collars of great value, adorned with gems of various colours,
chiefly green and red; yet pearls are most esteemed, and their value
surpasses that of all other jewels, and these they hoard up in their
treasuries, with their most precious things. The grandees of their courts,
their great officers, and the military commanders, wear similar jewels in
their collars. Their dress is a kind of half vest, and they carry parasols
made of peacocks feathers to shade them from the sun, and are surrounded by
great trains of servants.

Among the Indians, there are certain people who never eat two out of the
same dish or even at the same table, on account of some religious opinion.
When these come to Siraf, and are invited by our considerable merchants,
were there a hundred of them more or less, they must each have a separate
dish, without the least communication with the rest. Their kings and
principal persons have fresh tables made for them every day, with little
dishes and plates wove of the cocoa nut leaf, out of which they eat their
victuals. And when their meal is over, the table dishes and plates are all
thrown into the water, together with the fragments of their food; so that
they must have a fresh service for every meal.

To the Indies the merchants used formerly to carry the dinars, called
sindiat, or gold coins of the _Sind_, which passed there for three of our
dinars, or even more. Thither also were carried emeralds from Egypt, which
were much used for setting in rings.

[1] From the description of this place afterwards, in the travels of Ebn
Wahab, in this article, it appears to have been Nankin.--E.

[2] The chronology of the Chinese history is attended with extreme
difficulty. According to Du Halde: In the reign of the emperor _Hi
Tseng_, the 18th of the _Tsong_ dynasty, the empire fell into great
confusion, in consequence of heavy taxations, and a great famine
occasioned by the inundation of the rivers, and the ravages of
locusts. These things caused many insurrections, and a rebel, named
_Hoan Tsia_ put himself at the head of the malcontents, and drove the
emperor from the imperial city. But he was afterwards defeated, and
the emperor restored. It must be owned that there are about twenty
years difference between the time of the rebellion mentioned in the
text, and the date of the great revolt, as assigned by Du Halde; but
whether the mistake lies in the Arabian manu