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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011
The following is a Chinese description of the kingdom of Bengal, written at the commencement of the fifteenth century, about eighty years before the Portuguese discovered the route round the Cape of Good Hope, and about sixty years or so after Ibn Batuta had visited those regions. This account is a chapter taken from a work, bearing the Chinese title Ying-yai--shêng-lan (a general account of the shores of the ocean), compiled by one Mahuan, an Interpreter attached to the suite of Chêng Ho, who was sent to the various kingdoms of the western ocean by the Chinese Emperor Tung-lo. The object of this expedition was, that the Emperor Yung-lo feared that Hui-ti, his predecessor, whom he had driven from the throne, was concealing himself in some country over the sea; he wanted to trace him, and at the same time to display his military force in foreign countries, in order to show that China was rich and strong.
page 523 note 1 Ibn Batuta travelled in Bengal and visited Sunargaon in 1341.
page 523 note 2 Such are the dimensions given to the Chinese vessels composing the expedition in the “Ming Dynasty History Book,” 304. There can be no doubt the size of the vessels is greatly exaggerated; at the same time, however, the junks of those days were much larger than those of the present century— in some books of that period they are described as high as city walls and houses.
page 526 note 1 In the seventh year of T'ai p'ing hing kuo's reign, 983 of our era, Changchow as well as Chinchew junks were engaged in the trade with foreign countries.—“The Annals of the Canton Customs,” a book found in the Summer Palace at Peking. In 1285 there was a superintendent of Customs at Changchow, who collected all shipping dues.
page 526 note 2 In substantiation of this statement I refer the reader to Yule's “Cathay, and theway thither,” vol. ii, appendix, p. xxiv.
page 529 note 1 Sumentala. The Samara of Marco Polo. The kingdom of Samalenga in Sumatra, near Acheen.
page 529 note 2 Mao-shan. An. island off Aoheen Head, most probably Pulo Bras or Nasi.
page 529 note 3 Tsui-lan Islands. The Nicobars. I am unable to give any explanation why these islands were so named by the Chinese; there can, however, be no doubt as to these islands being the Nicobars, for we are told by Mahuan, in his article on “Ceylon,” that the largest of these islands was called Sa-beh-luan, which is a pretty accurate Chinese rendering of Sambelong, the name given to the largest of the Nicobars, according to Milburne, “Oriental Commerce,” vol. ii, p. 94. Another Chinese name for the Nicobars is Lo-hing-kuo, “The Kingdom of Naked People,” which appellation, according to all voyagers, is fully deserved, for the Nicobarians do not go to much expense in their dress.
[Since writing the above I have thought over the name Tsui-Ian, given by the Chinese to the Nicobars, and I have but little doubt that the name in question is a corruption of Nocueran, the name given by Marco Polo to the group. The characters Tsui-Ian, 
, are pronounced Ch'ui-lan in Amoy, out of which it is easy to make Cueran. The Chinese omitted the initial syllable and called them the Cueran Islands, while Marco Polo called them the Nocueran Islands.]
page 529 note 4 Cheh-ti-gan. Chittagan. This appears to have been the port of Bengal at which Chinese trading vessels anchored. Probably the Sudcawan of Ibn Batuta and the Chittagong of our day.
page 529 note 5 Li. A li is about the third of a mile; 500 li is approximately 166 miles.
page 529 note 6 
, So-na-urh-kiang or kong. Probably the Sonarcawan of Ibn Batuta (Suvarna-gramma or Golden Town) has already been mentioned as one of the mediaeval capitals of Bengal. It appears in Frao Mauro's map as Sonargavam. It lay a few miles south-east of Dacca, but I believe its exact site is not recoverable in that region of vast shifting rivers.—“Cathay, and the way thither,” vol. ii, p. 465.
page 530 note 1 A stage, according to Williams, is a league or ten li in. length. Thirty-five stages are, therefore, about thirty-five leagues or 105 miles. The Ming-shih, “The History of the Ming Dynasty,” gives thirty-five li or about twelve miles from Sona-urh-kong.
page 530 note 2 Tang-ka. Barbosa, as quoted by Yule in his “Glossary of Anglo-Indian Words,” p. 682, says it is a round coin like ours, with Moorish letters on both sides, and it is of very fine silver.
Tankas were of the silver currency of the day, in which was amalgamated a great deal of alloy, so that each Tanka only exchanged for sixteen copper pice, making (says Briggs) the Tanka only worth about fourpence instead of two shillings (Briggs, “Firishta,” 410).—“Cathay,” vol. ii, p. 440.
page 530 note 3 Kao-li (cowry). The small white shell Cypræa moneta. These shells were brought from the Maldives; the islanders there bartered them to the people of Bengal for rice.
page 531 note 1 
, Pi-chi or Bit-ti, Betteela (?). For the following three names of these Indian fabrics I am unable to find an equivalent.
Sha-ta-urh. Most probably Choutar. A fine cloth so called from its four threads.
Mo-hei-mo-leh. Most.probably the muslin of which the finest muslin sashes are made, and called mamali shahi, which by confusion is generally named marmara shahi (royal marble).—Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. v, p. 468, 1836.
page 532 note 1 Pa-szû-la-urh. Most probably Sipahselar, “a General-in-Chief.” Persian Sīpahsālār. Yule and Burnell's Glossary, p. 637