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The above-named

here, for it is a district of great traffic. stream passes close to the walls of the city, in which there is a great quantity of rice, and a great abundance of sugar, and especially of sugar candied, according to our manner. We begin here to find nuts and figs, after the manner of Calicut. These people are idolaters, also after the manner of Calicut, excepting the Moors, who live according to the Mohammedan religion. Neither horses, nor mules, nor asses, are customary here, but there are cows, buffaloes, sheep, oxen, and goats. In this country no grain, barley, or vegetables are produced, but other most excellent fruits, usual in India. I quitted this place, and went to another island, which is called Anzediva,1 and which is inhabited by a certain sort of people who are Moors and pagans. This island is distant from the mainland half a mile, and is about twenty miles in circumference. The air is not very good here, neither is the place very fertile. There is an excellent port between the island and the mainland, and very good water is found in the said island.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING CENTACOLA, ONOR, AND MANGOLOR, EXCELLENT DISTRICTS OF INDIA.

Travelling for one day from the aforesaid island, I arrived at a place called Centacola, the lord of which is not very

An island two miles distant from the coast of North Canara. "It is about a mile in length, and possessed by the Portuguese. It appears on the outside rocky, but of a pleasant aspect on the opposite side next the main, where it is fortified by a wall and some towers." (HORsburgh's Directory, vol. i. p. 507.) The island was captured by the Portuguese in 1505. Varthema greatly exaggerates its dimensions.

2 Centacola I take to be Uncola, (the "Ankla" of Hamilton and "Ancola" of Buchanan,) "the principal place in the subdivision of the same name, in the British district of North Canara, a town two miles from the Arabian Sea or North Indian Ocean.' (THORNTON'S Gazetteer.) Varthema was one day reaching Centacola from Angediva, and Uncola

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rich. A great quantity of cow beef is met with here, and much rice, and good fruits customary in India. In this city there are many Moorish merchants. The lord of it is a pagan. The people are of a tawny colour: they go naked and bare-footed, and wear nothing on the head. This lord is subject to the king of Bethacala. Travelling thence for two days, we went to another place called Onor,1 the king of

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being in lat. 14° 40', is five geographical miles south of that island. Buchanan makes the distance eight cosses from Ancola to Sedasivaghur, and describes the former town as having a ruined fort and a bazaar, but few inhabitants, as in this part of the country the population does not settle in numbers in any spot, but is dispersed in hamlets and farms. Midway between Gaukarna and Ancola, which are three cosses apart, is the Gangawali, an inlet of salt water... Its mouth toward the sea is narrow, but inwards it forms a lake, which is from one mile to half that extent in width...Boats of a considerable size (patemars) can come over the bar, and ascend the river for three cosses... The river has no trade, and the country on its banks, though very beautiful, seems rather barren." PINKERTON, vol. viii. 362, 756-7.

1 Honahwar, (the "Hinaur" of Ibn Batuta, "Honawera" of Buchanan, ' "Honaver" of Wilks, and the "Onore" of the generality of British writers,) is a seaport town in the British district of North Canara. “It is situated on the north side of an extensive estuary, or rather inlet, of the sea, which at its south-eastern extremity receives the Sheravutty, a considerable river flowing from the western ghats.....The lake abounds in fish, great quantities of which are taken and made an article of commerce. This port was formerly a place of great commerce, and still has a trade in pepper, cocoa-nuts, betel-nut, fish, and some other articles,, especially the fragrant sandal-wood, which grows in great abundance on the rocky hills of the country." THORNTON'S Gazetteer.

Ibn Batuta, who visited Honahwar towards the middle of the fourteenth century, describes its local features in similar terms. “The women of this city," he adds, "and of all the Indian districts on the sea-shores, never dress in clothes that have been stitched, but the contrary. One of them, for example, will tie one part of a piece of cloth round her waist, while the remaining part will be placed upon her head and breast. ...The present king is Jamâl ed-Dîn Muhammed ibn Hasan. He is one of the best of princes, but is himself subject to an infidel king whose name is Horaib." (LEE's Translation, pp. 165-6.) The Portuguese built a strong fort here in the sixteenth century, from which they were subsequently expelled by the Rajah of Canara. Hamilton describes a pagan temple at Honahwar, which was visited yearly by a great number

which is a pagan, and is subject to the king of Narsinga. This king is a good fellow, and has seven or eight ships, which are always cruising about. He is a great friend of the king of Portugal. As to his dress, he goes quite naked, with the exception of a cloth about his middle. There is a great deal of rice here, as is usual in India, and some kinds of animals are found here, viz., wild hogs, stags, wolves, lions, and a great number of birds, different from ours; there are also many peacocks and parrots there. They have beef of cows, that is, red cows, and sheep in great abundance. Roses, flowers, and fruits, are found here all through the year. The air of this place is most perfect, and the people here are longer lived than we are. Near the said district of Onor there is another place, called Mangolor,1 in which fifty or sixty ships are laden with rice. The inhabitants are pagans and Moors. Their mode of living, their customs, and their dress, are like those above described. We departed thence, and went to another city, which is called Canonor.

of pilgrims. In Ibn Batûta's time the greater part of the inhabitants were Muhammedans, and had committed the Korân to memory!

