128-129.--H.C.] It is found in the
Chinese Narrative of the Campaigns of Hulaku, translated by both Remusat
and Pauthier. [We read in the _Si Shi Ki_, of Ch'ang Te, Chinese Envoy to
Hulaku (1259), translated by Dr. Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ I. p. 151):
"The _kinkang tsuan_ (diamonds) come from _Yin-du_ (Hindustan). The people
take flesh and throw it into the great valleys (of the mountains). Then
birds come and eat this flesh, after which diamonds are found in their
excrements."--H.C.] It is told in two different versions, once of the
Diamond, and again of the Jacinth of Serendib, in the work on precious
stones by Ahmed Taifashi. It is one of the many stories in the scrap-book
of Tzetzes. Nicolo Conti relates it of a mountain called Albenigaras,
fifteen days' journey in a northerly Direction from Vijayanagar; and it
is told again, apparently after Conti, by Julius Caesar Scaliger. It is
related of diamonds and Balasses in the old Genoese MS., called that of
Usodimare. A feeble form of the tale is quoted contemptuously by Garcias
from one Francisco de Tamarra. And Haxthausen found it as a popular legend
in Armenia. (_S. Epiph. de_ XIII. _Gemmis_, etc., Romae, 1743; _Jaubert,
Edrisi_, I. 500; _J.A.S.B._ XIII. 657; _Lane's Ar. Nights_, ed. 1859,
III. 88; _Rem. Nouv. Mel. Asiat._ I. 183; _Raineri, Fior di Pensieri di
Ahmed Teifascite_, pp. 13 and 30; _Tzetzes, Chil._ XI. 376; _India in XVth
Cent._ pp. 29-30; _J. C. Scal. de Subtilitate_, CXIII. No. 3; _An. des
Voyages_, VIII. 195; _Garcias_, p. 71; _Transcaucasia_, p. 360; _J.A.S.B._
I. 354.)

The story has a considerable resemblance to that which Herodotus tells of
the way in which cinnamon was got by the Arabs (III. 111). No doubt the
two are ramifications of the same legend.

NOTE 3.--Here _buckram_ is clearly applied to fine cotton stuffs. The
districts about Masulipatam were long famous both for muslins and for
coloured chintzes. The fine muslins of _Masalia_ are mentioned in the
Periplus. Indeed even in the time of Sakya Muni Kalinga was already famous
for diaphanous muslins, as may be seen in a story related in the Buddhist
Annals. (_J.A.S.B._ VI. 1086.)

CHAPTER XX.

CONCERNING THE PROVINCE OF LAR WHENCE THE BRAHMINS COME.

Lar is a Province lying towards the west when you quit the place where the
Body of St. Thomas lies; and all the _Abraiaman_ in the world come
from that province.[NOTE 1]

You must know that these Abraiaman are the best merchants in