K'un-lun po

K'un-lun po (also called Kun-lun po, Kunlun po, or K'un-lun bo, Chinese: 崑崙舶) were ancient sailing ships used by Austronesian sailors from Maritime Southeast Asia, described by Chinese records from the Han Dynasty. In the first millennium AD, these ships connected trade routes between India and China. Ships of this type were still in use until at least the 14th century. Greek astronomer, Ptolemy, said in his work Geography (ca. 150 AD) that huge ships came from the east of India. This was also confirmed by an anonymous work called Periplus Marae Erythraensis. Both mention a type of ship called kolandiaphonta (also known as kolandia, kolandiapha, and kolandiapha onta), which is a straightforward transcription of the Chinese word K'un-lun po—meaning "ships of Kun-lun", the Chinese name for Sumatra and/or Java. The 3rd century book Strange Things of the South (南州異物志 — Nánzhōu Yìwùzhì) by Wan Chen (萬震) describes ships capable of carrying 600–700 people together with more than 10,000 hu (斛) of cargo (250–1000 tons according to various interpretations—600 tons deadweight according to Manguin). These ships came from K'un-lun. The ships are called K'un-lun po (or K'un-lun bo), could be more than 50 meters in length and had a freeboard of 5.2–7.8 meters. When seen from above they resemble covered galleries. Wan Chen explains the ships' sail design as follows: The people beyond the barriers, according to the size of their ships, sometimes rig (as many as) four sails which they carry in row from bow to stern. (...) The four sails do not face directly forward, but are set obliquely, and so arranged that they can all be fixed in the same direction, to receive the wind and to spill it. Those sails which are behind the most windward one receiving the pressure of the wind, throw it from one to the other, so that they all profit from its force. If it is violent, (the sailors) diminish or augment the surface of the sails according to the conditions. This oblique rig, which permits the sails to receive from one another the breath of the wind, obviates the anxiety attendant upon having high masts.