o, red kino, myrobolans and foreign cotton stuffs of every colour.
Every year these goods are transported to the Ta shi countries for sale."

XXXI., p. 404.

TWO ISLANDS CALLED MALE AND FEMALE.

Speaking of the fabulous countries of women, Chau Ju-kwa, p. 151, writes:
"The women of this country [to the south-east (beyond Sha-hua kung?)
Malaysia] conceive by exposing themselves naked to the full force of the
south wind, and so give birth to female children."

"In the Western Sea there is also a country of women where only three
females go to every five males; the country is governed by a queen, and
all the civil offices are in the hands of women, whereas the men perform
military duties. Noble women have several males to wait upon them; but the
men may not have female attendants. When a woman gives birth to a child,
the latter takes its name from the mother. The climate is usually cold.
The chase with bow and arrows is their chief occupation. They carry on
barter with Ta-t'sin and T'ien-chu, in which they make several hundred per
cent. profit."

Cf. F. Hirth, _China and the Roman Orient_, pp. 200-202.

XXXII., pp. 406-7. Speaking of Scotra, Marco (II., p. 406) says: "The
ambergris comes from the stomach of the whale, and as it is a great object
of trade, the people contrive to take the whales with barbed iron darts,
which, once they are fixed in the body, cannot come out again. A long cord
is attached to this end, to that a small buoy which floats on the surface,
so that when the whale dies they know where to find it. They then draw the
body ashore and extract the ambergris from the stomach and the oil from
the head."

Chau Ju-kwa, at Chung-li (Somali Coast), has (p. 131): "Every year there
are driven on the coast a great many dead fish measuring two hundred feet
in length and twenty feet through the body. The people do not eat the
flesh of these fish, but they cut out their brains, marrow, and eyes, from
which they get oil, often as much as three hundred odd _toeng_ (from a
single fish). They mix this oil with lime to caulk their boats, and use it
also in lamps. The poor people use the ribs of these fish to make rafters,
the backbones for door leaves, and they cut off vertebrae to make mortars
with."

SCOTRA.

XXXII., p. 407. "And you must know that in this island there are the best
enchanters in the world. It is true that their Archbishop forbids the
practice to the best of his ability; but 'tis all to no purp