_, I. 170;
_Notes and Queries_, 2nd s. XI. 372.)

Mr. Badger, in a postscript to his translation of the History of Oman
(_Hak. Soc._ 1871), maintains that Kish or Kais was at this time a city on
the mainland, and identical from Siraf. He refers to Ibn Batuta (II. 244),
who certainly does speak of visiting "the city of Kais, called also
Siraf." And Polo, neither here nor in Bk. III. ch. xl., speaks of Kisi as
an island. I am inclined, however, to think that this was from not having
visited it. Ibn Batuta says nothing of Siraf as a seat of trade; but the
historian Wassaf, who had been in the service of Jamaluddin al-Thaibi, the
Lord of Kais, in speaking of the export of horses thence to India, calls
it "the _Island_ of Kais." (Elliot, III. 34.) Compare allusions to this
horse trade in ch. xv. and in Bk. III. ch. xvii. Wassaf was precisely a
contemporary of Polo.

NOTE 3.--The name is _Bascra_ in the MSS., but this is almost certainly
the common error of _c_ for _t_. BASRA is still noted for its vast
date-groves. "The whole country from the confluence of the Euphrates and
Tigris to the sea, a distance of 30 leagues, is covered with these trees."
(_Tav._ Bk. II. ch. iii.)

NOTE 4.--From Baudas, or Baldac, i.e. Baghdad, certain of these rich silk
and gold brocades were called _Baldachini_, or in English _Baudekins_.
From their use in the state canopies and umbrellas of Italian dignitaries,
the word _Baldacchino_ has come to mean a canopy, even when architectural.
[_Baldekino, baldacchino_, was at first entirely made of silk, but
afterwards silk was mixed (_sericum mixtum_) with cotton or thread. When
Hulaku conquered Baghdad part of the tribute was to be paid with that kind
of stuff. Later on, says Heyd (II. p. 697), it was also manufactured in
the province of Ahwaz, at Damas and at Cyprus; it was carried as far as
France and England. Among the articles sent from Baghdad to Okkodai Khan,
mentioned in the _Yuean ch'ao pi shi_ (made in the 14th century), quoted by
Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ II. p. 124), we note: _Nakhut_ (a kind of gold
brocade), _Nachidut_ (a silk stuff interwoven with gold), _Dardas_ (a
stuff embroidered in gold). Bretschneider (p. 125) adds: "With respect to
_nakhut_ and _nachidut_, I may observe that these words represent the
Mongol plural form of _nakh_ and _nachetti_.... I may finally mention that
in the _Yuean shi_, ch. lxxviii. (on official dresses), a stuff, _na-shi-
shi_, is repeatedly named, and t