364 the middle east
jade, pearls, and other valuables (Sung shih 490:21a; Sung hui-yao kao,
chüan 20,522).
On Dec.17, 1131, the Maritime Trade Commission of the [East-
ern] Kuang-nan Circuit [in Canton] reported to the court that the
envoy P’u-ya-li had arrived from the Arab State by ship to offer 35
large, veined rhinoceros horns and 209 large elephant tusks. The tusks
weighed more than 57 catties [each]. One catty of ivory was evaluated
at 2 strings of 1000 cash. He was paid 600 ingots of silver, gold and
silver vessels, and textiles. On July 28, 1134, the Judicial Commission of
the Eastern Kuang-nan Circuit reported to the court that bandits had
invaded P’u-ya-li’s ship, had wounded him and killed four foreigners,
and had robbed all the gold and silver (Sung shih 490:21b; Sung hui-yao
kao, chüan 20,522; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 339:57a).
On Sep.21, 1136, the Maritime Trade Commission of Fu-chien
reported to the court that P’u-lo-hsin^26 from the Arab State had
brought frankincese by ship and had handed it over to the Maritime
Trade Commission of Ch’üan-chou. The estimated value was 300,000
strings of 1000 cash (Sung hui-yao kao, chüan 20,522; Wen-hsien t’ung-
k’ao 339:57a).
In 1168, the Arabs offered regional objects (Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao
339:57a).
Between 1205 and 1207, Arab envoys offered gifts (Wen-hsien t’ung-
k’ao 339:57a).
The routes taken by the Arab missions to China are a problem.
The regularity of the summer and winter monsoons was known to the
Arabs not later than the 1st century A.D. , and by T’ang times they
were capable to sail directly to China without changing shipa at the
various ports of call.The biggest trading town on the China coast during
T’ang was Canton,^27 during Sung Ch’üan-chou in Fu-chien. Envoys
from Baghdad, unless they sailed on their own ships, could therefore
take passage with the merchants. During Sung, Arab shipmasters are
(^26) He must have been an envoy, since the arrival of a commercial ship would
have been handled routinely by the authorities and would not have been reported
to the court.
(^27) On Oct.30, 758, the T’ang court was informed by local authorities that the
Arabs and Persians had attacked Canton, had looted the granaries and arsenals,
had burned houses, and had then departed by sea (Chiu T’ang shu 10:9b; 198:15b;
Tzu-chih t’ung-chien p.7062).
When Huang Ch’ao sacked Canton in 879, Muslims were among those killed.