Page 267 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

1,300 nmi, which should entail a reduction of the Calicut– 北辰星七指半，好風過海，乾戌单戌一百更姑馬山 （若戧風，
Aden distance by 55 watches, whereas the figure in the 单戌八十五更 . . . . . . 見看被身形北辰星四指半，沿山使用辛酉
colophon of 150 watches is only 35 watches less than the 五更取伽里塔山頭，壬亥，单亥三更取迭微討水，乾亥五更取麻
Aden route. The distance given for the route to Hormuz is 里實吉，辛戌取龟山. . . 单亥及乾亥四更. . . 乾亥廿五更取沙剌
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even less reliable. The actual air distance is 1,450 nmi (i.e. 側抹山，. . . 用單子五更取忽鲁謨斯。
between the distances to Dhofar and Aden), yet the watches Between the Laud rutter and the Selden map the
listed in the directions add up to 235, far longer than either sequences of bearings and watches are substantially
of the other two. This discrepancy may reflect the difference comparable:
between sailing on open water and following a coastal route: Laud rutter: 322½⁰ – 330⁰ (5 watches) – 337½⁰ (5) – 307½⁰/300⁰
the one on a straight-line course, the other on a more zigzag (100) – 277½⁰ (5) – 337½⁰/330⁰ (3) – 322½⁰ (5) – 292½⁰ –
route compounded by the slower speed needed to negotiate 330⁰/322½⁰ (4) – 322½⁰ (25) – 0⁰ (5);
the south of the Persian Gulf. The air distance to Hormuz Selden map: 315⁰ (5) – 322½⁰ (45) – 300⁰ (100) – 292½⁰ (15) – 7½⁰
being about 1,450 nmi, however, the addition of 90 watches (20) – 277½⁰ (5) – 330⁰ (10) – 322½⁰ (30) – 0⁰ (5).
seems more than the irregularity of a coastal route can
explain. More useful for analysis are the directional details The two versions are notably close in their final legs.
the Calicut colophon provides for the route to Hormuz, The Laud rutter advises the pilot to get on close to a 330⁰
which it reports as a sequence of nine segments, each with its bearing for 42 watches from Hormuz, whereas the map
compass bearing and distance. The density of data colophon recommends taking the 330⁰ bearing 3 watches
compared to that for the other two routes may be the effect earlier. The rutter plots the rest of the course in five
of the source the Selden cartographer used; it may also segments, whereas the map reduces the changes of course
indicate that Hormuz was, at least in Chinese memory, more to two. Both end on a bearing heading due north into
important than the other two ports. 9 Hormuz for the last 12 hours of the voyage. Their closeness
For comparative purposes, consider how these three is hardly surprising, for one would expect the navigational
routes are described in the Laud rutter. The route to Aden is data for entering the narrower passages of coastal waters to
there broken into five segments, of which the longest by far is tolerate less variation than courses plotted on the open sea.
the fourth, which extends for 125 watches on a 277½⁰ More strikingly, on the open sea both prescribe a course of
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bearing. In addition, the Laud rutter furnishes a total 300⁰ for 100 watches (though the Laud rutter advises
distance of 176 watches, 9 watches shorter than the ‘Calicut’ shifting off that course after 85 watches if the winds are
colophon to the Selden map – which at a slightly faster contrary). We need not assume that the coincidence of
average speed of 4.2 knots is as approximately accurate as directions is merely a sign that the route was unitary or that
that map. The route from Calicut to Dhofar in the Laud both texts conform to some standard of accuracy we might
rutter is dominated by two compass bearings, 292½⁰ and want to idealise. More important for our purpose, which is
285⁰, again well to the south of a true northwest bearing. to understand how knowledge of the Zheng He voyages
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What the Laud rutter and the Selden map do agree on is percolated through time, is the stubborn fact that the two
distance; both report that the journey from Calicut to texts do not transcribe the route in exactly the same way, in
Dhofar takes 150 watches. The data for comparing the terms either of how they segment it or of what bearings and
distance to Hormuz in the two documents is poor, but the distances they assign to each segment. Their directions
detail of compass bearings in the Calicut colophon makes for overlap at many points without precisely reproducing each
a good comparison. The description of this route in the other. That they are not identical reinforces the point
Laud rutter reads as follows: earlier made with regard to the first two routes on the
Set out on a 322½⁰ bearing. Once you have left the breakwater Calicut colophon: sailing instructions from the 15th-
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and draw 15 fathoms, sight the North Star at a height of 4 century expeditions circulated in variants, and their
fingers and the Southern Cross exactly at 11½ fingers, then take variations were absorbed and repeated by those who were
a 330⁰ bearing for 5 watches until you reach the white shoals. producing new documents about the turn of the 17th
Follow the coast of the island and take a 337½⁰ bearing for 5 century, when the sea lanes in this part of the world were
watches to reach Dingdebaxi 丁得把昔*. Sight the North Star once again coming alive with traffic.
at a height of 7½ fingers. If the winds are good, cross the sea This conclusion is further reinforced when we turn to
between a 307½⁰ bearing and a 300⁰ bearing for 100 watches to
Guma* 姑馬 Island. If the winds are contrary, follow a 300⁰ another of the four exceptions to lost knowledge listed at the
bearing for 85 watches. . . . Sight as though from the back of the beginning of this chapter, Mao Yuanyi’s visual transcription
North Star at a height of 4½ fingers, then follow the coast of the of the Zheng He routes in Wubei zhi. The final panel in his
island and set a course of 277½⁰ for 5 watches to reach the head album, which shows sea routes in the western half of the
of Jialita* 伽里塔 Island. Sail between a 337½⁰ and a 330⁰ Indian Ocean, underscores the importance of Calicut as the
bearing for 3 watches to reach the ferry at Tiwi (Ch. Diewei 迭 chief entrepôt for trading networks in this region. From its
微), then 322½⁰ for 5 watches to reach Malishiji* 麻里實吉, then prominent position in the upper right-hand corner of the
292½⁰ to reach Turtle Island. . . . Sail between 330⁰ and 322½⁰ panel radiate half a dozen routes, each annotated as going
for 4 watches . . ., then 322½⁰ for 25 watches to reach either to or from Calicut. Deciphering the opposite terminus
Shalacemo* 沙剌側抹 [Qalhat?] Hill. . . . Sail due north for 5
watches to reach Hormuz. of these routes is difficult, given the somewhat chaotic
arrangement of bodies of land in and around the Indian
開船乾亥，離石欄，水十五托，看北辰星四指，燈籠星正十一指 Ocean. The routes that appear to be linked to Calicut are
半，单亥五更取白礁，沿山使用壬亥四十五更，取丁得把昔，看
annotated as follows:

Traces of the Zheng He Voyages in Late Ming Navigational Materials | 257