ABSTRACT
We have additional proof in this quotation against the identity between el-Kais and el-Kishm; but it gives no intimation what ever that the former was a place of trade, whereas this is what the same author says of Siraf, the Kais of Ibn-Batuta and the Chisi, as I believe, of Polo :—
“ Siraf is the largest custom-house in Persia. It is destitute of cultivation and pasture, nevertheless, it is a town where ships discharge and load [cargoes]. It is a populous city, and the in habitants spend large sums ou their houses, insomuch that a merchant will lay out upwards of thirty thousand dinars in building a residence for himself. There are no gardens, neither trees, and the houses are built of the trunks of palm-trees and other timber brought from the country of the Zanj. The climate of Siraf is very hot. The el-Libdb states that Siraf appertains to the territory of Persia on the sea-coast adjoining Kerman.” (Id., p. 207).
