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Mombasa ivory on its way to America

 

Baybars al-Mansuri: Tuhfa al-mulukiyya (Mamluk Chronical)(d1325)

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Taken from:  Practising Diplomacy in the Mamluk Sultanate: Gifts and Material Culture in ... By Doris Behrens-Abouseif

 

In 1312 an embassy arrived in Egypt from Yemen with 409 porters carrying crates filled with ivory, ebony, sandalwood, lances and other things; each crate was covered with a Yemeni kurr, which might be a kind of prayer rug. The gifts also included a small elephant, 2 tigers, 4 leopards, 10 armoured horses, 10 good-looking eunuchs, tuhaf (1) and cash.

 Note: the same got repeated by Ibn al-Dawadari : Kanz al-durar (Universal Chronical) (1335).

(1) precious objects.