Page 62 - History of Portuguese in the Gulf_Neat

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i58 APPENDIX A.
afterwards Mir Xabadin Molongh, king of Harmuz, died, and a
certain Rex1 Xarcar, his wazir, assumed the kingdom. i and died in the year of the Hyxara 676, that is, a.d. 127S. 1
When the men of Keys heard of Molongh’s death and Xarear’s
doings, they dethroned Amir Seyfadin ; and he, fearing for his life,
fled from that isle to Harmuz, where all men made him welcome.
The usurper Xarcar was then in the fortress of Karcam,* whither
Seyfadin marched. Xarcar, who held it with ten of his kinsmen,
took arms, and bade every man shift for himself, or sell his life
1‘ . dear. But he and they were all slain, and Amir Seyfadin remained
in possession of the kingdom.
The first thing that the new king Seyfadin did, was to give
i”l ' three daughters of Rex Xarear to three chief men of his court in
marriage. Then, not forgetting how the men of Keys had used
him, he made war upon them, invaded their isle, beat them with
great slaughter, and carried away captive some of their chiefs.
•; He anchored at the Isle of Gerun, which now we call Harmuz,3
i. then a desert, where he slew his prisoners on a hill, called thence
i. ; Kuy Kostaron, that is “Dead Men’s Hill,” and so it is called
!>;r to-day.4 Thence he went to Harmuz, and spent the rest of his
life in peace, and Xabadin Mamud, his nephew, succeeded him.
Xabadin Mamud, son of 19a, second of his name, and eleventh
1 king, had peace in his realm during his lifetime.
On his death5 succeeded his nephew,0 Amir Roknadin Mahmud,
m son of Hamed, in whose time Harmuz throve greatly. He kept
I many and good soldiers, with whom he won some great victories,
4?: >•
1 For “Rais,” a captain or commander, in civil life a ruler, or one
sh who takes precedence amongst men of practically equal rank, as in
V !
the abolished “ Raisships” of Sind, mere matter of seniority amongst
r the Amirs. This title has now come down in the world.
1 Possibly represented by Khamir, half-way through Clarence Strait,
on the Persian shore. It has a big fort, a little port, and a trade in
brimstone and millstones. [Or perhaps Karian, south-east of Minab
(Old Hormuz) is the place meant.—D. F.]
if :i! 3 This, it will be observed, is the first mention of the Insular
!i;:1 Hormuz in the story.
f; 4 “ Kuy” certainly represents the Persian Koh-l=“Hill of”—
“ Kostaron ” I cannot clearly identify, as no doubt any good Persian
scholar could. The likeliest word seems to be khasrdn = “ perishing.”
fcir: [More probably Pers. kushtArdn—slaughtered ones. Nieuhof {op. cit.,
p. 232) says that on the top of this hill the Portuguese built a chapel
sir called “ Our Lady of the Rock.” This is entered in the plan in Astley’s
IB: Collection as “ N. S. de la Pena.” The hill is shown in Capt. Stiffe’s
view of Hormuz, and the ruins of the chapel are marked in his plan
If (see note p. 164, i?ifra).—D. F.]
6 In A.D. 1243, if the length of the reign and the date of the death
&;l: of his successor, as given below, be correct.—D. F.
I=! 0 *( Sobrino,” possibly a nephew of his predecessor, so I have trans­
& « : lated literally.
u ■
I
1
a1
KINGS OF HORMUZ. r59
and new dominions as far as Zafar. He reigned thirty-five years,
Amir Seyfadin Nocerat, son of Roknadin Mamud, and thir­
teenth of his line, inherited the kingdom from his father- But his
succession was opposed by two of his brothers, Amir Kodbadin
Thahantan and Amir Mochzadin Kulad, or I’ulad. Most of the
soldiers favoured Nocerat, yet could lie not prevail over his brothers,
who forced him and his mother, Bibi Banek, to fly the kingdom. *
Bibi Banek went to Kermon, then governed by a Sulton Gela-
ladin Suraget Mex. He received her with much honour, and
supplied troops, by whose aid Seyfadin Nocerat was reinstated in
his kingdom. His brothers ceased not yet from disturbing him; but
he got Amir Moehzadin Fulad into his hands, and put him to death.
But the other, Mir Kodbadin Tahamtan,- with a certain Malek
Seyfadin Abubakra Hhaony, marched on Mar muz, and fought
with Noceret in Deni!, and beat him. He fled to Komzara, and
thence in a tarranquy,3 or light bark, to Lapht, a seaport in the
Isle of Broct, which isle we Portuguese call commonly Queixome.4
After his flight, the two allies agreed so ill, that Malek Seyfadin
slew Kodbadin, and the citizens and soldiers in disgust recalled
and reinstated Amir Seyfadin Nocerat, and cast Malek forth of
the kingdom. After Nocerat’s restoration, two more of his
brothers, Amir Masaud and Amir Turkonxa, slew him by treason,
twelve years, and died in a.h. 689, a.d. 1291.
with his sisters, Bibi Banek5 and Bibi Neyty. He had reigned
1 This the first date in the Ki?igs of Hormuz, and we are getting
near the time of Marco Polo’s visit or visits. Unfortunately, it cannot
be certainly known to what period, or to what king, his remarks
refer. (Vide Yule’s Marco Polo, sub vv. “Ormuz,” and “Thuran
Shah.”) I cannot identify “Zafdr.” It maybe Dhofar, now the south­
west boundary of Mdskat, on the coast, [lbn Batuta calls Dhofar
“Zafdr.”—D. F.]
3 As is mentioned in a footnote further on, the ruler of Hormuz, at
the time of lbn Batuta’s visit, is called by that traveller “ Kutbuddfn
Tahamtan,” the latter appellation meaning “ powerful” or “ intrepid.”
—D. F.
3 See infra. Couto {Dec. VI, -passim) spells the word tarranquim
and terranquim. I cannot trace the origin of the name.—D. F.
4 I cannot identify “ Denu” ; the most tempting names on the maps
are probably mere misspellings. But “ Komzara,” a rather recognisable
name, is still that of a port, “ Kumzdr,” near Rds Musanddm, whose
“inhabitants are fishermen, and possess fifty or sixty boats of different
sizes. They take salt-fish, shark-fins, etc., to Kishtn, with which place
they have much intercourse." Now Laft, although it is not Kishm, is
on the Isle of Kishm, and was easily accessible from Kumzdr (vide
Persian Gulf Pilot^s. v.). [“ Denu” is probably Deh Na of the Indian
Survey Map of Persia, on the mainland, nearly due north of Hormuz
Island ; and “ Komzara” is, I think, Khamir (refcried to in the note on
p. 158), which is just opposite to Lapht.—D. F.]
6 Bibi Banek, a little above, was his mother. She may have had a