes, M6m. historiq.,
I, 126, n. 2. Here the Irrawadi must be meant. See infra, p. 63, n. 1 another reference to the 35
Black Water by Ch6u K'fl-fei.and a repetition of this whole passage in slightly different words.
5) This is the earliest use known in Chinese literature of the Arab name for Ceylon.
See infra, p. 71, n. 2.
6) According to another passage of Ling-wai-tai-ta (8,4) this Tien-chil was the country
,of Magadha, He mentions another Wang-sho-ch'ong as being located by some writers in Pin-t"o- 40
lung. See infra, p. 51, n. 1.