1 A town in the British district of South Canara, situate on the north side of the estuary formed by the junction of a river flowing from the north-east, and of the Naitravutty, a considerable river, but navigable only by small vessels...The town is large, and is washed on east and west by the two streams whose confluence forms the estuary. The houses are generally mean, and there are no public buildings worth notice. Mangalore, though a bad haven, was the principal seaport of the territory of Hyder Ali. (See THORNTON's Gazetteer.) It appears to have been so long before his time, for Ibn Batuta, who calls it Manjerûn, says: "in this place are some of the greatest merchants of Persia and Yemen... The king of this place is the greatest of the kings of Malabar, and in it are about four thousand Muhammedan merchants." (LEE's Translation, p. 169.) Hamilton also describes it as "the greatest mart for trade in all the Canary dominions."

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING CANONOR, A VERY GREAT CITY IN INDIA.

Canonor1 is a fine and large city, in which the king of Portugal has a very strong castle. The king of this city is a great friend of the king of Portugal, although he is a

1 A seaport town in the British district of Malabar, situate on the north shore of a small bay, open to the south, but sheltered towards the Arabian Sea by a bluff headland, surrounded by a fort...It is a populous place, but very irregularly built; yet has many good houses, chiefly belonging to the Moplai or Mussulman family, proprietors of the town. ...It is a port of considerable trade, principally in pepper, grain, timber and cocoa-nuts." (THORNTON's Gazetteer.) Hamilton mentions the fort built by the Portuguese in 1507, who, however, did not seize the town till some time after. They were expelled by the Dutch about the year 1660, and they in turn sold it to the Moplai family. It subsequently fell into the hands of Tippoo Sultân, from whom it was finally captured by the British under Abercrombie in 1791.

The mention of the Moplahs in the foregoing paragraph induces me to suggest a different derivation of the word to that generally received. Duncan supposes it to be contracted from Mahapilla, or "child of Mocha," in Arabia, from which country they originally came, as, in the language of Malabar, Maha means Mocha, and pilla, child. (THORNTON's Gazetteer, sub voce Malabar.) I am inclined to think that the name is either a corruption of the Arabic Mûflih, (from the root fálaha, to till the soil,) meaning prosperous or victorious,-in which sense it would apply to the successful establishments of these foreign Mussulmans on the western coast of India; or, that it is a similar corruption of Máflih, (the active participial form of the same verb,) an agriculturist, -a still more appropriate designation of the Moplahs, who, according to Buchanan, are both traders and farmers. In the latter sense, the term, though not usually so applied among the Arabs, would be identical with Fellah, which is also a derivative from the triliteral root fúlaha.

"The sequel will show that Varthema is here anticipating, in part, what did not actually take place till two or three years after his first visit, which must have occurred between 1504-5. The Portuguese under Pedro Alvarez Cabral made their first appearance at Cannanore on the 15th of January 1501. The second expedition, which was commanded by Juan de Nueva, followed in November of the same year, and on both occasions the foreigners were received and treated with the greatest consideration by the inhabitants, the Rajah himself offering to become their security for a large amount of produce rather than that their ships

pagan. This Canonor is the port at which the horses which come from Persia disembark. And you must know that every horse pays twenty-five ducats for customs duty, and then they proceed on the mainland towards Narsinga. There are many Moorish merchants in this city. No grain nor grapes grow here, nor any productions like ours, excepting cucumbers and melons. Bread is not eaten here, that is to say, by the natives of the country, but they eat rice, fish, flesh, and the nuts of the country. At the proper time we will speak of their religion and customs, for they live after the manner of those of Calicut. Here we begin to find a few spices, such as pepper, ginger, cardamums, mirabolans, and a little cassia. This place is not surrounded by a wall. The houses are very poor. Here also are found fruits different from ours, and which are also far superior to ours. I will make the comparison when the proper time comes. The country is well adapted for war, as it is full of hollow places artificially made. The king of this place has 50,000 Naeri,' that is, gentlemen who fight with swords, shields, lances and bows, and with artillery. And yet they go naked and unshod, with a cloth around them, without anything on their heads, excepting when they go to war, when they wear a turban of a red colour passed twice round the head, and they all have them tied in the same manner. They do not use here either horses, mules, camels, or asses. Elephants are sometimes used, but not for battle. At the proper time we will speak of the vigour exerted by the king should return to Europe empty. In 1502 Vasco de Gama established a factory there, and the year following the Rajah gave him a house for the purpose, and entered into an offensive and defensive alliance with the Portuguese; but the fort does not appear to have existed till 1507, when Don Francisco de Almeyda, the first Viceroy, obtained permission to build it in the harbour, where he left Lorenzo de Britto with 150 men, and two vessels to cruise on the coast. See GREENE's Collection of Voyages, vol. i. pp. 48-60.

'Buchanan says: "the Nairs are the pure Súdras of Malayala, and all pretend to be born soldiers...They form the militia of Malayala, and their chief delight is in arms." PINKERTON's Voyages, viii. 735-6.

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