Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.33.3

c19.33.3

Near Subára (apparently Surabára) he locates small islands which he styles Bára where, he adds, cocoanuts and the costus grow.⁷ East of Sindán, due to a confusion between Sandhán in Kachh and Sanján in Thána, he places another island bearing the same name as the port and under the same government as the mainland, highly cultivated and producing the coco palm the bamboo and the cane. Five miles by sea from Kulámmali lies another island called Máli, an elevated plateau, but not hilly, and covered with vegetation. The mention of the pepper vine suggests that Al Idrisi has wandered to the Malabar Coast. In the eighth section of the second clime Al Idrisi places Bárúh (Broach), Sandápúr (apparently Goa), Tána (Thána), Kandárina (Gandhár, north of Broach), Jirbátan a town mentioned by Al Idrisi as the nearest in a voyage from Ceylon to the continent of India on that continent. It is described as a populous town on a river supplying rice and grain to Ceylon,⁸ Kalkáyan, Luluwa, Kanja, and Samandirún, and in the interior Dalaka (Dholka), Janwál (Chunvál or Viramgám), and Nahrwár (Anhilwára).⁹ Opposite the sea-port of Bárúh (Broach), Al Idrisi places an island called Mullán, producing large quantities of pepper. Al Idrisi describes the port of Bárúh (Broach) as accessible to ships from China and Sindh.