Once I was a boy, my father recurrently introduced house “pirated” copies of present United States bestsellers from Taiwan. It appeared that something and every little thing printed wherever on the planet could possibly be had cheaply in Taiwan. Certainly one of my father’s associates, the eminent modernist architect Antonio S. Sindiong, proudly confirmed me his loot: the four-volume operations guide of the Boeing 747! He had no sensible use for these books, thick as phone directories, apart from bragging rights: “You’ll not get a set of those except you purchase an airplane!” He then defined to me that the primary three volumes had been technical specs and the gem was Quantity 4—”Troubleshooting the 747.”
A few years in the past, in my favourite Tokyo used bookshop, I picked up a 1967 Taiwan bootleg version of “Chau Ju-kua: His Work on the Chinese language and Arab Commerce within the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, entitled Chu-fan-chi.” This was a translation from the unique Chinese language, annotated by Friedrich Hirth and W.W. Rockhill first printed by the (Russian) Imperial Academy of Sciences Printing Workplace, St. Petersburg, 1911. The title of the e book could possibly be translated two methods: the racist “A Description of Barbarous Peoples” or the politically appropriate “Data of Overseas Nations.”
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“Chu-fan-chi” is split into two elements. The primary 46 chapters describe overseas lands and folks; the second half, 43 chapters, describes the totally different merchandise available in these lands. The fascinating listing of commerce merchandise contains aromatics: camphor, musk wooden, sandalwood, and rose water. Two objects—frankincense and myrrh—remind us of the items of the Magi. Additionally on the listing are issues peculiar to us however new to the Chinese language retailers: jackfruit, areca nuts, coconuts, cotton, and pepper. There have been treasured merchandise: dragon’s blood, ebony, coral, cat’s eyes, pearls, ivory, rhinoceros horn, tortoiseshell, and civet. I didn’t understand that kingfisher feathers and parrots held some worth within the twelfth century.
In at the moment’s column, we cowl the San-su or “Three Islands” described by Zhao: Jiamayan (that has been recognized as Calamian), Balaoyou (recognized as Palawan), and Bajinong (tentatively recognized as Busuanga as a result of the traditional Chinese language identify doesn’t match the current identify phonetically. Within the new translation, it’s prompt that Bajinong is just not Busuanga however one other close by island). Zhao provides that every of those three islands had been vassal states of Mayi, settled by their very own individuals, who lived “scattered among the many islands.” Textual content continues:
“Their customs are primarily the identical as these of Mayi. Every settlement contains a few thousand households. The terrain may be very mountainous, with vary after vary of steep cliffs-like partitions. The native individuals reside on excessive and inaccessible floor for security, constructing homes out of rushes. There is no such thing as a water within the mountains, so the ladies steadiness two or three stacked pitchers on their heads to attract water from the rivers. After they return up into the mountains [with their jugs filled], they stroll as certainly as if on stage floor.
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“Within the distant valleys of those islands, there reside one other sort of individuals referred to as the Haidan [Aeta]. They’re small in stature, with spherical yellow eyes, curly hair, and outstanding enamel. They reside in nests within the treetops. Typically they type bands of three to 5 and wait in ambush within the undergrowth to shoot arrows at individuals passing via. Many individuals have been thus killed by them. But when one throws a porcelain bowl at them, they’ll stoop down, decide it up, and run away, leaping and shouting with pleasure.
“Each time overseas retailers arrive at a settlement, they dare not go ashore instantly. As a substitute, they weigh anchor in midstream and beat drums to draw the locals. Barbarian retailers then race to the ship in small canoes, bringing with them kapok, beeswax, native fabric, and coir matting to commerce with the overseas retailers.
“If they can not agree on a worth, then the chief of the retailers comes himself to barter. The overseas retailers give him presents of silk parasols, porcelain vessels, and rattan baskets. One or two native males stay on the ship as hostages, whereas the overseas retailers go ashore to commerce. As soon as the buying and selling is concluded, the hostages are handed over. Each service provider ship solely stops for 3 or 4 days earlier than transferring on to a different settlement. The barbarians reside all alongside the shores of the Three Islands and each settlement is impartial of the others.
“Their mountains (or islands) run in a northeastern course, and when the south[west] wind blows in, nice waves sprint towards the mountains (or islands). The breakers roll so quick that ships can not anchor there securely. For that motive, retailers coming to commerce within the Three Islands normally put together to make their return voyage within the fourth or fifth lunar month.
“PULILU. Pulilu is related to the Three Islands, and its settlements are barely bigger. Lots of its persons are fierce and violent, given to pillaging and banditry.
From commerce winds to porcelain vessels, all these particulars give us a glimpse of the Philippines lengthy earlier than Magellan.
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