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 purpose, for they insist that their forefathers followed it, and so must they also.  I will give you a sample of their enchantments.  Thus, if a ship be sailing past with a fair wind and a strong, they will raise a contrary wind and compel her to turn back.  In fact they make the wind blow as they list, and produce great tempests and disasters; and other such sorceries they perform, which it will be better to say nothing about in our Book.”

Speaking of Chung-li (Somali Coast), Chau Ju-kwa writes, p. 130:  “There are many sorcerers among them who are able to change themselves into birds, beasts, or aquatic animals, and by these means keep the ignorant people in a state of terror.  If some of them in trading with some foreign ship have a quarrel, the sorcerers pronounce a charm over the ship, so that it can neither go forward nor backward, and they only release the ship when it has settled the dispute.  The government has formally forbidden this practice.”

Hirth and Rockhill add, p. 132:  “Friar Joanno dos Santos (A.D. 1597) says:  ’In the Ile of Zanzibar dwelt one Chande, a great sorcerer, which caused his Pangayo, which the Factor had taken against his will, to stand still as it were in defiance of the Winde, till the Factor had satisfied him, and then to fly forth the River after her fellowes at his words.  He made that a Portugall which had angered him, could never open his mouth to speake, but a Cocke crowed in his belly, till he had reconciled himselfe:  with other like sorceries.’” See PURCHAS, His Pilgrimes, IX., 254.