Chau Ju-Kua - University of Oregon Libraries

1,7 PALEMBAKG. ^ J
The laws of the country are very severe; adultery exposes man and
woman to the severest form of punishment (i. e., death) «.
When the king dies the common people go into mourning by shaving their
heads; his personal followers (or courtiers) choose, however, voluntary death
5 by leaping into the blazing pyre; this is called diving and dying together))'.
There is (in San-fo-ts'i) a (kind of) Buddha (^. e., image) called «Hill
of Gold and Silvm, (^ ^ |1|) and it is cast in gold. Each succeeding
king before ascending the throne has cast a golden image to represent Ms
person lo, and they are most particular to make offerings, of golden vessels
ao to these images, and the golden images and golden vessels all bear inscrip-
tions to caution future generations not to melt them down.
When any one in this country is dangerously ill he distributes his
weight in silver among the poor of the land, and this is held to be a means
of delaying death ^^
15 They style their king Lung-ts'ing^^ (f| ^). He may not eat grain,
but is fed on sha-Jiu^^ (fj? ^); should he do otherwise, the year would be a
dry one and grain dear. He also bathes in rose-water; should he use ordi-
nary water, there would be a great flood.
(The king) has a high cap (or hat) of gold, set with hundreds of jewels
20 and very heavy. At great court ceremonies no one but the king is able to
wear it; all other people are unable. When the throne becomes vacant all
the king's sons are assembled, the cap is handed them and he who is able
(to bear its weight) succeeds to the throne.
There is an old tradition that the ground in this country once suddenly
25 gaped open and out of the cavern came many myriads of cattle, which rushed
off in herds into the mountains, though the people all tried to get them for
food. Afterwards the crevice got stopped up with bamboo and trees and
disappeared ".
Exclusive of the native products, which include tortoise-shell, camphor,
so the chon, su and chan (varieties of gharu-wood), a coarse sMu (§^) (variety
of gharu-wood), laka-wood, cloves, sandal-wood and cardamoms, there are also
pearls, frankincense, rose-water, gardenia flowers, wu-na-tsH{'>), myrrh, aloes,
asa-foetida, putchuk, liquid storax, elephants' tusks, coral-trees, cat's-eyes,
amber, foreign cotton stuffs and sword blades. All these (latter) are products
35 of the Arab (Ta-shi) foreigners (^ ^ ^ ^) ".
The foreign traders {^ ^) who gather together in this country give
in exchange gold, silver, porcelain-ware, silk brocades, skeins of silk, silk
gauzes, sugar, iron, samshu, rice, dried galangal, rhubarb and camphor.