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DECEMBER, 1884.]
PTOLEMY'S GEOG. BK. VII, CH. 2, &$ 16-19.
379
Tiladai, occupied these tllas, and also that the The following interesting passage describes Tiladri hills (mentioned in the Kshetra Sqmdea) the mode in which the Bêsadai trade in this article were the same Tilas. The same people is mer. with the Chinese. I translate from the Periplus, tioned in the Periplús, but under the corrupt cap. 65:-"On the opnfines of Thina is held an form of Sénatai. The picture drawn of them by annual fair attended by a race of mon called the the author of that work corresponds so closely with Sonatai, who are of a squat figuro, broad-faced, and Ptolemy's, that both authors may be supposed in appearance like wild beasts, though all the samo to have drawn their information from the same they are quite mild and gentle in their disposition. source. We may quote (in the original) what They resort to this fair with their wives and each says of them
children, taking great loads of produce packed in Periplés : Dvos Th T er répart koloBoi kai mats like the young leaves of the vine. The fair σφόδρα πλατυπρόσωποι, εννοίαις δε λωστος αυτούς is held where tbeir country borders on that of the [8] Néycobai (pavi] Eneáras, wapopolove dm pepous. Thinai. Here, spreading out the mate they use
Ptolemy: clol yap kolo Bol, kal shareis, kai, them for lying on, and devote several days to δασείς, και πλατνπρόσωποι, λευκοί μέντοι τας χρόας, festivity. This being over, they withdraw into
Description of the regions which extend from their own country and the Thinai, when they see the Brahmaputra to the Great Gulf.
they have gone, come forward and collecting the
mats, which had been purposely left behind, extract 16. Beyond Kirrhadia, in which they
first from the Calami (called Petroi), of which they say the best Malabathrun is produced, the
were woven, the sinews and fibres, and then taking Zamirai, a race of cannibals, are located near the leaves fold them double and roll them up into Mount Maiandros.
balls through which they pass the fibres of the 17. Beyond the Silver Country, in which Calami. The balls are of three kinds, and are there are said to be very many silver mines,
designated according to the size of the leaf from (péralla donmou), is situated in juxtapostion to
which they are made, hadro, meso and mikrothe Bdsyngeitai, the Gold Country (por
ophairon. Hence there are three kinds of MalabaKópa), in which are very many gold mines, and
thrum, and those are then carried into India by the whose inhabitants resemble the Zamirai, in
manufacturers.
Zamirai: A various reading is Zamorai. It being fair-complexioned, shaggy, of squat figure,
has boon already stated that this was a tribe of and flat-nosed.
the same family as the Kirsta, besido whom they Kirrhadia:- This has been already noticed.
are named in the great geographical catalogue of With reference to its product Malabathrum, which
the Mahabharata. Ramifications of the Zamfrai is not betel, but oonsists of the leaves of one or
still exist under the names of Zamarias, Tomara, more kinds of the cinnamon or cassia-tree. I may
&c., in the midst of the savage districts which quote the following passage from the J. 4. 8. Beng.,
extend to the S. and S.E. of Magadha, and to the vol. XVI, pp. 38-9:-“ Cinnamomum albiflorum is
west of the Son. designated taj, tejpat in Hindustaui, the former
The silver country, it has already been noticed, name being generally applied to the leaf and the
is Arakan, and the gold country and copper latter to the bark of the tree; taj, tejpala, or tejapa.
country, Yule remarks, correspond ouriously even tra, by all which names this leaf is known, is used
in approximate position with the Sonaparlata as a condiment in all parts of India. It is indigen
(golden frontier land), and Zampadips of Burmese ous in Silhet, Asâm. Rungpur (the Kirrbadia of
state-documents. The Malay peninsula, taken Ptolemy), and in the valleys of the mountain-range
generally, has still many mines both of the as far as Masuri. The dry branches and leaves
precious and the useful metals. are brought annually in large quantities from the former place, and sold at a fair, which is held at 18. And, again, between the ranges of Vikramapura. Taj, however, is a name that is also B&pyrrhus, and Damassa, the country given in the eastern part of Bengal to the bark furthest north is inhabited by the Anina khai of a variety of Cinnamomum zeylanioun or Cania
(or Aminalhai), south of these the Indaligned, which abounds in the valleys of Kacbär,
prathai, after these the Iberingai, then Jyntiya and Asam." The word Malabathrum is a
the Dabasai (or Damaasai P), and ap to cond pound of tamala (the Sanskrit name of Cinna. momum albiflorum) and patra, leaf.' Another
Maiandros tho Nangalogai, whioh means derivation has been suggested mdia,' garland,'
"the World of the Naked" (ruum koos). and patra 'a leaf.' (Lassen, Ind. Au., vol. I, p. 888
19. Between the Damassa range and the seq., and conf. Dymock's Voget. Mat. Med., p. 668). frontiers of the Sinai are located furthest
