XIX., I., p. 116; II., p. 444.

DIET OF THE GULF PEOPLE.

Prof.  E.H.  Parker says that the T’ang History, in treating of the Arab conquests of Fuh-lin [or Frank] territory, alludes to the “date and dry fish diet of the Gulf people.”  The exact Chinese words are:  “They feed their horses on dried fish, and themselves subsist on the hu-mang, or Persian date, as Bretschneider has explained.” (Asiatic Quart.  Rev., Jan., 1904, p. 134.)

Bretschneider, in Med.  Researches, II., p. 134, n. 873, with regard to the dates writes:  “Wan nien tsao, ‘ten thousand years’ jujubes’; called also Po-sze tao, or ‘Persian jujubes.’  These names and others were applied since the time of the T’ang dynasty to the dates brought from Persia.  The author of the Pen ts’ao kang mu (end of the sixteenth century) states that this fruit is called k’u-lu-ma in Persia.  The Persian name of the date is khurma.”

Cf.  CHAU JU-KWA, p. 210.

XXII., p. 128 n.

TUN-O-KAIN.

Major Sykes had adopted Sir Henry Yule’s theory of the route from Kuh-benan to Tun.  He has since altered his opinion in the Geographical Journal, October, 1905, p. 465:  “I was under the impression that a route ran direct from Kubunan to Tabas, but when visiting this latter town a few months ago I made careful inquiries on the subject, which elicited the fact that this was not the case, and that the route invariably followed by Kubunan-Tabas caravans joined the Kerman-Ravar-Naiband route at Chah-Kuru, 12 miles south of Darbana.  It follows this track as far as Naiband, whence the route to Tabas branches off; but the main caravan route runs via Zenagan and Duhuk to Tun.  This new information, I would urge, makes it almost certain that Ser Marco travelled to Tun, as Tabas falls to the west of the main route.  Another point is that the district of Tabas only grows four months’ supplies, and is, in consequence, generally avoided by caravans owing to its dearness.

“In 1893 I travelled from Tun to the south across the Lut as far as Chah Kuru by this very route, and can testify to the general accuracy of Ser Marco’s description,[1] although there are now villages at various points on the way.  Finally, as our traveller especially mentions Tonocain, or Tun va Kain, one is inclined to accept this as evidence of first-rate importance, especially as it is now corroborated by the information I gained at Tabas.  The whole question, once again, furnishes an example of how very difficult it is to make satisfactory inquiries, except on the spot.”