This food is in a wooden vessel, in which there is a very large leaf of a tree, and upon this leaf is placed the said food, which consists of rice and other things. The king eats on the ground without any other thing. And when he eats, the Brahmins stand around, three or four paces distant from him, with great reverence, and remain bowed down with their hands before their mouths, and their backs bent. No one is allowed to speak while the king is speaking, and they stand listening to his words with great reverence. When the king has finished his meal, the said Brahmins take that food which the king did not require and carry it into a court yard and place it on the ground. And the said Brahmins clap their hands three times, and at this clapping a very great number of black crows come to this said food and eat it.1 These crows are used for this purpose, and they are free

Turpun, that is to say, he fills a copper with water, and puts therein a few grains of barley, some sesamum, leaves of the sacred basil tree, sandal, etc.; then, holding some sacrificial grass, he fills his joined hands with water, which he pours back again into the cup, saying: 'I offer this water to all the Devs.' He proceeds to make similar offerings of water to men, animals, trees, rivers, seas, Bhuts, Prets, Reeshees, progenitors, and others. Then he mentions the names, as many as he can recollect, of his father's ancestors, his mother's ancestors, and his own deceased friends. He now performs hom, or fire worship, by throwing a portion of rice and clarified butter into a little copper or earthen vessel containing fire, repeating, while so employed, the names of the Devs. The Brahmin sets aside five portions of food for cows, beggars, dogs, ants, and crows. He then takes a little of each dish, and offers it to the Dev, in a vessel containing five divisions. He now sits down to breakfast." Râs Mâlâ, vol. ii. p. 257.

In Western India these birds do not generally wait to be summoned: the difficulty is to scare them away when food is being served. Their cunning, moreover, equals their pertinacity. I once saw a proof of this, which I could hardly have believed on the testimony of another. A flock of crows covered the branches of a tree, waiting for any offal from a dinner which had just terminated. A dog brought out a bone into the garden, and was quietly enjoying it, when the whole bevy alighted and commenced an attack upon him in front. As often as they charged in that direction the dog kept them at bay, until at length, as if by concert among themselves, one of the assailants moved to the rear and

and go wherever they please, and no injury is done to them.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE BRAHMINS, THAT IS THE PRIESTS OF CALICUT.

It is a proper, and at the same time a pleasant thing to know who these Brahmins are. You must know that they are the chief persons of the faith, as priests are among us. And when the king takes a wife he selects the most worthy and the most honoured of these Brahmins and makes him sleep the first night with his wife, in order that he may deflower her. Do not imagine that the Brahmin goes willingly to perform this operation. The king is even obliged to pay him four hundred or five hundred ducats. The king only and no other person in Calicut adopts this practice. We will now describe what classes [or castes] of Pagans there are in Calicut.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE PAGANS OF CALICUT, AND OF WHAT CLASSES THEY ARE.

The first class of Pagans in Calicut are called Brahmins. The second are Naeri, who are the same as the gentlefolks

quietly pecked at the dog's tail. While he savagely faced about to repel this unexpected assault, one of the enemy in front pounced upon the contested bone and carried it away in triumph.

1 Hamilton says: "When the Samorin marries, he must not cohabit with his bride till the Nambourie, or chief priest, has enjoyed her, and, if he pleases, he may have three nights of her company, because the first-fruits of her nuptials must be an holy oblation to the god she worships." Buchanan confirms the statement:-"These ladies [of the Tamuri family] are generally impregnated by Namburis; although if they choose they may employ the higher ranks of Nairs; but the sacred character of the Namburis always procures them a preference." PINKERTON'S Voyages, vol. viii. pp. 374, 734.

amongst us; and these are obliged to bear sword and shield or bows or lances. When they go through the street, if they did not carry arms they would no longer be gentlemen. The third class of Pagans are called Tiva, who are artizans. The fourth class are called Mechua, and these are fishermen. The fifth class are called Poliar, who collect pepper, wine, and nuts. The sixth class are called Hirava, and these plant and gather in rice. These two last classes of people, that is to say, the Poliar and Hirava, may not approach either the Naeri or the Brahmins within fifty paces, unless they have been called by them, and they always go by private ways through the marshes. And when they pass through the said places, they always go crying out with a loud voice, and this they do in order that they may not meet the Naeri or the Brahmins; for should they not be crying out, and any of the Narei should be going that way and see their fruits, or meet any of the said class, the above mentioned Naeri may kill them without incurring any punishment and for this reason they always cry out. So now you have heard about these six classes of Pagans.1

