70 Limodara Going inland from the city of Cambay, one comes to a place called Limodara, where there is a carnelian quarry. It is a white; milky, and red stone which becomes even redder in a fire. They pull up great lumps of it and there are excellent lapidaries here who cut and bore holes in it and make it into all manner of shapes: long stones; octagonal; rounded; oliveleaved; many rings; sword handles; daggers, and many others. Cambay merchants come here to buy them and then sell them on in the Red Sea, from where they used to go to our parts through Cairo or Alexandria; they also take them to Arabia and Persia and India, where our people buy them and take them to Portugal. They alsofind a great deal of chalcedony, which is a hardstone with greyish and white veins, which they make quite round and bore a hole through; the Mouros wear them on their arms, so that they touch theirflesh, saying that they help them remain chaste. They are of little value, as there are many of them there. Rander Leaving Limodara and heading back towards the seaports, passing Ghandhar and going further on down the coast, one comes to a river, on the near bank of which lies a Mouros town called Rander. It has beautiful houses and squares and is a most pleasant and rich place, because the local Mouros take their ships to trade in Malacca; Bengal; Tenasserim; Pegu; Martaban, and Sumatra, trading in a wide range of spices and remedies, in many silks; musk; benzoin resin; porcelain, and many other goods. The local poeple havefine large ships that carry on this trade, and whoever wants to get hold of things from Malacca and China comes to this place, where they willfind them more easily than in any other place, and at a good price. The Mouros from here are rich and respectable, white, polite. They are very smart; have beautiful wives, and well-built and furnished houses. They put shelves all around the
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTg0NzAy