The Colas c30.26

c30.26

The chief articles of merchandise that entered into this long distance trade were necessarily goods that carried great value for small bulk. Of Siraf, the Arab writer, Istakhri (tenth century) says⁷¹: 'The imports are aloes wood (for burning), amber, camphor, precious gems, bamboos, ivory, ebony, paper, sandalwood, and all kinds of Indian perfumes, drugs and condiments. In the town itself excellent napkins are made, also linen veils, and it was a great market for pearls.' From the middle of the eleventh century Siraf began to decline in importance, and the island of Qais or Kish began to take its place as the entrepot of Indian trade. The Jewish traveller from Spain, Benjamin of Tudela, relates that about the middle of the twelfth century a.d., the island of Kish marked the limit of the voyages of Indian merchants trading with Persia and the West. 'Kish,' he says,⁷² 'is a considerable market, being the point to which Indian merchants and those of the islands bring their commodities; while the traders of Mesopotamia, Yemen and Persia import all sorts of silk and purple cloths, flax, cotton, hemp, mash (a kind of pea), wheat, barley, millet, rye and all other sorts of comestibles and pulse, which articles form objects of exchange; those from India import great quantities of spices, and the inhabitants of the island live by what they gain in their capacity of brokers of both parties. The island contains about five hundred Jews.'