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8;2 CEXTKAL JAVA. 1,14
Inspectors of Foreign trade at Ts'iian-chdu and Canton, as well as the two Mint Inspectors of
the south-western Provinces, allowing vessels to clear with return cargoes containing gold and
copper cash. How could the local authorities be held responsible for such infraction of the law, if
the four officers referred to were habitual law breakers themselves?!)
It appears that similar complaints led to the repeated complete prohibition of the :
exportation of cash, although during certain periods it was not strictly enforced. Thus in 1234 an
Edict was issued prohibiting the exportation of cash oby Ocean going shipss; this seems to involve
a partial restriction only, since traffic with Sho-p'o (Java) was specifically prohibited, and since
the restriction could be, easily evaded by clearing ships for another country — as Chau Ju-kua
tells us traders did. 10
See also Schlegel, T'oung pao, 2^ ser. IV, 236—238.
15.
CENTRAL JAVA.
Su-ki-tan {^ ± M
Su-ki-tan is a branch of the Sho-p'o country. To the west it borders i5
on Sin-t'o, to the east it adjoins Ta-pan* (fj /^).
There is a mountain of immense height called Pau-lau-an (^ ^ ^)-
"When approaching the coast foreign ships iirst sight the five lofty peaks of
this mountain, always covered with clouds".
The king of this country wears a turban of cotton cloth of variegated 20
colours and goes barefooted. When walking about he is shaded by a black or
white umbrella, and more than five hundred attendants follow him, bearing
every sort of weapon and wearing hats of various shapes, — some like a
tiger's head, some like a deer's, others like the head of an ox, of a sheep, a
fowl, an elephant, a lion or a monkey; and little flags of coloured silk are stuck 25
in the side (of the hats).
Among the natives, the men cut their hair, but the women wear a
coiffure; they all wrap their bodies in cloth, but go barefooted and wear a
loin-cloth.
The people use as a medium of trade pieces of alloyed silver cut into bits 30
like dice and bearing the seal of the Fan-kuan (^ 1^) stamped upon it. Six
of these counters are worth one tael of «trade golds {"^ ^), and each one may
be exchanged for from thirty or forty up to a hundred shong (pecks) of rice.
For all their other trading they use (this money) which is called «Sho-p'o kin»
5