ABSTRACT
We left the country of Ṭālisī and after seventeen days of sailing very rapidly and comfortably with a favourable wind we reached the country of China. The Chinese clime 1 is extensive and is rich in resources, fruits, cereals, gold and silver; no other clime in the world compares with it in this respect. A river known as Āb-i ḥayāt, meaning 'the water of life', divides it, and is also known as the Sabr, like the name of the Indian river. It rises in the mountains near the city of Khān Bāliq known as Kūh-i būznah, |255 meaning 'the mountain of monkeys'. 2 It flows through China for a distance of six months' travel to finish at Ṣīn al-Ṣīn. 3 It is encompassed by villages, cultivated fields, orchards and bazaars, like the Nile in Egypt, but here there is more settlement. There are many waterwheels. There is much sugar in China, equal to Egyptian sugar or even better. There are grapes and plums. I used to think that the 'Othmānī plum of 889Damascus was unequalled till I saw the Chinese plum. There are wonderful melons resembling those of Khwārizm and Iṣfahān. All the fruits we have in our country are there as good or better. Corn is very plentiful and I have seen none better. It is the same with lentils and chickpeas. |256
