Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency, Vol. I, Part I: History of Gujarat c19.s5.18

c19.s5.18

The Nahrwála country was that all journeys were made and all merchandise was carried in bullock waggons. Kambáyah was rich in wheat and rice and its mountains yielded the Indian *kaná* or bamboo. At Subára (Sopára) they fished for pearls and Bára a small island close to Subára produced the cocoanut and the costus. Sindán according to Al Idrisi produced the cocoa palm, the ratan, and the bamboo. Saimúr had many cocoa palms, much henna (*Lawsonia inermis*), and a number of aromatic plants.³ The hills of Thána yielded the bamboo and *tabáshir* or bamboo pith. From Saimúr according to Al Kazwíni (A.D. 1236, but from tenth century materials) came aloes. Rashid-ud-dín (A.D. 1310) states that in Kambáyah, Somnáth, Kankan, and Tána the vines yield twice a year and such is the strength of the soil that cotton-plants grow like willow or plane trees and yield produce for ten years. He refers to the betel leaf, to which he and other Arab writers and physicians ascribe strange virtues as the produce of the whole country of Malabár. The exports from the Gujarát coasts are said to be sugar (the staple product of Málwa), *bádrúd* that is bezoar, and *haldi* that is turmeric.⁴