Lingwai Daida 嶺外代答, translated as Representative Answers from the Region beyond the Mountains, is a geographical treatise written by Zhou Qufei 周去非. More significantly it provides knowledge of distant lands in China during the Song dynasty, and includes descriptions of oversea states as far away as Africa and southern Spain. The original book is lost, and the current version was recompiled from entries in the Yongle Encyclopedia.

Taken from: Das Ling-wai tai-ta von Chou Chʼü-fei: E. Landeskunde Südchinas aus d. 12. Jh (Münchener ostasiatische Studien) (German Edition). by Chʻü-fei Chou. Almut Netolitzky

2. The foreign countries, first part
2.1 The state of Annam (1)
….The most important festival of the country (Dai Viet) is on the 15th day of the seventh lunar month, when every family exchanges presents with others. The officials present Sheng-kou (slaves) to the king, who will give the officials a feast on the 16th day in return………

See note on Zangi slaves

2.4 Champa (9)
.......... There are no markets in the country. Since the country is large, but the population is low, they often buy up slaves male and female, which is why the sea ships [here] carry human cargo ........

3. The foreign countries, second part
3.2 The Arab Empire
Tadjik (Ta-shih) is a collective name for all (Arabian) countries. There are more than 1000 states, but only a few states are known by name. Among these is the kingdom of Merbat (2) (Ma-li-pa). If you set sail from Canton from the eleventh month onwards and sail with a wind from the north, after about 40 days you will come to the area called Lambri (3), where you buy up sapanwood, tin and large white tubular mats. You remain there until the next winter and then continue the onward journey of [Lambri] with the northeast monsoon and you reach then after 60 days in favorable wind the [said] land. From there, the following commercial products can be found: frankincense, amber, pearls, opaque glass, rhinoceros horns, ivory, corals, putchuk (4), myrrh, dragon's blood (5), asafoetida (6), styrax (7), gall-apples, rosewater. All this is traded here by the Arab countries.

3.7 The state K'un-lun ts 'eng-ch' i
In the Southwestern Sea lies the kingdom of Madagascar (K'un-lun ts 'eng-ch' i), which is a large island in the sea. Giant birds, which cover the sun for a while, fly here all the time (10). There are also wild camels, which are devoured by the giant birds when they meet them. If one finds by chance a feather of the giant bird, then it is, if one cuts off the quill, as a water container (8). In addition, there are still camel cranes whose length of body and neck measures 6 to 7 feet. They have wings and can fly, but not high. They eat everything, even blazing fire and sometimes they are thrown red hot copper or iron for food (11). Local products include elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns. In addition, here on [large] islands in the sea on which live many savages, whose body is as black as paint and they have frizzy hair. They are attracted to food and captured and then sold by the thousands as slaves (12).

3.8 Po-ssu
In the Southwest Sea lies the kingdom Po-ssu. The skin color of its inhabitants is jet black and the hair is frizzy. They wear gold hoops on both hands. They wrap themselves in blue-green patterned cotton cloth. There are no walled cities with them. In the morning the ruler holds his audience. He sits with his legs crossed on a stool covered with tiger skins. Everyone kneels before him to witness their worship. When he goes out, he is carried in a pliant litter. Occasionally, however, he rides an elephant and is accompanied by a retinue of more than 100 men, armed with swords and guarding him with loud shouts. Their food consists of flour and meat dishes, which they fill in earthenware jars and eat with both hands.
Note: Mostly Po-ssu means Persia. Here however a country in Indonesia is meant.

7. The Aromatics
7.7 The foreign Gardenia
The foreign Gardenia comes from the Arab countries. This is the flower that is called Tan-p'u in the Buddhist scriptures. It is dried in the overseas countries. It bears a similarity to the dyer's thistle. The fact that ambergris from Canton is fragile today is due to the use of foreign gardenia. In the interior of the Kuang [provinces] there is also a white-flowered flower, which is quite similar to the gardenia, [whose seeds] have protrusions. It is said that it is from India. It is also called Tan-p'u. I am afraid, however, that the explanation is wrong.

7.19 Dragon Saliva (Ambergris)
Many dragons live in the Arabian West Sea. When they rest on the stones and move in front of them, saliva floats on the water. It is preserved and hardened. It is collected by the fishermen, because it is considered the greatest treasure. When it is still fresh, it is white, a short time later it turns purple and after a long time it turns black. When I came to Canton, I once saw it. It does not smell good, but not bad either. It resembles pumice, but it is lighter. People say that dragon saliva has a strange smell. It is even said that the dragon saliva smells rancid, but that it can also bring out other fragrances first. But all that is not true. The importance of the dragon saliva for the fragrances is not that it strengthens or attenuates them, except in the concentration of the smoke. If, when mixing with fragrances, you use pure dragon saliva and then ignite a fire, a blue smoke rises into the air, which hangs together and does not dissolve. The guests could cut the smoke with scissors. This is due to the fact that it still has some of the capacity that the breath of this monster has, namely to carry towers and terraces.

(1) Annam: modern day Vietnam.

(2) Merbat: Mirbat is a coastal town in the Dhofar governorate, in southwestern Oman.

(3) Lambri; Lamri: the island of Sumatra as Lamri (Lamuri, Lambri or Ramni) in the tenth through thirteenth centuries.

(4) Putchuk: Costus, the fragrant root of the Kashmiri plant Saussurea costus used in perfumery and (formerly) as a medicinal agent.

(5) dragon's blood: is a bright red resin which is obtained from several plants: Croton, Dracaena, Daemonorops, Calamus rotang and Pterocarpus. The red resin has been in continuous use since ancient times as varnish, medicine, incense, and dye.

(6) Asafoetida: Asafoetida is a plant that has a bad smell and tastes bitter. It is sometimes called "devil's dung." People use asafoetida resin, a gum-like material, as medicine.

(7) Styrax: is a genus of about 130 species of large shrubs or small trees. The resin obtained from the tree is called benzoin or storax.

(8) That the tube of the feathers of the Roc bird are big enough to be used as buckets is found in: Buzurg ibn Shahriyar (955); Li Kung-Lin (d1106); Chou Ch'u-fei (1178); Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century); Chao Ju-Kua (1226); Ibn Said al Maghribi (1250); Luo Miandao (fl. ca. 1270); Marco Polo (1295); Al-Dimashqi (1325); Chou Chih-Chung (1366); Ning Xian Wang (1430); Ibn Al Wardi (1456); Alf layla wa Layla (15^th); Wang Khi (1609). Note: we have here a story found in Arabic and Chinese tales.

(9) Champa was a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is present-day central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd century AD until 1832.

(10) The Rukh of Arab sailors tails or Peng bird of Chinese tales: Giant bird of Madagascar. (Aepyornis maximus)

(11) We have here a story found in Arabic, Western and Chinese tales. See my note on the bottom of my webpage: From Jahiz's Kitab al-Hayawan (869).

(12) ALL THE FOLLOWING CHINESE SOURCES SPEAK ABOUT SELLING SLAVES BY THE PEOPLE FROM MADAGASCAR: Chou Chih-Chung (1366); Ning Xian Wang (1430); Wang Khi (1607); Ch'en Yuan-Ching (late12 century); Chao Ju-Kua (1226); Chou Ch'u-fei (1178).