n one authenticated
accident from sharks had taken place, during the whole period of the
British occupation.

The time of the fishery is a little earlier than Marco mentions, viz. in
March and April, just between the cessation of the north-east and
commencement of the south-west monsoon. His statement of the depth is
quite correct; the diving is carried on in water of 4 to 10 fathoms deep,
and never in a greater depth than 13.

I do not know the site of the other fishery to which he alludes as
practised in September and October; but the time implies shelter from the
south-west Monsoon, and it was probably on the east side of the island,
where in 1750 there was a fishery, at Trincomalee. (_Stewart_ in _Trans.
R.A.S._ III. 456 seqq.; _Pridham._, u.s.; _Tennent_, II. 564-565;
_Ribeyro_, as above, App. p. 196.)

[1] So the Barbary coast from Tunis westward was called by the Arabs
_Bar-ul-'Adwah_, "Terra Transitus," because thence they used to
pass into Spain. (_J. As._ for Jan. 1846, p. 228.)

[2] Wassaf has _Fitan, Mali Fitan, Kabil_ and meant the names so, as
he shows by silly puns. For my justification in presuming to correct
the names, I must refer to an article, in the _J. R. As. Soc._,
N.S. IV. p. 347, on Rashiduddin's Geography.

[3] The same information is given in almost the same terms by Rashiduddin.
(See _Elliot_, I. 69.) But he (at least in Elliot's translation)
makes _Shaikh Jumaluddin_ the successor of the Devar, instead of
merely the narrator of the circumstances. This is evidently a mistake,
probably of transcription, and Wassaf gives us the true version.

The members of the Arab family bearing the surname of At-Thaibi (or
Thibi) appear to have been powerful on the coasts of the Indian Sea at
this time, (1) The Malik-ul-Islam Jamaluddin Ibrahim At Thaibi was
Farmer-General of Fars, besides being quasi-independent Prince of Kais
and other Islands in the Persian Gulf, and at the time of his death
(1306) governor of Shiraz. He had the horse trade with India greatly
in his hands, as is mentioned in a note (7) on next chapter. (2) The
son of Jamaluddin, Fakhruddin Ahmed, goes ambassador to the Great Kaan
in 1297, and dies near the coast of Ma'bar on his way back in 1305. A
Fakhruddin Ahmed _Ben Ibrahim_ at-Thaibi also appears in Hammer's
extracts as ruler of Hormuz about the time of Polo's return. (See
_ante_, vol. i. p. 1