1 Hamilton's classification reads like a revised version of Varthema's: "There are many degrees or dignities in the church as well as in the state. The Nambouris are first in both capacities. The Brahmins are the second in the church only. The Buts, or magicians, are next to them. The Nayers, or gentlemen, are next, and are very numerous. The Teyvees are the farmers of cocoa-nut trees, and are next to the gentry. The Poulias produce the labourers and mechanics. The Muckwas, or fishers, are I think a higher tribe than the Poulias, but the Poulichees are the lowest order of human creatures, and are excluded from the benefit of divine and human laws. If a Poulia or Teyvee meet a Nair on the road, he must go aside to let his worship pass, lest the air should be tainted, on pain of severe chastisement if not of death; but the Poulichees are in a much worse state...If accidentally they see any one coming towards them, they will howl like dogs, and run away, lest those of quality should take offence at their breathing in the same air that they do." The Poulichees seem to be the same people that Buchanan describes under the name of Niadis, and both bear a general resemblance to Varthema's" Hirava," though he describes them as cultivators of rice, whereas the former are not allowed to till the ground, but

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE DRESS OF THE KING AND QUEEN AND OTHERS OF CALICUT, AND of

THEIR FOOD.

The dress of the king and queen, and of all the others, that is to say, of the natives of the country, is this: they go naked and with bare feet, and wear a piece of cotton or of silk around their middle, and with nothing on their heads.1 Some Moorish merchants, on the other hand, wear a short shirt extending to the waist; but all the Pagans go without a shirt. In like manner the women go naked like the men, and wear their hair long. With respect to the food of the king and the gentlemen, they do not eat flesh without the permission of the Brahmins. But the other classes of the people eat flesh of all kinds, with the exception of cow beef. And these Hirava and Poliar eat mice and fish dried in the

sun.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING THE CEREMONIES WHICH THEY PERFORM AFTER THE DEATH OF THE KING.

The king being dead, and having male children, or brothers, or nephews on his brother's side, neither his sons, nor his brother, nor his nephews become king; but the heir of the king is the son of one of his sisters. And if there be

dwell in woods and marshes, and subsist chiefly on hunting and begging. See PINKERTON's Voyages, vol. viii. pp. 375, 738-9.

As Ralph Fitch quaintly says: "The king goeth incached, as they do all."

2 "None of the southern Brahmins can, without losing caste, taste animal food...The Nairs are permitted to eat venison, goats, fowls, and fish." BUCHANAN.

He says:

3 Buchanan confirms this. "The succession goes in the female line;" and adds, in speaking of a particular case wherein a nephew was heir to the rajahship: "his son will have no claim to it, and he will be succeeded by the son of his niece, who is the daughter of

no son of a said sister, the nearest [collateral] relation of the king succeeds him. And this custom prevails because the Brahmins have the virginity of the queen; and likewise when the king travels, one of these Brahmins, although he might be only twenty years of age, remains in the house with the queen, and the king would consider it to be the greatest favour that these Brahmins should be familiar with the queen, and on this account they say that it is certain that his sister and he were born of the same person, and that there is more certainty about her than of his own children, and therefore the inheritance falls to the sons of the sister. Also on the death of the king all the people of the kingdom shave their beards and their heads, with the exception of some part of the head, and also of the beard, according to the pleasure of each person. The fishermen also are not allowed to catch any fish for eight days. The same customs are observed when a near relative of the king dies. As an act of devotion, the king does not sleep with a woman or eat betel for a whole year. This betel resembles the leaves of the sour orange, and they are constantly eating it. It is the same to them that confections are to us, and they eat it more for sensuality than for any other purpose. When they eat the said leaves, they eat with them a certain fruit which is called coffolo, and the tree of the said coffolo is called Arecha,1 and is formed like the stem of the date tree, and produces its fruit in the same manner. And they also eat with the said leaves a certain lime made from oyster shells, which they call Cionama.2

his sister." (PINKERTON'S Voyages, vol. viii. p. 745.) It was the same in Ibn Batûta's time :-" Each of their kings succeeds to rule as being sister's son, not the son to the last." LEE's Translation, p. 167.

1 The Areca palm.

2 Chunam, the common Hindustani word for lime.